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36.7 MPG on the way in to work today.

2K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  VWHappy 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

Just thought I would share the good news. On the way in to work this morning I was able to hit 36.7mpg for gas mileage. I have only been able to get above 36mpg one other time, so naturally I was fairly excited. This was recorded on the trip computer, which on the MPG I have found to be very accurate for my vehicle.

Background:

Car: 1.8T with WETT 1.1bar chip, 5spd, 15000 miles so far.

Roads: My drive is 28.7 miles from my garage door to where I park at work. I jump on to a 55mph road that is 300 feet from my drive that takes me 15 minutes to a small town that drops down to 45mph. Small turn then back to 55mph pretty much the rest of the way to work for another 15min until it slows down to 30mpg again. I have lots of varying hills and some good flat sections along with some nice S turns (all very fun at 100mph when I don't care about mpg's.)

This morning I was able to draft behind a minivan for the first half of my trip. Second half of my trip I was on my own. I've learned you save the most gas by coasting down hill with the car in gear as it cuts off the gas to the engine. Coasting in out of gear still sends gas to the engine so it can idle which is not as effective. There is a fine line here though as being in gear slows the car down and causes you to get on the gas sooner. So I have found that I can start out at the top of a hill in gear and then half way down coast which helps draw out the coasting a little further. If I'm real lucky, I can stay in gear and draft behind someone down a hill which helps keep me from slowing down.

I'm always amazed at how good of gas milage you can get with vehicles if you shift gears SOON (ala early shift, no power, low rpms, engine working hard) and if you draft a little.

On the days when I can't restrain myself (100mph in the fun sections) my gas mileage drops to about 24-26mpg. I guess that's the price I pay for being chipped. Luckly shooting for the high gas mileage is entertaining enough to keep me from speeding more than I do.

Later, enjoy your extended weekend for those that have it.
 
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#4 ·
I get about 40 mpg to work (15 minute drive) on my Wett chip, but I have a suspicion that its mostly downhill the way there. I get around 34 on the way back.

Wett. :thumbup:
 
#8 ·
Regarding the question of the WETT chip helping my gas mileage. No, I don't think it does at all. I know that people report that all over the place that it gives them an extra couple of MPG's, but I have never noticed it. In fact, I have noticed just the opposite.

The chip's are designed to increaset the boost AND change the way the engine handles the throttle. I am almost positive that the programming on the new chip's actually opens the throttle more, not less. The boost does not come on until 2500rpm(ish), which is higher than what I am when cruising at 60mph. My MPG's around town dropped with the chip because I found myself pushing my car HARDER because it was more FUN.

The best way to increase MPG's is not to push the gas pedal so hard and get into the higher gears sooner.
 
#9 ·
Thanks to jerks like JulianFang, quality_sound, stealth32x, the moderator pass-variant, i am uncontributing
since they say i have 200posts and say i don't contribute,

this will be my last post in this website ever,
I got too many of the "older" members with high posts disliking me for pointing out the obvious, like a For Sale thread in the discussion forum (for which the mod told me to shut up and left the thread opened) and to point out a rigged contest ran by Image Dynamics, stuff like that ticked these guys off, well i must be wrong b/c i'm being lynched for pointing out what i think is obvious, well more like jerks defending other jerks when one of them is wrong

http://www.clubb5.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=895441#895441
The contest thread was deleted, but this latest episode hasn't been yet
there's many threads that i just keep on getting rude comments from them, i won't bother posting all the past, just this last episode

If they're going to make this website into a totally censored forum,
http://www.clubb5.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=895441#895441 - the least you could do is let ppl voice their opinion on this thread, i for one hate that msg and the idea of this "bylaw"

i'm sure many of the jerks will be happy i'm gone,
it's been fun little boys, but i got better things to do then to enter engage in flaming discussion with old people
 
#10 ·
We were having perfect weather here for gas mileage (mid 40s). I have averaged 31 mpg with very unenthusiastic driving and no traffic. As the temps go up and the air conditioner comes on, I'll be back down to 27. I drive 19 miles one way to work, 4 of them at 40 mph, the rest at 60 mph, but with slow downs for traffic.
 
#13 ·
Thats definately an advantage of a chipped 1.8, same or better power and much better mpg. Although I can't say I know much about turbo lag in my V6 :D . I average 22 city and 28 hwy which is alot better that 14/18 in my Yukon. Oh and I think I got a slight increase in MPG from the Wett chip, definately not a decrease.
 
#15 ·
Gravity does. If your car is in gear (say 5th gear in this case) and you are going down a hill, then gravity is pulling you car down the hill. Because you car is in gear, the engine is rotating at 3000rpm and is acting as the resistance to keep you from cruising off. Since the engine is physically spinning, the gas is cut off to the engine because it would not be doing anything useful at this point. You are not asking the car for any power. It doesn't need gas to idle as the engine is already spinning at 3000rpm. When the RPM's drop below a certain level, the car will send gas through and ignite the spark plugs (ala run normally) so that the engine will at least idle at its' normal level.

I read a report some where that many car manufacturers have done this to increase MPG's. It sounds like most do this when the engine is a few hundred RPM's above the normal idle speed. In our case, it seems to be when you are above about 1200rpm.
 
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