2022 T6.1 Ocean Fuel Consumption

[JoniF64]

I took delivery of my Cali Ocean in August 22, and I feel the fuel consumption has slowly declined. It has now covered 4000 miles, is a 150 auto and has 20”wheels. I just had a new year trip to Whitby and the return journey 58 miles which is 50% A roads and 50% dual carriageway gave 29mpg average. Normal local commutes show around 22-25mpg and I get around 390 to 400 miles to a tank of diesel. There are no leaks, but there are often fans blasting out after very short distances.
Is this normal consumption?? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[IainB]

The larger wider tyres will be having an impact, more weight and drag, increased fuel consumption.. I have 18's on my van, having changed from 17's, and have seen a slight dip in fuel economy, but still averaging around 35mpg.

 

[Mansfieldman750]

I get around 35mpg, 40 on a quiet motorway when you hardly have to touch the brakes. I guess figures would be similar to yours around town in traffic.

 

[yossarian]

You got a bike rack on there?

 

[Kernowboy]

67mpg earlier today; 4 up and fully laden .
Val Thorens to Moutiers - wasn’t so good on the way up .
Slowly averaged out to 31mpg over the next 600 miles across France, mostly ACC set to 136 kph (=130 kph on sat nav). Thought that was reasonable.
Apples and pears….

 

[chockswahay]

I took delivery of my Cali Ocean in August 22, and I feel the fuel consumption has slowly declined. It has now covered 4000 miles, is a 150 auto and has 20”wheels. I just had a new year trip to Whitby and the return journey 58 miles which is 50% A roads and 50% dual carriageway gave 29mpg average. Normal local commutes show around 22-25mpg and I get around 390 to 400 miles to a tank of diesel. There are no leaks, but there are often fans blasting out after very short distances.
Is this normal consumption?? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

View attachment 103621

View attachment 103622

View attachment 103623

Yikes! very short journeys? Lead right foot? Drive like you stole it? That does seem excessively high fuel consumption. I have just checked my average over 9100 miles and it turns out to be 39.2 mpg……. The best was 48.7 and the worst was 25.9 (excluding one downhill trip in the Alps of 94.2 over 17 miles haha!)
I would add that we rarely drive less than 20 miles with one short stop, usually more like 100 to 300 miles in one go, so the engine is hot for most of its miles . Also apart from the odd blast I usually cruise at indicated 60 mph. On a day to day basis I feel short changed if less than 37 mpg. Dunno if any of that helps?

 

[Calimili]

29mpg or ~10L/100km is what I ger with my 150PS DSG 4M on 235/55-17". Driving economically, without heavy accelerations . Mixed town, uphills and Motorway at 90-95 mph.
When just driving countryside I get max 35mpg. Tyres pressure regularly checked.
With tailgate bike rack

 

[yossarian]

You got a bike rack on there?

I haven't done it scientifically but anecdotally a bike rack will cost ~ 4mpg. There's also a hit primarily on tyre width. The rolling diameter of your tyres might also give you an indication error -- my speedo overreads a little.

 

[Amarillo]

Over long distances your speed is the biggest factor in fuel consumption. I can get 45 mpg if I drive at no more than 55mph on the motorway.

I did a little experiment in my tiny Skoda Citigo very recently:

SE London to Havant, 95 miles. Cruise control set at no more than 55 mph and I got 70.2 mpg.

Havant to SE London, 95 miles. Cruise control set at no more than 45 mph and I got 82.8 mpg.

 

[Peter84]

I would say your consumption is kinda high.

My 204hp 4motion does between 35-40mpg, but that is in the Netherlands with lots of motorways and no hills.

 

[WelshGas]

I would say your consumption is kinda high.

My 204hp 4motion does between 35-40mpg, but that is in the Netherlands with lots of motorways and no hills.

And I presume without 20" wheels.

 

[Meoncoast]

4000 miles on the clock. I know our vans improved with more miles on the clock.

 

[Peter84]

@WelshGas correct, 17" with 235 all weathers.

 

[pcevanrulo]

We have a 100km/h speedlimit on the Dutch motorways during the day, which saves a lot of fuel. Mixed roads and trips abroad gives us a fuelconsumption of around 7.3l/100km over the last 30k km, with our 150 dsg fwd, with 235-55-17 Conti 4season tyres
We hardly drive over 120kmh!

 

[dspuk]

I wrote a little "poking" ditty on MPG a while ago. TLDR?

My view is drive how you prefer to enjoy the van because the reality of the difference of 5mpg is negligible in the grand scheme of fuel costs per annum.

I bought a 204 and enjoy driving it like a 204. Life to short to drive at 55 on a Motorway to save 20 quid a trip.

ACC and its effect on fuel consumption

Love the ACC on my 2022 Coast. Unfortunately, when going downhill, it drops from 7th to 6th or 5th to maintain the set speed. This really increases fuel consumption, and strains the engine. I find it really irritating. driving without ACC results, for me, in approximately 10% better fuel...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[sidepod]

67mpg earlier today; 4 up and fully laden .
Val Thorens to Moutiers

So freewheeling the entire way down then?

 

[Hedley Wright]

37.5 mpg average since new in July over 6,000 miles, 235/55 R17. Dropped off lately by around 3 mpg, partly due to switch from Bridgestone A008 to Michelin Latitude Cross, shorter trips and cold weather.

 

[Stu@rt]

You mention that "there are often fans blasting out after very short distances."
That is likely to be the cooling fans working to cool down an aborted DPF regen process that has failed to complete during your journey time.
Happens to us all (most), and will happen more often if you use your van for lots of short journeys.
A regen is initiated when the DPF soot level rises above a certain level. The regen process uses more diesel to generate crazy high temperatures in the exhaust system to burn off that soot in the DPF filter.
My Cali is my daily driver and therefore I get the occasional aborted regen. But if I do, then I make sure that the next journey is long enough for the process to complete.
I'm not trying to hijack the thread into another "short journey vs long journey" paranoia one, but merely pointing out that your MPG will suffer quite considerably if you are always in regen mode. As extra diesel is being used constantly to burn off the soot.
Sounds like your recent 58 mile trip would have been a welcome relief to the van and hopefully you wont need another regen for a good few miles (But is required more often with constant short journeys). Just be mindful that if you hear those fans 2 journeys running then you should really take it for a run to help the Cali with its "housekeeping"
Hope that helps.

 

[JoniF64]

The larger wider tyres will be having an impact, more weight and drag, increased fuel consumption.. I have 18's on my van, having changed from 17's, and have seen a slight dip in fuel economy, but still averaging around 35mpg.

Thanks, agree the 20” wheels will have an impact and it’s currently my only vehicle with frequent 3mile journeys, so I expect high consumption when driving locally. However, I was expecting a better return on a longer journey.

 

[JoniF64]

You got a bike rack on there?

You got a bike rack on there?

No bike rack and only 2adults with minimal luggage

 

[JoniF64]

Yikes! very short journeys? Lead right foot? Drive like you stole it? That does seem excessively high fuel consumption. I have just checked my average over 9100 miles and it turns out to be 39.2 mpg……. The best was 48.7 and the worst was 25.9 (excluding one downhill trip in the Alps of 94.2 over 17 miles haha!)
I would add that we rarely drive less than 20 miles with one short stop, usually more like 100 to 300 miles in one go, so the engine is hot for most of its miles . Also apart from the odd blast I usually cruise at indicated 60 mph. On a day to day basis I feel short changed if less than 37 mpg. Dunno if any of that helps?

I tend to drive it really gently, which makes it even more disappointing. Maybe I should just put the original wheels on over winter and see what happens

 

[JoniF64]

Over long distances your speed is the biggest factor in fuel consumption. I can get 45 mpg if I drive at no more than 55mph on the motorway.

I did a little experiment in my tiny Skoda Citigo very recently:

SE London to Havant, 95 miles. Cruise control set at no more than 55 mph and I got 70.2 mpg.

Havant to SE London, 95 miles. Cruise control set at no more than 45 mph and I got 82.8 mpg.

I’m looking at the average consumption not the one that goes up and down during a journey, not sure everyone is comparing the same?

 

[JoniF64]

You mention that "there are often fans blasting out after very short distances."
That is likely to be the cooling fans working to cool down an aborted DPF regen process that has failed to complete during your journey time.
Happens to us all (most), and will happen more often if you use your van for lots of short journeys.
A regen is initiated when the DPF soot level rises above a certain level. The regen process uses more diesel to generate crazy high temperatures in the exhaust system to burn off that soot in the DPF filter.
My Cali is my daily driver and therefore I get the occasional aborted regen. But if I do, then I make sure that the next journey is long enough for the process to complete.
I'm not trying to hijack the thread into another "short journey vs long journey" paranoia one, but merely pointing out that your MPG will suffer quite considerably if you are always in regen mode. As extra diesel is being used constantly to burn off the soot.
Sounds like your recent 58 mile trip would have been a welcome relief to the van and hopefully you wont need another regen for a good few miles (But is required more often with constant short journeys). Just be mindful that if you hear those fans 2 journeys running then you should really take it for a run to help the Cali with its "housekeeping"
Hope that helps.

Thanks, this is really helpful, I have heard of the regen increases fuel consumption, and due to frequent short journeys it’s not helping, especially in cold weather. More good runs are required.

 

[chockswahay]

Thanks, this is really helpful, I have heard of the regen increases fuel consumption, and due to frequent short journeys it’s not helping, especially in cold weather. More good runs are required.

Time for a small second car maybe? Use that for the run around and the Cali for the real fun! (that’s what we do)

 

[B J G]

20" wheels usually have 275/40/20 tyres which are expensive resulting in wheel/tyre packages utilising lower priced brands which will have low fuel economy ratings.

Check out the rating given for the tyres fitted, may give a clue to poor consumption.