2022 T6.1 Ocean Fuel Consumption

[andyinluton]

Let’s have some rules then and make it a contest running to end of 2023.
Minimum journey time one hour ?
Photo evidence necessary. Only submit photo if you beat current leader.
Obviously I can’t win starting from Mansfield.
No, I need to overnight in a high place next to a 40 mile downhill straight, leisure batteries fully charged, and latch on to a passing high sided vehicle travelling at about 45mph.
PhilR could be current leader but 34mph average on M6 is pretty slow ? Should there be a minimum speed ?

Needs to be minimum journey distance rather than time. If not I can win in it just by pressing reset at the highest part of the Dartford Bridge & spending an hour in the queue rolling down the other side.

 

[Calimili]

One of the reasons I bought a California it is that, compared to other Motorhomes, is way faster, almost at the level of a small engine car as opposed to a Motorhome which drives like a fully loaded (3,5t ) truck.
If i now have to drive it super slow too, in order to save 100 quids a year, i might have as well bought a 7,5m big white. It will drive the same but I get a whole house with me at destination.

 

[Mr B]

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

I did 2800 miles in the Summer to Norway and back (visiting many countries on the journey including Germany).

I got 33.4mpg average for the whole trip - I have offroad tyres and a bike rack.

I drove on average around 85mph in most of Germany - so that didn't help.

Your 20" wheels might not be helping those low figures. I mean my offroad tyres are not designed for maximising MPG but your figures seem really low. Maybe something is dragging on the braking system.

(As an aside - the autobahns are insane - cars fly past at 150mph+ - an Audi Q7 made the van rock violently from the air pressure when it passed... I dread to think what that would of done if it had hit us. We called the autobahn passing lane the 'loony lane'. Mental. )

 

[Mansfieldman750]

Needs to be minimum journey distance rather than time. If not I can win in it just by pressing reset at the highest part of the Dartford Bridge & spending an hour in the queue rolling down the other side.

Then 40 mile minimum trip at a minimum average of 40mph. Sorry PhilR you’re disqualified and have to do it all over again

 

[Amarillo]

Then 40 mile minimum trip at a minimum average of 40mph. Sorry PhilR you’re disqualified and have to do it all over again

I don’t see the need for a minimum average speed. I think the best fuel consumption figures are at over 40mph.

But I do think that the trip should be a circuit, so starting and ending at the same altitude.

I also think that the minimum distance should be 100 miles. A lap of the M25 (117 miles) would be perfect, anti clockwise being slightly shorter than clockwise.

Wind speed also makes a difference. A cyclone centred over Trafalgar Square would make a significant contribution to fuel consumption for an M25 lap clockwise vs anti clockwise.

 

[andrew bazeley]

I have a 15-year-old 2.5 TDI, with all standard parts (including standard wheel-widths). No modifications to the original engine, and the average mileage (no really long motorway journeys or high speeds) is around 30mpg. Mostly local trips.

 

[WelshGas]

A 6000 mile trip from South Wales to Knordkapp return using the Harwich ferry returned 31.4 mpg, using brim to brim, on a 180 biturbo. Parking Heater in use every night for about 15 hrs/night, over 20 nights.

I definitely was not travelling at 45 miles/hr, nor slipsteaming.

 

[chockswahay]

It does have it, all VW with the DSG box have it as standard.
Theres a tick box in vehicle settings to turn it on & off.

No I don’t have it…. this has been said before….. my son has it on his T6 and I like it but it’s deffo not available on my 2020 T6.1

 

[andyinluton]

No I don’t have it…. this has been said before….. my son has it on his T6 and I like it but it’s deffo not available on my 2020 T6.1

Sorry there's a fundamental typing error in what I said.
It should have read:

It does have it, all VW with the DSG box have it as standard.
Theres no longer a tick box in vehicle settings to turn it on & off.

T6 had a tick box, the T6.1 doesn't, it works automatically. drive up to a reasonable speed on a level or downhill bit of road & take your foot of the accelerator the gear indicator will change from showing say D7 to just D
Turn it off by putting gearbox in manual mode, or touch the accelerator or brake.

 

[Pollewop]

My two cents: I've driven about 16000 km with our 150 bhp/DSG 2Motion t 6.1 Coast (from March 2022) and my long-term average fuel consumption is 40 mpg, with an average speed of 65 km/h.
Our Cali is fitted with Continental VanContact 4season 215/65 r16c tyres, so a mere 16"...
I'm under the impression that tyre size has quit a (reversely proportional) effect on the mpg.
And, of course, BIG tyres look swanky, but it comes with a price...

 

[Mansfieldman750]

I can see that the idea of a fuel economy contest is frowned upon and I withdraw the suggestion.
I do like the one about the anti-cyclone on the M25 though. That’s got to be best put down I’ve ever suffered

 

[Amarillo]

I can see that the idea of a fuel economy contest is frowned upon and I withdraw the suggestion.
I do like the one about the anti-cyclone on the M25 though. That’s got to be best put down I’ve ever suffered

We did once have a competition. From Calais to the 2017 Champagne meet.

@Jabberwocky won with an impressive 48.2 mpg. He avoided motorways and stuck to the Route National roads.

Champagne meet 2017 pictures and reports

@all , WELCOME to the 1st CHAMPAGNE MEET ! The sun has come out and we are three allready !

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Mansfieldman750]

We did once have a competition. From Calais to the 2017 Champagne meet.

@Jabberwocky won with an impressive 48.2 mpg. He avoided motorways and stuck to the Route National roads.

Champagne meet 2017 pictures and reports

@all , WELCOME to the 1st CHAMPAGNE MEET ! The sun has come out and we are three allready !

vwcaliforniaclub.com

That was a pretty surreal trip. Sort of like a cross between Jack Kerouac and Jeremy Clarkson

 

[JoniF64]

I did 2800 miles in the Summer to Norway and back (visiting many countries on the journey including Germany).

I got 33.4mpg average for the whole trip - I have offroad tyres and a bike rack.

I drove on average around 85mph in most of Germany - so that didn't help.

Your 20" wheels might not be helping those low figures. I mean my offroad tyres are not designed for maximising MPG but your figures seem really low. Maybe something is dragging on the braking system.

(As an aside - the autobahns are insane - cars fly past at 150mph+ - an Audi Q7 made the van rock violently from the air pressure when it passed... I dread to think what that would of done if it had hit us. We called the autobahn passing lane the 'loony lane'. Mental. )

Thanks, Norway sounds amazing, definitely on our list to visit. I agree i think the 20" wheels are against us, but i think our main problem currently is too many short runs and never getting properly warmed up. Interestingly i had a trip to York on Saturday, about40 miles round trip and i got 32mpg average for the journey! Im going to increase tyre pressures and monitor. I did a European trip summer 2022 on my BMW motorbike down through Bavaria into Switzerland, Italy and Austria before returning via Luxembourg. We travelled the autobahn and i agree its crazy. I found the only way on the bike was to cruise at 100mph + so that the big German cars don't creep up too fast. looking forward to hitting Europe in the Cali this summer.

 

[chockswahay]

Sorry there's a fundamental typing error in what I said.
It should have read:

It does have it, all VW with the DSG box have it as standard.
Theres no longer a tick box in vehicle settings to turn it on & off.

T6 had a tick box, the T6.1 doesn't, it works automatically. drive up to a reasonable speed on a level or downhill bit of road & take your foot of the accelerator the gear indicator will change from showing say D7 to just D
Turn it off by putting gearbox in manual mode, or touch the accelerator or brake.

Sorry Andy, don’t want to sound like a dog with a bone but my van really does not have the Coast function, I have used it plenty of times on my Sons van but it’s deffo not on mine

 

[andyinluton]

Sorry Andy, don’t want to sound like a dog with a bone but my van really does not have the Coast function, I have used it plenty of times on my Sons van but it’s deffo not on mine

I don’t believe you! Unless you have had a one off built specially without it, or have faulty gearbox. It comes as standard on every transporter with a DSG box.

 

[Christine Kirk]

Seems a bit high: our 199 DSG 4motion betters that all the time but it’s on standard 17 tyres we do lots of longer runs( did 240 miles yesterday!} so it has now done over 40K since Jan 2019. Only heard the regen fan blowing a few times since new so the long runs must suit the engine, which is a commercial thing.

For the record our DSG gearbox has a coast function.

 

[CraigD]

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….

I hit over 90 mpg fully laden on way down from Les Menuires to Moutiers with a Caravelle a couple of years ago. Like you that figure soon disappeared!

 

[willwander]

Thanks, Norway sounds amazing, definitely on our list to visit. I agree i think the 20" wheels are against us, but i think our main problem currently is too many short runs and never getting properly warmed up. Interestingly i had a trip to York on Saturday, about40 miles round trip and i got 32mpg average for the journey! Im going to increase tyre pressures and monitor. I did a European trip summer 2022 on my BMW motorbike down through Bavaria into Switzerland, Italy and Austria before returning via Luxembourg. We travelled the autobahn and i agree its crazy. I found the only way on the bike was to cruise at 100mph + so that the big German cars don't creep up too fast. looking forward to hitting Europe in the Cali this summer.

Tyre pressure makes a big difference.

 

[Resfeber]

This item from Parker’s guide

Volkswagen California (2024) mpg, costs & reliability

Read Parkers' expert advice for the Volkswagen California running costs, mpg, fuel economy, how it performs compared to its rivals and more.

www.parkers.co.uk

is some comfort in than many of us are getting WLTP standard fuel consumption results ( or better ) from their T6 ‘s and similar to T6.1 WLTP

What is WLTP? Worldwide harmonised light vehicle test procedure - everything you need to know

UK fuel economy figures are moving from the 'NEDC' standard to a new 'WLTP' test. Find out what it means to you – and how accurately this reflects real-world driving

www.parkers.co.uk

 

[chockswahay]

I don’t believe you! Unless you have had a one off built specially without it, or have faulty gearbox. It comes as standard on every transporter with a DSG box.

Nope, it’s not on mine

 

[Amarillo]

Nope, it’s not on mine

I wonder if you can get it added with a software update?

Here’s the check box on my T6 to toggle the function on/off.

 

[andyinluton]

I wonder if you can get it added with a software update?

Here’s the check box on my T6 to toggle the function on/off.

There no way of toggling it on or off on a T6.1 the van chooses when to turn it on & off itself.
So far I've found the following will prevent it working:
Touching the accelerator
Touching the brake
Aircon on full blast
High electrical load - heated seats & screen all on
Battery needing charging
Any situation where the stop start isn't turned on.

 

[Resfeber]

There no way of toggling it on or off on a T6.1 the van chooses when to turn it on & off itself.
So far I've found the following will prevent it working:
Touching the accelerator
Touching the brake
Aircon on full blast
High electrical load - heated seats & screen all on
Battery needing charging
Any situation where the stop start isn't turned on.

I assume the definitive indicator of coasting being operative on a dsg equipped T6.1 is that when “coasting” is operational, the rev counter will drop to idle rpm of between 800 and 1000 when you lift off, whereas with coasting not operating, lifting off will see the revs slowly decline, the rate depending on gradient or the dsg may change down which will increase revs but will result in increased engine braking which should be easily felt by the driver.

@chockswahay have you observed any reduction in rpm to idle when taking foot off accelerator on level road?

@andyinluton Interesting to see your compendium of items that cancel the coasting auto function, sure there may be more (what happens if towing?)

 

[andyinluton]

I assume the definitive indicator of coasting being operative on a dsg equipped T6.1 is that when “coasting” is operational, the rev counter will drop to idle rpm of between 800 and 1000 when you lift off,

Theres another sign certainly on a an Ocean with the digital dash, the large gear indicator goes from say D6 showing that I'm in drive in 6th gear goes to just D, I seem to remember the loan panel van I had with the none digital dash had the gear indicator in the MDF & the it did the same.