Fuel economy

[soulstyledevon]

Next target - 40mpg.

I’ve hit that four times:
13 March 2018 between Argos and Alexandropolis (1013 Km between refills)
13/16 April 2018 between Brasov and Dubrovnik (two refills, one incomplete to dispose of Romanian currency, 1422 Km)
28 June 2018 including London to Tenby and back (1062 Km between refills)
26 November 2018 London to Derbyshire and back (1083 Km between refills)

Im trying honestly...
But not sure its ever gonna happen, i like the pedal on the right too much

 

[Amarillo]

Im trying honestly...
But not sure its ever gonna happen, i like the pedal on the right too much

Drive imagining you have a ming vase stuck on the roof with blu tack.

 

[MattBW]

I borrowed a 150ps T6 kombi whilst my Cali was in for roof repair. This was consistently over 42mpg even around town which makes me wonder about the regen too. Puts my 114 to shame. I am intending to get it retuned to 140 or maybe even a little higher, really loved the 150s performance.

 

[SailSki]

Our Cali seems to have Ming the Merciless rather than Ming the Plant Pot Vase on the roof

 

[Erbster]

Just double checked. Thanks
No, definitely set to miles/UK

Quite happy to finally hit 30mpg figures.

I would have thought urban miles would produce better mpg than motorway mileage.
Let’s face it, the Cali is like a brick cutting through the air on the motorway. It’s not what you would call aerodynamic.

Sure, high speed is not great for fuel economy but I think s big factor is changing speed. The best fuel economy comes from steady speed. My best fuel economy came from steady 65 on flat empty Spanish/French motorways. I only wind the speed up if I think I’m likely to be able to maintain it. I do often lack the patience to keep the speed down


https://caliventures364847572.wordpress.com/

 

[Scorf]

Just completed very first tank full in the new Beach. Only 500 miles on the clock so engine still very tight. Averaged 33.56mpg over 377 miles of mixed driving, plus there was a little heater use whilst we were playing with our new toy, so actual I would expect nearer to the MFD average of 35ish.....

Almost all of this tank full has been completed with the TDI-Tuning box turned off (some minor issues here, another story...) but on the few occasions I have had it on it did seem to make a material difference when cruising, so hopefully when issues are sorted this will add a few extra mpg into the mix.

From having the constant consumption display on, its obvious that pulling away and getting the 2.3 tonnes moving has a huge effect on consumption. Once upto speed the readings are high 40's and above, but getting unto speed its quite frightening to see single digit MPG!

One slight off topic question.... on the MFD, between the two solid lines, I have a digital speed readout in km/h. I've checked the manual & played around with the system, but can't seem to change this to something more practical, yet I saw a picture of another MFD with other info being displayed.... Any ideas anyone??

 

[MarkVw2017]

Just been to & from the Scottish Highlands --

measured over ~1000 miles my new Beach (with awning + bike rack) averaged ~34 miles per gallon, is this OK or excessive?
Seems about right. Im like u, got a new besch, 35-37mpg

i was driving about 70mph on the motorways which made up the bulk of the distance

 

[soulstyledevon]

Our fan runs quite a lot too. Interesting to see if others do.


View attachment 42416

Yesterday, drove to work.
6 miles, fan spinning when engine off.
Lunchtime drove to Balsall Common and back to work, fan spinning again.
Drive home from work, again fan spinning once home.

If this is an indication of a regen, then surely it’s set to regen far to often...???

 

[Eber123]

Good morning,

I drove back home two days ago on the motorway. Getting out of Dublin late in the afternoon was slow because of the heavy traffic. Further on the motorway was busy but it "rolled" (about 90 km/h). The distance was about 35 km.

Coming home parking the car in front of the house and switching of the engine the fan continued to spin.

I gave up to understand under what circumstances the electronic decide to keep the regeneration on or not. I try to trust the VW developers to ensure it is done right - at the end this kind of van with this kind of engine was produced so often, they should know what they are doing (...oh, I am so innocent ).

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[2into1]

A regen is like a hovercraft taking off.....well not quite but you get the idea. Stood next to the van it is hot and smells hot. They are now programmed to do one every 2 hours so long as you have more than 1/4 tank of fuel (this was covered on another thread but basically to do with their being enough fuel to cool the returning fuel which is hotter during a regen....much more fuel gets pumped around the system than is used apparently).

If it’s doing a regen, your idle revs will be at 1000 and the auto stop start won’t operate.

 

[SailSki]

Hi, on the off-topic MFD query, if I remember correctly you can change the digital speed readout from mph to kmh from the Settings section of the MFD, but it is only accessible when you are stationary

 

[WelshGas]

Yesterday, drove to work.
6 miles, fan spinning when engine off.
Lunchtime drove to Balsall Common and back to work, fan spinning again.
Drive home from work, again fan spinning once home.

If this is an indication of a regen, then surely it’s set to regen far to often...???

Probably the Regen has not completed. Distance and/or temperatures not sufficient. On my T5.1 I have never noticed a Regen happening.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Probably the Regen has not completed. Distance and/or temperatures not sufficient. On my T5.1 I have never noticed a Regen happening.

I never noticed a Regen on my old T5.1 either. I also never had a single issue with the system (DPF) in the 5-6 years I owned the vehicle.
Can’t say I’m in love with this T6 motor. Really hope Volkswagen look at a better diesel power plant going forward which is less complicated.

 

[motacyclist]

I never noticed a Regen on my old T5.1 either. I also never had a single issue with the system (DPF) in the 5-6 years I owned the vehicle.
Can’t say I’m in love with this T6 motor. Really hope Volkswagen look at a better diesel power plant going forward which is less complicated.

What you want is an engine with a carburettor on one side, exhaust manifold on the other, rocker box cover in the middle topped off with an air cleaner that resembles a frying pan. Also a distributor, ht leads and an aerosol of water dispersant in the glove box.

 

[Pips Dad]

What you want is an engine with a carburettor on one side, exhaust manifold on the other, rocker box cover in the middle topped off with an air cleaner that resembles a frying pan. Also a distributor, ht leads and an aerosol of water dispersant in the glove box.

I agree! You lift the bonnet of the T6 and look into the hole. Where are the bits that look like an engine?
All this emission control stuff and they are still polluting us apparently. My T6 runs very smoothly though and seems to exhaust fresh air! I love it.

 

[Scorf]

So now have 1500miles on the clock & yesterday completed a 340mile round trip to Norwich & back. Mainly fast dual carriageway & motorway (3hrs each way, so good average speed), I had set the TDI Tuning box to level 1 which is 'only' +32bhp but best for economy.

On the way there, used cruise control set at 70mph (apart from some fixed speed roadwork sections), and averaged 41mpg according to the MFD.

On the way back, cruise set at 65mph, and by the time we were home had achieved a very creditable 45mpg!...... no delays, queues or hold ups on either run it should be said!

Needless to say I'm delighted with that from such a large heavy vehicle, now with wider 255 tyres on & still a relatively 'tight' new engine.

 

[Amarillo]

On the way back, cruise set at 65mph, and by the time we were home had achieved a very creditable 45mpg!...... no delays, queues or hold ups on either run it should be said!

The MFD is an unreliable measure of fuel economy. I'm currently trying to gauge just how unreliable by comparing brim to brim measurements with MFD readings.

Date of refuel	Distance (miles)	Refuel (litres)	Brim to brim (MPG)	MFD (MPG)	Percent difference
13 March 2019	561	71.17	35.84	40.5	13.0%
5 April 2019	388	67.50	26.11	29.4	12.6%
16 April 2019	519	70.99	33.23	37.1	11.6%
11 May 2019	444	20.00	Part fill
16 May 2019	120	72.03	Brim fill
16 May 2019	564	92.03	27.87	31.8	14.1%

Of course, brim to brim measurements can be inaccurate too: poorly calibrated filling station fuel pumps, inaccurate odometer, use of parking heater, etc.

 

[Scorf]

Hi Tom, I absolutely agree from the accuracy, whole tank perspective, because as you say, use of the Diesel heater can affect the whole calculation....

I was more interested to see the difference in journey figures at the two different cruise control speeds, (obviously prevailing wind direction & overall altitude changes between start & finish should also be considered) but even if its 10% off, I'm still more than happy....

Now just looking forward to a reasonable length trip towing our big German caravan to compare the Cali against our previous tow vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser....

 

[SailSki]

Hi, I work in the oil industry (but not that much on the retail side), but all service station pumps have to be calibrated on a regular basis, and the tolerance is pretty tight. However fuel expands/contracts with tenperature and in some countries the pumps are measuring ambient litres rather than converted to a reference temperature (normally 15degC). For example, Diesel at 8 degC is around 0.8% less volume than at 15 degC.
Between these two it can account for some differences but not by much.
However on some trips I see horrific consumption in my 204 4M Ocean, eg 13l/100km = 22mpg on a 3 hour mainly motorway trip, but this seems to coincide with a DPF regen.

 

[Eber123]

Good afternoon,

I only fill up the tank to the brim. So, there shouldn't be a lot room for errors (of course a bit difference in measurements there is).

As mentioned in a previous post there seems to be a difference in l/km on the dashboard and re-fill with diesel. The long term usage on the dashboard shows normally 6.3 to 7.0 l per 100 km. The average l/km in re-filling is 7.7 l / km.

Date	Km	l	L / 100 km
04.05.2019	287	21.4	7.5
27.04.2019	511	39.6	7.7
13.04.2019	196	14.7	7.5
06.04.2019	237	19.4	8.2
30.03.2019	374	25.6	6.8
23.03.2019	447	33.8	7.6
16.03.2019	348	25	7.2
09.03.2019	309	24.5	7.9
02.03.2019	475	34.2	7.2
23.02.2019	498	37.2	7.5
16.02.2019	339	26.6	7.8
09.02.2019	181	15.9	8.8
02.02.2019	316	21.1	6.7
26.01.2019	216	20	9.3
19.01.2019	245	20.3	8.3
12.01.2019	386	28.8	7.5
03.01.2019	298	22.8	7.7

So far I have not checked it, but on days with re-fills the van computer could say 6.4 l / km which is actually 1.1 l / km less than actually measured.

I would have loved t see both figures closer together.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Loz]

Although brim to brim is the best way to get an accurate mpg, it doesn't take into account use by the diesel heater, although the heater only uses a little, it can add up over a long stay and knock the calculation for some fill-ups during the winter months.

 

[Eber123]

Well, I thought about this too, but I did not use the heater the last months (I know I should have to keep it in working order, but I didn't).

Sometimes I let the engine "idle" a wee bit, until I have cleaned the windows (rain, not frost) but I stopped doing this. Also I keep the "stop - start" function switched on as match as possible and use cruise control as much as possible (even for stretches of a few kilometer. I believe it is the best way to ensure to stick with the speed limit).

Never the less there seems to be a difference between display and measured diesel consumption. If it would be only 0.1l or 0.2l / km that would be acceptable. Because that would come from different form of usage. But this is a lot.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Loz]

Don't forget the dreaded DPF regenerations, that uses more fuel every 200 miles.

 

[Eber123]

Dear Loz, that is a good point.

I would love to knowm ore about the DPF regnerations. Does it really kick in every 200 miles? I thought it will kick in when needed. Also I was wondering how much diesel is used when the DPF regeneration is going through its's cycle. Is it really that much that it impacts the diesel consumption?

Regards,
Eberhard.

 

[B J G]

Previous info on here is that the DPF Regen cycles every 2 hours of engine run time. Doubt if you cruise at over 100MPH so looks more like around the 110 mile mark given a normal average 55 miles travelled per hour.

I did notice that mine was running when arriving at the Supermarket (engine off for shopping time) and still running when back home, 7 miles distance on back roads & approx 10 mins trip.