How big is the fuel tank - really??

[RedRobin]

....

I've often put in over 50 litres. It's listed as 55 capacity IIRC.

Also, even when the display says I've got 0 miles left (after a countdown with the fuel pump symbol) I've had another 20 miles.

Not something I've wanted to do too often but just trying to make it to a Shell station.

[jphealy]

Does the computer count down your range in 10s of km? (I'm in Ireland, so my display is in km)  Anytime I've checked my range, it's been a multiple of ten.  Maybe when it's in miles, it's in multiples of 5?

[AlanD]

UK ones count down in multiples of 5 miles.

[bobotheclown]

If you have highline you might be able to change the Km to Miles and vice versa. As I'm old school and measure large distances by miles I have left it on that setting. Though I measure smaller things in millimetres which is odd. Maybe I'm just confused.

[jphealy]

Well 5 miles is 8km, which I guess is close enough to 10.  Not quite as accurate as the imperial cars though!

I don't have highline (which is very annoying - but it's hardly worth retro-fitting, is it?  Anybody have an idea how much VW charge for this?).  Anyway, I'm doing my best to think metric all the time as it just makes so much more sense (but I'm still a little more used to miles).  In Ireland for years and years, all distance road signs were in km, while speed limits and car speedos have been in miles.  How crazy is that?!  It was only a few years ago that we eventually switched the speed limits and car speedos to match.

[AlanD]

For the additional options you get I doubt it will be worth it, id imagine VW will pull your pants down on the cost of getting it fitted.

[RedRobin]

For the additional options you get I doubt it will be worth it, id imagine VW will pull your pants down on the cost of getting it fitted.

....I don't think it is worth the very high cost of changing from Mid to Highline. You can easily change settings via VAS or VCSD(VAGcom). I regretted not ordering Highline at first but not any longer.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

The warning light will come on when you have about 30 miles left of fuel give or take. That about as much input as I can give, never really noted how much I stick in, just fill her up and be done with it tbh.

That isn't quite correct.  The fuel warning light should first come on when there is about 7 litres remaining in the tank.  The 'miles remaining' in the DIS is completely variable, because the DIS readings actually continuously adjust.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

I picked up my new (to me) '06 GTI last Saturday.  Fuel warning came on yesterday, and I went and filled it up today.  The needle had been in the red (although not quite at the bottom) and I had probably driven about 20 miles since the warning light came on.

When I went to fill up today, the pump put in 53.6 litres of fuel before it stopped.  The tank is supposedly 55l, right?  Does that mean that all I had left in the tank was 1.4l?  That seems very little to me.

If the fuel light came on yesterday, you then parked up overnight, and then drove a further 20miles from a cold start, then it is perfectly likely that you only had 1.4 litres left!  A close call.

Is it possible the tank is maybe closer to 60l in reality?  What's the max amount of fuel you were ever able to put in?

OK, the fuel tank on all front wheel drive Mk5 Golfs (not too sure about the 4motion ones) has a nominal capacity of 55 litres.  What that basically means - from a bone dry tank, to the first click-stop on a correctly calibrated fuel delivery nozzle (using a set delivery rate, delivering un-aireated fuel at ambient temps), in a car parked on the level - and you should be able to get near as damn it 55 litres.  However, with a little care, and a lot of patience, if you want to actually 'brim' the tank (which is the only real way for accurate fuel consumption calculations), then you can actually get a further 10 litres in.  But these last 10 litres can take just as long as the first 55 litres.  Most 'hatchback' styled cars are like this, whereas conventional saloon cars tend to be less (on the Audi A4 range, you can only squeeze an extra 2 litres).

So in nerd mode, even though the GTI is supposed to only have a 55 litre tank, I can sometimes get more fuel in that, than I can in my RS4, which has a 63 litre tank! 

A word of CAUTION though.    If you do decide to 'brim' your tank, then do NOT immediately park it up - especially if it is a black (or dark coloured) car, and you leave it in bright sunlight.  Because if you do, you will probably find that most of that extra 10 litres has been vented out the overflow, right next to your right rear tyre! 

[jphealy]

Good knowledge as always T_T!