MK7 GTD - Real Life MPG

[monkeyhanger]

Andyk11:

My Scirocco’s mpg didn’t improve appreciably with time/miles, but it’s output did (a single huge step at 320 miles/500Km and small gradual gains after that). Perhaps I took advantage of the extra go as it developed and negated any mpg gains. My actual mpg has been solidly consistent with my fill ups also - 42.3 to 42.5mpg actual, using Shell V-power. Hoping to see a noticeable improvement when the last of the V-power has run out and I switch to normal Shell. If I see a 10% improvement in my actual mpg then mine will be on a par with yours and just about surpassing my Scirocco (51mpg indicated/46mpg actual – on average).

The TDI-tuning.co.uk box I have fitted at setting 4 of 7 seems to have the GTD at my stock expectations in terms of performance, just about surpassing the Scirocco. Hopefully with regular Shell and a (fingers crossed) 5-10% gain in mpg should come with a corresponding performance increase too.

[andyk11]

Cheers MH... your Scirocco sounds a bit like my previous Octavia vRS CR... that always had consistent economy from new as well.

I'm still interested in getting the TDI-Tuning box for the increased power rather than any claimed economy improvements.  Although as I discovered last night the Bridgestones are rubbish at putting the stock power down in the damp!

[monkeyhanger]

Cheers MH... your Scirocco sounds a bit like my previous Octavia vRS CR... that always had consistent economy from new as well.

I'm still interested in getting the TDI-Tuning box for the increased power rather than any claimed economy improvements.  Although as I discovered last night the Bridgestones are rubbish at putting the stock power down in the damp!

They are really bad in the wet. They’re not amazing in the dry either. My dad cannot get GTD his to tramp at all (Dunlops, DSG), but I can get mine to tramp just about in the dry in 1st and in the damp with 1st and 2nd quite easily – traction issues when hoofing it in the damp in 3rd at 65mph. I’m sure 4th /5th /6th  won’t be an issue, but that box is going to do nowt for you screaming away from lights if you have Bridgestones on.

[Skinnee D]

I was out on Sunday for a couple of hours with a mix of motorway and a roads and believe it or not the car decided to regen just as I pulled up outside the house and that's using normal shell. I didn't see more than 1regen when I used the vpower diesel but have had three already using normal stuff.

How’s your mpg though on the normal stuff? Better than with V-power I hope.

I do wonder whether V-power has a cleaner burn because there is less combustible product per litre to burn (because it has a lower density), and because of that it doesn’t need a high Cetane number to completely (or nearly completely) combust.

Although saying that, I have had 2 regen attempts recently on 100% V-power, maybe it’s the colder mornings making the car take longer to warm up and work at its most efficient.

Sometimes regens seem to start at the end of a journey for me – quite inconvenient when you pull up and the car is making a racket because the fans are going full tilt to cool the car.

Mind just did its first active regen (that I've noticed) when I got home.  Ran for maybe 10 mins and smelt very hot - thought I'd better keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't catch fire .  I'm wondering whether this is something specific to the design of modern VAG diesel PF's, or do other current makes do a similar thing?

[Sootchucker]

Speaking of the regens, I know there are 2 types, active and passive. I guess the active one is where the car deliberately raises the temperature of the exhaust gasses, hence probably why the fan runs on after shut off to cool everything down.

In the 1½ months and 1200 miles I've had the car, I've had experience of maybe 3 times of the stop / start deactivating itself and the revs ticking over at around 1000rpm (rather than the usual 800 rpm), and this has always been coming to a stop off a motorway junction after a 70-75mph run ?.

I assume then the car was doing an active regen ? It's just that when ever I have stopped the car, I've never once had the fan running on or any unusual smells (other than when the car was literally brand new and I had that paint burning smell you get with all new cars). On switch off the car is always deathly quiet and smell free. So the question is, are these active regens (or passive), and is it just that by the time I switch the car off the regen has finished (that's why I don't have the fan running on) ?

Is there any other way to tell ?

[Skinnee D]

Yesterday's active regen was the first (done 900 miles so far).  This week has been all short journeys which might explain it.

I also noticed driving home before it happened that the gear shift indicator was encouraging a lower gear than normal.  I think I read somewhere in the manual that is all part of getting the regen cycle to complete quicker.  It also mentioned that for auto cars (presumably meaning DSG in auto mode) the car may run at an increased rpm/lower gear ratio to aid the regen cycle.  Whether this is all specific to an active regen cycle I'm not sure.

Norbreck - if you've been doing plenty of motorway-type driving that most probably explains why you've yet to experience the joys of an active regen after switch-off.

[Skinnee D]

They are really bad in the wet. They’re not amazing in the dry either. My dad cannot get GTD his to tramp at all (Dunlops, DSG), but I can get mine to tramp just about in the dry in 1st and in the damp with 1st and 2nd quite easily – traction issues when hoofing it in the damp in 3rd at 65mph. I’m sure 4th /5th /6th  won’t be an issue, but that box is going to do nowt for you screaming away from lights if you have Bridgestones on.
[/quote]

MH - with all that hoofing I'm not surprised your economy is worse than mine
I'm still taking it easy but will start to open it up now with a few miles on.
Mine came with Continentals - never had them before so will be interesting to see how they perform in anger...

[mcmaddy]

conti's are great tyres. had them on my Leon fr and they were an excellent the.

[Skinnee D]

conti's are great tyres. had them on my Leon fr and they were an excellent the.

Cheers Mcmaddy, that's encouraging.

[KyleB]

Just thought I'd add my experiences. I've been getting high 40s low 50s on a regular basis with supermarket fuel. Decided to give shell a try (non v power) and ever since I've not seen over 43. Going to give it another tank full of shell but not impressed so far.