Volkswagen GTI Real World MPG

petervm

I have a 2007 Golf GTI that has done only only 5000 miles. I am averaging 13 MPG in the city!! And that is when I drive it carefully. The local dealer tells me that they cannot do anything if there are no warning lights on and basically does not believe me. Any ideas what may be wrong? Anyone else ever experienced this? I am lost as to what to do... Appreciate any advice..

mapssi

If you averaging low miles something is wrong with your emmissions or/and your Air/fuel mixture. The car somehow does not get enouph air thus using more fuel. Tell the dealer to check the emisions and re-flash your ECU. :shades:

petervm

Thanks. Unfortunately I have a dealer that refuses to check the car if there are no warning lights on. I will try again to insist that they do the things you have suggested.

geeteeeye

Are you getting this number (13 mpg) from the information center on the dashboard or do you calculate mpg from the number of miles driven on a full tank of gas divided by the the number of gallons required on the next fill-up? The second method will be more accurate. Also, are you driving with the AC on? This will lower the mpg by about 5 mpg.

In mixed city/highway driving I've gotten as low as 24 mpg in my 07 GTI. If you were really getting 13 mpg, you would smell lots of stinky fumes from the tailpipe if the fuel/air mixture were too high. Barring this, look for a mechanical problem like a leaky fuel line, which doesn't register on any warning lights.

extech2

I calculated my average mpg on a 1400 mile trip as 27.4 and the onboard comp. gave me 27.6 which is very close. This includes dirt roads, city streets, country roads and highway miles up to the top speed of 133. I will write a longer report on the general GTI forum. Don't get this car for superior gas mileage because you will be disappointed. As a true sports car the GTI works great.

spawn6578

I am having the same problem. My milage inside city is ~14 mpg and it started after 4500 miles. I went to my local dealer and they checked the engine but they told me that they couldn't find anything and engine is fine.

petervm is your problem solved? if so, how and what was the problem?

upstatedoc

Just about 1.5k miles on the GTI now, mixed driving I'm getting around 24 mpg. Highway I can't seem to break the 28 mpg barrier, the best was 28.4 mpg purely highway at around 75mph.

Yesterday I decided to "stretch" the GTI's legs a little on the highway to see what the mileage would be at high mph. At between 85-110 mph (don't try this at home) for extended periods I was still able to get 27mpg! BTW, the car is rock solid at any speed, even more so than the '05 TL I had a while back. Smooth as silk, even @ 110 mph there was still plenty of tachometer to go. Awesome. :shades:

extech2

I get about 21 MPG in city driving, in heavy traffic. This with driving gently with an occasional quick pass. The comp. will show about 0.5 more, as 21.5 averaged over several tanks. Going home Friday night in very heavy traffic I'd get 20. Going back to work Saturday morning, no traffic, my comp shows 25 MPG for a 13 mile drive. On the freeway I can get about 27 MPG.
Once I had it redlined and the car topped out at exactly 133 mph, verified by the Garmin GPS. When I glanced at the current MPG readout I've seen 6.7 MPG. The car handles that speed really well, no drama to it. And I agree, don't try this at home. Mine is an 07 GTI with the DSG transmission.

roscoe108

I have an '07 GTI with the 6-speed manual, and the odometer reading 7,500 miles. Thirteen mpg is horrendous, I totally agree.

Before modifications, I was seeing 21 mpg city and 31 mpg highway. After getting the APR engine remap and a Neuspeed cold air intake, my mileage has improved. Now I'm seeing about 22 - 23 mpg in the city (mix of normal driving, stop-and-go, and leadfoot) and 36 mpg highway. The highway figure surprised me quite a bit, but I drive reasonably on freeways (about 70 mph) and use the cruise control whenever possible. And yes, I came to that figure based on actual fuel consumed, rather than the computer readout.

The APR chip boosted torque by quite a bit (up to 303 lb-ft over the stock 207), which allows me to get up to speed using lower rpm's, which helps reduce gas consumption. Meanwhile the CAI helps with more efficient breathing and cooler air for the turbo (for greater combustion). The two mods together are a well-paired combination of technologies.

So, 260+ horsepower with a combined 28 mpg. Works for me :>)

stevedebi

"Smooth as silk, even 110 mph there was still plenty of tachometer to go. "

maximum speed in not limited by engine RPM. It is generally limited by the final rear end ratio or by engine computer software.

I remember driving on a German autobahn in a Volvo with overdrive. As an experiment, we drove with and without overdrive. The maximum speed was the same, just lower RPMs with overdrive.

extech2

We just spent 10 days in Arizona, in the month of October, using the air cond. 70% of the time, driving 1,700 miles in our 07 2- door GTI, equipped with the DSG automatic transmission. The car was fully loaded with luggage everywhere, in the trunk, on the back seats, and the two of us. The average mpg was shown as 28.7 in the computer. My experience is that the actual mileage is about 4% less, so we got about 27.5 mpg. This included mostly freeway travel at speeds around 75 or a bit higher. We hit 100 maybe three times, for a short period only.
The interesting part is that when driving on secondary roads, which in Arizona are superbly maintained, at speeds between 45-60 miles, our computer usually displayed 32-36 mpg unless climbing steep hills. Most of the time we were at 4,000 feet or higher altitude, in the Sedona or Flagstaff area in high mountains.
The car never had a single problem in 2.5 years and it always starts the 1st time.

upstatedoc

Excellent mileage from such a potent little power plant! I was approaching 30 mpg on my '08 6 MT during my highway commute.

2gtiguy

I have the 2010 GTI (6 MT) and I've had the ECU upgraded, so I'm getting 254HP and 296 ft. lbs. of torque. During my 30 mph commute yesterday (70/30 split highway/city driving), the computer reported 31.9 MPG. Highway speeds of 70mph, no A/C. And that's while occasionally drawing on that 254HP to whip around slower drivers on the interstate. Awesome mileage, awesome car.

upstatedoc

I always wanted to do that upgrade but was worried it would void the warranty.

greennfun

Drove off my new 2010 GTI (6M) 192 miles around bay-area/sacramento. All with average of 34.5 mpg with 90% in 6th gear. Awesome mileage!

2gtiguy

My understanding with APR's upgrade is that as long as you switch it back to the stock settings and then lock it out (all accomplished via some clicking on the cruise control arm), it's undetectable. I'll let you know when I hit my first service.

khq0660

Mine isn't as bad as some of yours, but I've checked my MPG several times by calculating at fill-up. I always get numbers between 17-19 MPG. I drive mostly in the "city", though not stop and go traffic. The air conditioning is on about 80% of the time right now. Are these the numbers I should expect?

khq0660

Well, it's winter time, so no air conditioning, and I'm still getting only 17-18 miles per gallon. What's wrong with my car?

shipo

As a general rule, identical styles of driving will yield worse mileage in the winter (even without air conditioning) than they will in the summer (even with air conditioning). Why? Two reasons:

1) Winter blends of gasoline do not contain as much potential energy as do summer blends, and
2) when the OAT is below roughly 40°F, fuel does not atomize as well as it does above that point; the lower the efficiency of atomization, the lower the fuel economy.

qbrozen

I've been getting considerably worse with winter gas. This car seems affected more than other cars I've had. I eventually got to where I was netting a bit over 26mpg with highway/rural driving. Since the switch to the lovely NJ winter formulation, I've been getting 24. Ugh.

khq0660

Only in my dreams do I get 24 to 26 mpg. I calculate everytime I fill up, and I think the best I ever got was just under 24mpg, and that was only a couple of times. I'm tired of only getting 17mpg. I can't figure out why I go through so much oil either, but the dealer gave me some explanation that didn't make sense after I thought about it.

qbrozen

what kind of oil consumption are you talking about? What year and how many miles? Have you fixed the PCV issue? Do you see oil on your filler cap whenever you open the hood?

Many of these do use some oil, but it shouldn't be THAT bad. Mine was doing it when I first got it, but after upgrading the PCV system and using Castrol Syntec on my last oil change, it hasn't lost any.

khq0660

2007 with about 32,500 miles on it. I've never seen any oil around the cap. I got the car used with about 26,500 miles on it. Had my 30,000 maintenance. Averaging a quart of oil about every 1500-2000 miles. I did have to add a quart just a few hundred miles after the dealer oil change at 30,000. Maybe that's not excessive, but more than any other car I've owned.

sbrodsky2000

Rarely accelerate hard, rarely brake, averaging 34.5 via "consumption 2" on the display. During winter months was averaging 32.5. Just hit 20K miles. Commute 40 mi each direction.

khq0660

I just filled up again today and caculated at 17.8 MPG. Oh, I forgot to check the oil. I better do that. It's probably time for another quart since I haven't added a quart in almost 1500 miles.

pika206

We have hills, lots of them, stop and go traffic and 10% ethanol in the gas.
Much better than my 2007 Mazda speed 3 (21-23mpg)

Surprisingly, similar to my 2002 Honda civic SI 2.0 NA motor which had less power and torque and was lighter.

JustinS

My 2011 GTI tends to get 21 mpg on average. I like to blame it on the LA traffic, but in reality it's probably because of launch control and the car's overall fun nature.