a bigger wheel and wider tire will definately hurt fuel economy.
after breaking in an engine gets better economy.
in general ive noticed i can get better economy without cruise control and driving around 60 - this is on any car ive owned.

but 28mpg is a good argument for the tdi.

 

The 245mm tire width was that a typing error? I don't know how one can consider 245 to be anywhere near too wide for a 5500lb vehicle.

VAG TDI's don't strut their fuel economy potential until waaaaay into the 5 digit odometer readings. You gave a good ways to go before you start to see what it is truly capable of.

 

correction: tires are 275/45.

 

The Irish method also includes going downhill and keeping the wind at your back.

Reset your MFI calculator at the top of every hill and record it at the bottom. Huge improvement!

--Tire size swap idea to 18" might get - what - 1 more mpg? I'd run them till there is no tread left before swapping just for the slight improvement you'll receive.

--Using cruise on hilly terrain makes me think the computer will want to maintain speed, not optimum mpg.

--Usual hypermileage techniques of anticipating the road ahead to maintain momentum and to avoid hard stops/starts is about the best way to reduce fuel consumption.

The only fact that you can't control is the weight of the Touareg. You have already acquired the best torque/fuel efficiency combo you could...so let it rip and enjoy the ride.

My v8 mileage sucks on short, cold start city trips, so I try not to think about it.

 

tire size has less to do with fuel efficiency than tire/ rim wieght and tread type. By going down to 18"rims you will save a about 1lbs in rubber plus what you lose in the rim. For all this you will only gane may be 1 mpg mpg. New tires and rims would set you back over $1000. $1000 in to $3 a gal for gas = 333.3 gals of gas. How far would you have to drive to cover this? I'm guessing you would better offer try hypermileage techniques

 

VW claims that the redesigned rear wing on the T2, gave a 1 mpg increase over the T1 design. Something to think about.

 

You have this in writing somewhere with actual attribution to VW? I find it hard to believe that a simple little change like this is good for 1 mpg. 0.1 mpg maybe but 1 mpg, hardly.

 

3) Use of cruise control. Is it better to keep on cruise or manually adjust speed? It's quite hilly around my area so the Touareg is constantly adjusting the speed.

I actually had a question regarding that: would putting it in the 6th gear with tiptronic save even more fuel in cruise control?
It lowers RPMs and tranny does not shift down even up a slight hill. or is there more to it and low RPM does not equal better mpg?

sorry if it sounds like a ridiculous question but I only had my T'reg for 10 days and still learning all the tricks.

 

??

Why would 6th in tiptronic run at different rpms than 6th in drive?
It is the same transmission gearing...right?

I have never measured the difference in mpg running in tiptronic vs. D. I know is S mode, the change in the gas guage is easy to measure!

Whenever I use tip, the last thing I am thinking about is miles per gallon.

Face it, we're all driving 2.5 ton bricks.

The next mod for me to increase the mileage of my Touareg wil be to get a TDi Golf or Sportwagen.

 

LOL
I know all that, but was wondering, thats all.

what I was trying to say is when you have the cruise control on in D, your tranny will down shift to 5th gear going up the hill and if you just switch to Tip you can put it in 6th and keep it there therefore possibly giving you better mpg.
So I guess I should have said in my original post that you can get to that 6th gear sooner with tip than D.

again, I am just a noob with a ton of questions. dont mind me, really.

 

you're in the right place to find answers! (and if that doesn't work, plenty of humor and sarcasm, but its mostly a good natured bunch I hope you'll find)

If I set cruise in sixth gear while in tiptronic, I think the tiptronic will downshift as well if, say, in climbing a grade, it feels a lower gear is better.

I wonder if I stayed diligent enough, long enough, and ran a measured course in tiptronic vs. D if I'd get any different results. Too many "ifs" to think about...especially since, as I said, when I run it in tiptonic I am either hauling a big boat or mindlessly zipping on some twisty back lane someplace...and I only think about fuel when the MFI insists.

Enjoy your new ride. After 5 years, I still am.

 

As was said before, anticipatory driving is probably the biggest thing you can do now. But another that shouldn't be overlooked is a light pedal during warm-up. Our TDI's get heinous mileage the first few miles/minutes. Going easy on them during this period yields much better average mileage.

 

I use tiptronic in city driving all the time, kind of the equivalent of short shifting a manual. I use drive from a stop to third, then tiptronic to get to 4th thru 6th. It locks up the torque converter in third and 4th much earlier than drive (can't stand the torque converter spinning of a slush box). Does it help the mpg? Don't know, but it's fun which is the reason I got the V10 in the first place. As far as highway mileage goes, I think it makes more sense intuitively to vary the "throttle" based on the steepness of the incline, but way too lazy to do that for an extended period. Just stick it in 6th and let the V10 do the work (I've yet to see a hill cause a downshift to 5th on cruise). Usually gets me a MFD indicated 21 or 22 at a GPS measured 75 mph.

 

I am definitely enjoying it. nothing like I have driven in the past, thats for sure. and I do see that sarcasm flows freely around here, which is great. I am a sarcastic bastard myself.

mikeusa said what I was meaning to say: with tip you can short-shift in lower rpms so I thought that could help the fuel consumption.
also I noticed that going up the grade in D it will down shift and when I throw it in 6th manually it will drop rpm and still climb pretty well. if it is steep it will down shift even in tip.

as far as MFI goes, that thing will get me killed one day. LOL
I would be better off not knowing the miles to empty instead of looking at the damn thing instead of the road.

 

I have just over 4000 km on my 2009 V6 TDI.
My average fuel efficiency is 11 l/100km (~20mpg). Today I did a highway run that averaged 8.2 l/100km (~28mpg) according to the onboard computer. I think the TDI can do even better. During this run I pondered the factors that may influence the mileage.
Does anyone know how much of a factor are:

1) 19" 245/45 tires Continentals. A big wide tire that doesn't perform well in the winter. My Touareg has these tires and the sport package. I find the ride a bit stiff and am considering a permanent change to a 18" that would ride smoother and provide options for a winter tire.

2) Average speed - I cruise a 100km/h (62mph). Some vehicles have a certain speed, above which fuel consumption rises rapidly. For my old Isuzu this was about 105 km/h. Does the TDI hit some sort of threshold like this?

3) Use of cruise control. Is it better to keep on cruise or manually adjust speed? It's quite hilly around my area so the Touareg is constantly adjusting the speed.

3b unrelated to CC, is the Zero fuel draw with neutral throttle position on LONG down grades. Basically the longer you can go without using the throttle, the better the over all fuel mpg.

4) Break-in period. Can I expect better efficiency as the V6 breaks in a bit more?

Thanks.

So how did you get such a puppy (mileage wise) for a 2009 Touareg TDI?

1. I would say it (smaller tires) makes a HUGE difference (+ 1 to 3 mpg). Almost no one who "upgrades" to bigger tires reports a GAIN in mpg. I will leave out the variables and obstacles larger tires normally present, but are usually ignored. Normally, the extra costs: in acquisition, maintenance, performance, and operating costs are the costs of looking pretty. Obvious if yours came with 19 in tires, it might be harder to have compared (it to the 18 in).

2. 62 mph/100 km the verdict is not all together clear. The 2012 TDI V6 Sport seems to be optimized for 2,000 rpm, this translates to 130 km/H (81 mph) in 8 speed A/T. If you are able to keep it at that speed, the MFD seems to indicate app 34 to 35 mpg. When new, I broke in the 2012 VW T for 500 to 1000 miles at speeds between 45 to 65 mph ( to be easy on tires, alignment, brake pads, rotors and suspension). There were bursts to 95 mph later in the mileage. To keep the engine revs slightly to moderately aggressive, I used the gearing to vary the revs, up to 4,000 rpm of a 5,000 red line. Many times the computer seemed to switch gears or drop rpm @ 4,600. So I am assuming the computer controlling the A/T is set to do that.This tank (23.6 gal or so) yielded 36 mpg (not just MFD). or 850 miles.

3. I have to confess I have not used the cruise control. I probably should read up on it and learn how to operate it. Don't want it to be broken and not know about it.:roll eyes: However I do not THINK use of the CC will get you way better mpg. When you know what you are doing you can control it better with your right foot. It does, I know offers convenience.


4. Yes. But do not look for it (1 mpg to 3 mpg better) till 30,000 to 50,000 miles.

 

Tiptronic sounds… somewhat very sexy. But I have never used tiptronic mode other than for off-roading. Is there a good use of this mode for regular city or HWY driving that I am not aware of – such as better mileage or something? I would appreciate if someone will enlighten me on the subject.:-k