Interesting fuel economy experiment
01-30-2008, 04:20 PM
#1
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Interesting fuel economy experiment
OK, I know how inaccurate the trip computer surely is, but I was a little unhappy with the gas mileage I've been getting. Since I bought the car a month ago, I have averaged 18.5 MPG according to the computer. I rarely saw the instant average above 20 as I drove, and don't think I didn't try to lightfoot it to keep the averages up.
My drive to work is ~12 miles each way on a winding country road with a few hills at about 35-40 MPH. There are about 6 stop signs and 2 lights along the way. Amount of uphill and downhill portions is pretty much the same coming and going. There is very little traffic, and if there is, it's going slower than 35.
So for the past few days, I've been setting the cruise control at ~37 and letting it do its thing. Result? <i><b>Nearly 25 MPG</b></i> according to the computer. Interestingly, I live at the top of a <i>massive</i> hill, which costs me considerably in the averages (on day 1, for instance, average MPG dropped from 25.5 to 23.3 just going up the hill after ~20 miles of averaging). The instant average says something like 6.6 MPG going up that hill. Yow!
So regardless of how accurate the computer may be overall, a delta of nearly 7 MPG is astounding. I'll be using the cruise control as often as possible from now on, methinks...
Anyone else?
My drive to work is ~12 miles each way on a winding country road with a few hills at about 35-40 MPH. There are about 6 stop signs and 2 lights along the way. Amount of uphill and downhill portions is pretty much the same coming and going. There is very little traffic, and if there is, it's going slower than 35.
So for the past few days, I've been setting the cruise control at ~37 and letting it do its thing. Result? <i><b>Nearly 25 MPG</b></i> according to the computer. Interestingly, I live at the top of a <i>massive</i> hill, which costs me considerably in the averages (on day 1, for instance, average MPG dropped from 25.5 to 23.3 just going up the hill after ~20 miles of averaging). The instant average says something like 6.6 MPG going up that hill. Yow!
So regardless of how accurate the computer may be overall, a delta of nearly 7 MPG is astounding. I'll be using the cruise control as often as possible from now on, methinks...
Anyone else?
01-30-2008, 05:31 PM
#2
Want to correct fuel consumption average calculated at the computer?
In case you are interested, the computer-calculated consumption average can be tweaked using VAG-COM in multiples of 5%. Mine, for instance, was off by a full 10% from the factory and by setting a certain code (I'll check my notes to find the exact procedure - though I think someone else on this forum will be quicker to post it before I do...), it now matches nearly exactly the consumption calculated at the gas pump (miles driven / gallons to refuel).
01-30-2008, 05:46 PM
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The procedure
There are more details on the VAG-COM site, I think, but the thread below gives the essentials.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/vag/msgs/184.phtml">The procedure</a></li></ul>
01-30-2008, 06:27 PM
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no, allroad drivers get terrible fuel economy
seriously, driving habits have to skew results from one driver to the next.
argue all you want, the 20mpg I get now with my 2.7t is better than the 16mpg I was getting with my Jeep GC.
argue all you want, the 20mpg I get now with my 2.7t is better than the 16mpg I was getting with my Jeep GC.
01-30-2008, 06:37 PM
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Hmmmm... interesting. My AWE/GIAC stage III code totally wacked my...
mpg display/miles to refuel etc... I'm wondering if I can bring it back into reality.
How does one know what's the correct value??
How does one know what's the correct value??
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01-30-2008, 06:51 PM
#8
no you cant. you can only adjust by a factor of up to 15%, if yours is like mine, its off
by over 75%
I they supposedly fixed this in the S4 code, not sure why it didnt make it into the allroad code. I'll see if the new software fixes this when I pick the car up tomorrow.
I they supposedly fixed this in the S4 code, not sure why it didnt make it into the allroad code. I'll see if the new software fixes this when I pick the car up tomorrow.
01-30-2008, 07:10 PM
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Just for fun compare it to the POS pseudo-AWD crossover things out there and tell me it
gets terrible mileage....there isn't anything as safe, as heavy, that has as good a AWD system that gets any better mileage than the ar and if you say Suburu that is a lie as the Outback doesn't get anything near the 29 highway that was advertised a year or two...honestly I have checked them all out.
