I was pretty excited to get the Jetta TDI for the long holiday weekend if only for one reason: mileage.
I knew driving 370 miles north to my family's house would be a slog with the Thanksgiving traffic. If I didn't have to stop to gas up with all the hordes of travelers, it would make my journey that much faster.
I wasn't disappointed. I was able to drive the distance on half a tank!
I thought I might be able to do the round trip on one tank. I avoided going out on Black Friday, but my family goes up into the Santa Cruz Mountains on the Saturday after T-Day to get a Christmas tree. The short drive over the hill killed the other half of the tank. It doesn't like mountain climbing.
As long as it's a fairly flat and long freeway, this thing rocks. 475 mixed miles (mostly freeway) on 11.2 gallons is pretty good in my book.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
cwc1 says:
06:08 PM, 12/ 1/08
I've easily gotten 600 miles out of my 2002, and even 700 is possible. The most I've gotten so far is 738 from one tank, and I've heard of people getting 800, if they fill up the tank past the normal stopping point, via the vent in the fuel filler neck.
huyracing says:
12:58 AM, 12/ 2/08
i seriously need a diesel because i hate having to stop for gas, especially on a long road trip. on a recent top gear episode, Jeremy Clarkson's Jaguar would've done 1000 miles on one tank with him trying to waste gas... simply amazing!
warren_w says:
11:06 AM, 12/ 2/08
With a gas car I used to have to stop every 5 days for fuel. With my tdi, I go once every two weeks. Even with the higher price of diesel its still worth the time saved not stopping at the gas station. I mean the cashier looks cute, but not THAT cute.
kjmiller1 says:
04:28 PM, 12/ 3/08
Did you have a lot of weight in the car? With a light load, my mileage doesn't change much with mountains because I make up for it on the way down by leaving the car in gear as much as possible. I got my worst mileage ever over T-day weekend, 29 mpg but I was loaded to the brim with gear and two bikes up top.