2010 Volkswagen GTI: Got Range

I've hit 400 miles more than once in my '08 Rabbit. (2.5L 5 cyl.) It's nice to see the low fuel light pop on right at 400 miles on the tank. The first time it happened, I was convinced that I was about to run out of fuel when the light went on, but it was so cool to see it stop precisely at 12.75 gallons.

400+ miles is easy in my jeep, and I never hypermile! It's easy with a big enough tank (over 23 gallons for mine...)

The fuel economy is probably the main reason why MS3 (or 3 MPS) is mostly unheard of in europe. It has the same fuel economy as Audi S4 in european test cycle, which means that for it's class it gets a huge tax hit in several european countries.

I've hit 400 miles in my 2010 GTI several times. Some two-lane road going about 55 mph is all it takes. Doesn't matter if you keep AC on and do full throttle overtakes.

I second what Murtman says. I remember one time I drove my friend home in a swim meet, and I filled up my tank after we got back to campus (highway driving for about 25 miles), he was mindblown about the fact that my cars max range read 420 miles on the trip computer. Just another plus to owning a Rabbit/GTI :D

Uh, you have a car in the fleet that gets 600+ miles to a tank (the Fusion Hybrid) and you're aglow about a car that has less than 400 miles to its range?

I get 340-350 miles out of my mustang without trying too hard.

I've gotten over 300 miles out of my MazdaSpeed3 on more than one occasion, so it is definitely possible.

Normally average about 285 before I fill up, though.

I too have gotten over 300 out of my Mazdaspeed3, I think the people here at IL are a little tough on their cars. The GTI certainly trumps it in mileage though, I've never gotten 370 miles out of a tank before - and as you've said the GTI has a smaller tank to begin with.

I wonder how far the Golf TDI goes on a tank?

Apparently it's not difficult to get 600 miles a tank for a Golf TDI. Consumer Reports gives it a cruising range of 615 miles, so maybe even 700 is possible. Their highway mileage rating with a manual is 49 mpg, and it has a 14.5 gallon tank. Going by those numbers one could theoretically travel 710.5 miles. Ridiculous.

This is one of the main reasons I went with the GTI as opposed to the Mazdaspeed3, fuel consumption. This along with the higher price to insure the Speed3, although it was a cheaper buy in price made it more cost effective.

Dont get me wrong, I love both cars and I sometimes miss that torque steer from the speed3 that most loathe, but I am happy with the complete package in the GTI.

Jaydubz,

I actually had the opposite experience than you when buying my MS3. For some ungodly reason, it was only $25/mo more than a 12 year old Integra, so the insurance wasn't a killer.

The big downside on the GTi was the up-front cost and the stigma that VW's have (electronics, 'lifestyle'), be they warranted or not. But similar power just a re-flash away? Yes, please.

Color me cynical, but that's nothing to celebrate, to me. My fiance's Santa Fe has a short range to me and she fills up after about 350 miles. I typically go well into the 400s in my Sonata and Accord, and 500+ isn't hard to accomplish. Decent size fuel tanks are all you need (that and 30+ MPG in my 249 horse V6).

Phbttt! My average tank distance in my 2010 GTI 4 door is about 430 miles putting about 13.5 gallons in per fill up. I try to drive efficiently, but I'm not exactly hyper-miling (I don't draft trucks on the highway, I drive 70-80ish on the highway, I accelerate and spin my tires from time to time, but I do turn off my engine at long lights that I hit every day and know about how long they take).
Maybe I'm a freak, or maybe, just maybe, I have less of a lead foot than the collective Edmunds editors staff driving cars that they don't own...I guess that sounds pretty reasonable.

I have a hard time getting over 300 miles per tank in my 2006 3, but it's largely because I'm chicken. The gas gauge is not very accurate, probably to prevent people from running out of gas. But I feel like I need to get some when the needle is below E, the fuel light is on, and the trip computer has counted down to 5 miles remaining.

And I fill up and discover that there are still two gallons left in the tank.

In the New Beetle that I also drive, the gas gauge means what it says. I've filled up slightly above empty with 0.5-1 gallons left in the tank.

I get over 400 miles per tank pretty much all the time on my Grand Cherokee.

367 in a 4 cylinder...that ain't so great.

I've gotten as high as 340 out of a tank in the Ms3. With normal driving to and from work into a city, not a highway trip. Consistently get 320miles out of the tank. Not bad really. I'll take the extra 50 hp instead.

i don't really know how fast you were going on this trip, but going around 65 for the entire trip, 400 miles per tank is totally reachable.

also keep in mind that the DSG version seems to be more efficient compared to the manual one.

Those of you who are not surprised with 367 number for the GTI should consider one simple fact. IL is in Santa Monica - traffic and on the roads is very high including and the distance between traffic lights is very short comparing to other cities. I live in West Hollywood and through out my driving experience in my city for the past 10 years I get the best MPG driving a GTI. I used to drive only Honda Civics and driving them I could barely get to 300 miles on a one tank (and it was a 127hp car), when I had Civic SI - same problem, low engine power and constant high RPM didn't give me a good fuel economy.
I've been driving my GTI for over 7 months already and I'm still shocked by the fuel economy of this car. 24-25mpg in a city (West Hollywood) driving and 200hp engine - to me it's a miracle. I never had a car in my life that could beat this number, not a single Honda that claims to be an economy car.

"I wonder how far the Golf TDI goes on a tank?"

a buddy of mine has a newer Jetta TDI and reports he can go from central MA to Annapolis and back (visiting his son) on less than a tank. This guy is not small but doesn't carry much other baggage for his weekend trips (besides his wife, she's small). that's 680-690 miles on a single tank. he's a heavy construction GC with a lot of diesel equipment and his own pumps. I might even buy a diesel if I had a pump at work.

as for gasoline powered 4 cylinder engines, my '85 CRX would go over 400 on with its 11 (or 12?) gallon tank.

i have a 2010 vw gti and this example is consistent with my experience. any decent mix of city and highway travel with a normal use of the accelerator (e.g., not a lead-foot, but not hyper-miling either) will push the consumption to a decently respectable 28-30 mpg. in a car with 200hp that's this fun to drive, this is a good result and completely consistent with, if not better than the expected combined mpg. i typically do not wait until the last drop in the tank to fill-up, preferring to fill-up between 1/4 to 1/2 half tank, but my range would be in the very high 300's to close to 400 miles on a tank (i typically see ~200-210+ miles at a half tank - good for ~28mpg) if i pushed it that far.

are there better results to be had? absolutely! but, i'll take the trade offs in this area for the other factors the gti brings to the table. i considered a tdi, but went with the gti for those reasons. with that said, these results are nothing to be ashamed of, imho.

yup i get about the same, driving in traffic and blasting around town most of the time... 400+ is easy if you have a lot of highway and no traffic.

funny people commenting how many miles you get on a tank. I never understand this one. Yes, its nice on a long drive not to have to fill up every few hours. But I never understand the bragging about miles per tank.... If I'm not mistaken a Chevy Suburban can get 500 miles or so on one tank....does that mean I'd want to fill it up or that I'm impressed with the speed and power it has? No way.

I can understand something like miles per gallon, or power to weight or something, but pure range I've never fully understood.

maybe i'm the weird one?

@jerome81: Fuel economy is cool, but range is awesome. If I can go for more than a week without refueling, I just saved myself some time at the pump.

I usually need to refuel at 260-280 miles in my Civic Si. In my old Corolla, I could go at least 360 miles.

yup i like range. having to fill up all the time is annoying.

Still miss my 2007 Cooper S and it's exceptional range. With an average of 30 MPG I rarely had to fill up that bugger - about every 390-400 miles.

I've owned my 2010 Mazdaspeed3 since August and I can easily get over 300 mpg. I commute 45 miles to work and home (round trip), from Queens to Suffolk County - I dont hypermile, I just drive normal and dip into some boost now and again and I have not a single complaint. Drove from NYC to Atlantic City and had enough fuel to drive back to NY. I average (according to the vehicle's computer) about 30.7 mpg... just my $.02 . . . I enjoy reading these articles and everyones responses...thanks!

I got 512 miles on a tank in my '06 HHR going from Altoona, PA to Niagra Falls Canada and back. It was the 2.4 and 4AT. That trip isn't exactly open road, either (and I got lost for an hour doing 100+ MPH for about 20 minutes getting back to where I missed a turn). My average tank was usually high 300s.

I own a '10 Mazda 3 2.5 and generally run 310-330 miles per tank.

Unfortunately Mazda programmed their low fuel light to kick on with ~3 gallons left. I am running around and light kicks on, computer says I have 30-40 miles left so I fill up and can only get in about 12 gallons into a nearly 15 gallon tank. WTF? I could go another 90 miles or so before I run out.

Oh and I love people who say '367 miles per tank in a 4 cylinder'?!?!?!........ok so the $90 you spend to go 450 miles in your (insert hulking SUV name here) is better than the 367 I can go on ~$35 in my 4 cylinder. Where the f did our education system go wrong?

Pezzy: I agree, I don't get peoples comparisons. Sure they can go just as far or further even, but how much
Is it costing them to do so? As far as your mazda goes, I wish they could squeeze more mileage at least outta the 2.5

Jerome81: case in point, my 07 fit was rated at 28/33 which is better than my gti's 22/29.
And yet, because of the fits tiny ten gallon tank it always seemed thirstier than it was so breaking 300
Miles was an epic occurence. My wifes '10 insight has the same sized tank, but the cars 40/43 rating
Makes 400 mile tanks easy and frequent.

I typically get about 320-360 miles out of my 2010 MS3. I must just be a boring driver lol. I usually average about 28.5 mpg. If you go the speed limit and never go into boost you can easily get 400 miles, but where's the fun in that? I agree on the low fuel light. I hardly ever put more than 12-13 gallons in the tank and I'm bone dry according to the gauge.

I average about 19.5 mpg combined in my 2010 Mazda 3.
For a light weight 4 cyl car, I am Really disappointed. Besides that, it's cheaply put together, and I can't get used to the idiotic smily face. Yes, I have buyer's remorse.

Golf TDI is a little small for me. I would go for the Jetta sports wagon TDI if it had an interior like the Golf TDi, Xenons, and taughter styling.

I've decided to wait for the 2011 Patriot/Compass -with diesels they would be a no brainer. The Compass (2011 is rumored to look like a small JGC) could be like a Golf TDI on steroids -my dream car.

I can't wait to test drive them, I'm really curious about the CVT. If they're as nice inside and out as I anticipate, the Mazda is history.

I squeezed over 560 miles from one tank in my 2007 Honda Fit AT once ... 8.7g tank with 1.5g reserve and there is 2.8g above full (tank is under front seats, very far from fuel filler) ... about 43 mpg because it was almost entirely out of gas at fill-up, ha.

I own a 2010 Golf TDI and the best I did on a single tank is 722 miles and I still had 20 miles range on the MFD. I am told that the range is a bit pessimitic. So I could have gone more than 20 miles range. Let us say 30 miles. So I could have gotten 752 miles from a tank if I ran the car bone dry.

Filled up a couple days ago after driving to work for 2 weeks: 566 miles. Put in 15.3 gal into a 16 gal tank, getting 37 mpg. Oh, my car is a base model 1999 Dodge Stratus sedan, with the Neon-derived 2.0L SOHC 4-cyl with the 5-speed manual. Car has 171K miles and average of all miles on car is between 36-37 mpg. Have achieved actual 40 mpg at least a dozen times; once had 5 consecutive fill-ups of slightly above 40 mpg. Have run Mobil 1 synthetic. Yes, 85-95% of all miles are highway. What's even neater is that the Stratus with the 2.0 and 5-speed is also quicker than the 2.4L 4cyl/auto car and the 2.5L 6cyl car!

One of my cars is a 2003 Jetta Tdi. It has a 14.5 gallon tank, but can hold about 16.5 gallons if you release the vent and keep filling until it comes up the neck.

Longest tank I had was 790 miles for 16.2 gals. Sometimes gas stations go out of business between my refills.

I own a 2007 Mazda 3 5 speed and I rarely don't surpass 350 miles per tank and have even seen the 400+ mark on occasions when it is all highway driving. And I never put more than 11 or 12 gallons in my tank on a fill up. So I don't know what people are doing that they are rarely seeing over 300 miles per tank on a Standard 3 like the article says.....Maybe people just don't treat their cars well...

There are lots of things to love about Mazdas, but their engine technology is not one of them. They are always lagging the competition on engine tech. It's a shame too.