61.52 MPG   

The mileage story is long, but may be worthwhile. I bought my NB for one reason, the promised high mpg. I traded in a '97 Ford F150 4x4 extended cab flairside, which averaged 15 mpg. The TDI was just what I was looking for, I thought. For the first 22K miles I averaged 41 mpg. I complained to the service department at every service that there was a problem. The service advisor had it checked, but always claimed it was "performing to specifications".

At Christmas, I took my first long trip from Birmingham, Al to Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Panama City, FL, Roswell and back to Birmingham. I normally drive 95% of my miles on the interstates, but I figured this non-stop driving would give me the best mileage ever.

Wrong, driving non-stop on cruise at 80+ mph, about 7 hours, I was only able to go 510 miles, averaging 39 mpg. I was so disappointed. In the first 20K miles I was never able to go over 600 miles on a tank. Even using the switch to completely fill the tank and reduce the foam, I was still unable to go over 600 miles on as much as 14.5 gallons.

At the 20K mile service, I asked again, and my service advisor gave me the EPA booklet high-lighted just for me with all the positive and negative points for mpg. I read the booklet and there were only two items I was doing wrong, low tire psi and high speed. Since the examples given on speed specifically reference 55 mph, I assume they were a political statement and not based on facts.

I added air to my tires, increasing it to 34 psi cold and drove a tank of fuel, with no noticeable difference. I decided mph was all there was left, so I slowed down.

I drove a full tank driving less than 70 mph and went 652 miles (my first tank over 600). I figured if that was good, then driving slower, closer to 55 would be better. So I drove the next tank at or below 62 mph (100 kph). I was able to drive almost 800 miles. In fact if I was alone I would have gone for it, by my passenger was about to have a heart attack when the NB beeped.