About a month ago I bought a VW Jetta TDI Sportwagon. The window sticker says 29 mpg City and 39 mpg highway. I had done a lot of research and saw Internet claims of people getting way better fuel mileage than what the sticker was reporting. After driving it for a month I can say all these claims of better mileage are true. I do about 40% city and 60% freeway on the average tank and the VW gets about 44 mpg doing that. I've gone out on the freeway several times and set the cruise control at 65 and reset the MPG computer and over about 100 mile stretches I've got close to 50mpg on average. Even driving in the city at speeds of 35 and below I've reset the mpg computer and it still seems to do about 35 mpg as long as you keep your foot out of the accelerator. On the freeway even at 75 it's doing about 43 mpg.I normally tow my Dodge Durango 4 down, but I'm thinking about finding a tow dolly so I can make the VW my main toad on trips where I don't need the 4x4. The sportwagon has the comforts and cargo space of a small SUV too which makes it very nice. I highly recommend it for anybody looking for a good toad to tow with a dolly. It is front wheel drive.

Is your vw an automatic or standard, don't rely on the computer gauge, fill it up drive it 500 miles and then check and see how much fuel you have used, our 2013 wagon over 1 yr.has an average of 48 mpg for 10,000 miles or 16000 kilometre's and that is a canadian gallon 4.54 litres and mostly hwy driving 75 miles each way.We keep meticules check on the car and dealer says it should be getting 60 mpg which we hope for one day.

I agree, we have a VW Jetta TDI, but a 4 door car. Gets fantastic fuel mileage. When we cross the state of ND to Fargo, running 75 mph, we get 40 mpg. Sometime, I want to take the time, and drive it at 55 mph. I know we would get over 50, maybe approach 60 mpg.I also pull at times a fiberglass clamshell motorcycle trailer, with a 900# Valkyrie in it. Get 30 mpg at 65-70 mph with that! Total wt. about 1800#, tow rating is 2000# on the JettaNow, if we could just flat tow it! No newer VW is rated to flat tow, according to the books. So, with our BB we are getting, I guess we need to get a dolly.

All VW's can flat tow with a standard transmission, we towed our 2003 for 10 yrs , no problems at all other than the tow plate on the car coming loose.

We have a Jetta TDI, 5 speed manual. We had a Hidden Hitch installed and bought a light aluminum trailer.She hauled the Harley to Florida twice, from SW PA through the mountains of WV and VA. Even hauling over 1000 pounds plus all ourselves and luggage for a 2 week stay, we got 38MPG.I have always been in the habit of resetting the trip odometer when I fill up, and check the mileage with each tank. With 80% city driving, I average 43 MPG, even with 8 full years and 170k miles on her.One word of warning with the VW though, they are notorious for wiring issues. I've had the harness in the drivers side door replaced once already due to the opening/closing of the door pinching and breaking the wires. Likely will have to have it done again.

Mine is the new 6 speed auto tranny (that I think is new for the 2014 model). And I've checked the computer MPG gauge with the fuel I've put in at fill up and it's accurate. Even checked the odometer with the GPS and it's accurate as is the speedo.

VW Jetta TDI | Good Sam Community

msmith1199
Explorer II
Mar 13, 2014
rjstractor wrote:
When I get my next Jetta I'm on the fence on whether to get the new 1.8 TSI gas or the TDI diesel. The one thing I don't like about VW's packaging is that I want the SE trim, but the TDI is not available in that trim. So, to get the TDI I'd have to pay for a bunch of options I don't want. I'm looking forward to test driving the two of them back to back. The TSI gas is 170hp/185 torque, with full torque from 1500-4500 rpm. IIRC the TDI is 140hp/235 torque.

They have the SE in the TDI. That's the model I have. The TDI adds a couple of things but not much. On the website the gas SE sportwagon has an MSRP of $24,885 and the TDI Sportwagon has an MSRP of $26,565. The only thing the TDI has that the SE gas modesl doesn't is alloy wheels, rearview camera, 115 volt power outlet, and a diesel engine.
rjstractor
Nomad
Mar 15, 2014
msmith1199 wrote:

They have the SE in the TDI. That's the model I have. The TDI adds a couple of things but not much. On the website the gas SE sportwagon has an MSRP of $24,885 and the TDI Sportwagon has an MSRP of $26,565. The only thing the TDI has that the SE gas modesl doesn't is alloy wheels, rearview camera, 115 volt power outlet, and a diesel engine.

It seems as though the Sportwagen is packaged differently, and I'm not interested in one of those. In the sedan they don't have an SE TDI. They do list a TDI "value edition" that looks to be optioned similarly to the SE but it's still about $2500 more. I'll just have to drive the two and see which one I like better. The mileage figures you are giving for the TDI are very impressive, and make the diesel option pencil out very well.
mpierce
Explorer
Mar 15, 2014
rjstractor wrote:
msmith1199 wrote:

They have the SE in the TDI. That's the model I have. The TDI adds a couple of things but not much. On the website the gas SE sportwagon has an MSRP of $24,885 and the TDI Sportwagon has an MSRP of $26,565. The only thing the TDI has that the SE gas modesl doesn't is alloy wheels, rearview camera, 115 volt power outlet, and a diesel engine.

It seems as though the Sportwagen is packaged differently, and I'm not interested in one of those. In the sedan they don't have an SE TDI. They do list a TDI "value edition" that looks to be optioned similarly to the SE but it's still about $2500 more. I'll just have to drive the two and see which one I like better. The mileage figures you are giving for the TDI are very impressive, and make the diesel option pencil out very well.

It starts ard runs very nice. VERY quiet. It has a lot of power. When I pulled the clamshell trailer with my Valkyrie in it, total weight about 1800# inc. trailer, we ran in top gear all the time. Highway speed, hills did not matter.

Very impressive.
msmith1199
Explorer II
Mar 16, 2014
I'm very happy with the TDI so far. Like mpierce said, it has lots of power for the car type. I got rid of a Hyundai Elantra that was supposed to get 40mpg but never got that. I drive the TDI on the same route as the Hyundai and the average MPG on my Hyundai for the week would be about 31. The Hyundai felt like it had a squirrel under the hood. At 70mph you could tell it was really winding up where as the TDI VW is just cruising at 70. Also I hadn't really checked the MPG at 70 for any distance until today and even at 70 on I-5 it maintained about 49 mpg for a 15 mile stretch.

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