# Calling 2.5l high MPGers - Road trip imminent



## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

I will probably be leaving for NYC from South Florida either tomorrow morning or tomorrow night.

I'm feeling a little impulsive and stupid, so I'm going to do it by car. I can't drive 55-60, but I might be willing to do 70-75 most of the way. Am I giving up a lot of mileage if I set cruise control to 70 ish? If so, so much that I might as well do 80? Or is it a happy medium?

I'm at about 67k miles (with my engine at about 55k miles), so I figure I shouldn't have to worry about getting stuck somewhere. I'm also about 1k miles into my oil change so that should be fine too. :laugh:

I'm taking I-95 all the way up. Should I take any detours for fun driving or pictures? I've made the drive before, and I know the last time I did it there was maybe a 2 hour stretch of curvy road a few hours before New York, but that's about it.


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## LampyB (Apr 2, 2007)

i just got an oil change before i left colorado and drive the 2,200 miles to massachusetts. the trip was great. driving at 80mph in a manual 2.5l is going to get pretty poor mileage, i generally try to set the cruise at 68 for 30-32 mpg's. if i go up to 72mph i go down to around 26mpg's, and it decreases from there


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## bcplayer07 (Oct 6, 2011)

i drive 180 miles a day, I go 80 and average 440 per tank. 107,000 and climbing daily. its a auto.


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

LampyB said:


> i just got an oil change before i left colorado and drive the 2,200 miles to massachusetts. the trip was great. driving at 80mph in a manual 2.5l is going to get pretty poor mileage, i generally try to set the cruise at 68 for 30-32 mpg's. if i go up to 72mph i go down to around 26mpg's, and it decreases from there


Thanks LampyB. 

If I'm calculating correctly, the difference between 25 mpg and 30 mpg on my trip (if it was about 3,000 miles round trip factoring in a possible pit stop in ohio on the way back) would be about 20 gallons of fuel i'd be saving. Between $70 bucks (at $3.50/gal) and $80 (at $4.00/gal) saved.

37.5 hours at 80 mph
44.2 hours at 68 mph
6.7 hours longer at 68 mph

So I'd be getting paid approximately between $10.45 and $11.90 an hour to drive the extra time (or conversely paying between $10.45 and $11.90 extra in gas per hour saved). Guess I have to think about that one.



bcplayer07 said:


> i drive 180 miles a day, I go 80 and average 440 per tank. 107,000 and climbing daily. its a auto.


Thanks for your input bcplayer07. I can't really use your numbers because I have a 5 speed manual (vs your 6 speed auto). But holy crap those numbers just dont even make sense...


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## thygreyt (Jun 7, 2009)

i was going to post, but then.. the tranny difference makes a huge difference.


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## itskohler (Jan 7, 2011)

x2 on nothing above 70. Surge and cut when possible through GA and the Carolina's.


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## Anile_eight (Sep 30, 2009)

thygreyt said:


> i was going to post, but then.. the tranny difference makes a huge difference.


Yup agreed.... the TDI 5th it makes a big difference (and your 6spd). I usually cruise at 72 (but I see 33-34 mpg)


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

Well here goes nothing. For science! 

http://crackness.com/science.jpg

Holy crap, I'm the slowest one on the road...


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## Anile_eight (Sep 30, 2009)

you will be, but interested in the outcome. It took me most of a tank for my car to reset the fuel map to econo from the city driving...:/


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## LampyB (Apr 2, 2007)

actually i exaggerated a bit, if you put the cruise on 72mph and you don't have a car weighed down with gear you'll probably get about 28mpg's in your manual as long as it's flat and not an uphill drive. but the money you'll save going 68 mph versus the time you'll save at 72 is a no brainer...i'd cruise at 68 all day and enjoy the drive


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

Update!

And I had room to spare...

first fillup

Sorry for the image sizes.

Edit: btw, I'm sticking to the 68mph suggestion lol... first time I've hit 400 miles on a tank, and going slower is relaxing, got some dnb music going so its working out pretty well! More updates to follow.


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

Update 2!

fill up2

Speaks for itself...lol


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## JohnnyDrama (Feb 15, 2012)

Good stuff. Just where I'd expect the 2.5L to be fuel economy wise 100% highway cruising :thumbup:


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## Teknojnky (Jun 1, 2002)

I don't mean to advertise a website, but I've been tracking my fuel ups on fuelly.com. Years ago I was doing on an excel sheet but last year I found that site. You can compare to other cars too.


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## MK5golf (Jun 30, 2012)

True story
It was me and 2 friends in my car, 09 rabbit 5 spd. Drove from montreal to ottawa and back. Cruise was set at about 55 mph. no ac. i have a cai. Calculated mileage in high 30's (I believe it was 38, we did this a while back dont remember) I was thinking with one less passenger and in cooler weather we could easily break 40 mpgs (war summer day. scorching actually figure that effected economy.) Anyways im never going to do that again, no patience! I like to think this car was made for good highway speeds, i always cruise at 120 km/h (dont know what that is in miles off the top of my head, sorry) with ac (when needed). I almost always calculate my mpgs and with a good mix of city (real city with dt mtl traffic) and good highway (livin in the suburbs) i usually come up with a number between 24 and 26 mpg (us gallons).


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

I made it to NY yesterday afternoon around 2 ish... so far, only filled up twice, have over 1/4 of a tank left, and I'm still in awe at my 458 mile tank.

So far, its been cheaper than a flight, and absolutely no need for a rental lol...

Thanks for the comments guys, I'll re-update on the way back if anyone is interested.

I don't think I have the patience to drive 400+ miles at 55mph lol


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## MK5golf (Jun 30, 2012)

cracKness said:


> I don't think I have the patience to drive 400+ miles at 55mph lol


Thats where your going to see the best mileage, with cruise on an ac off. Trust me though, I did it once for something like 450 kms (divide by 1.6 and get your miles!) and im never doing it again lol. Maybe it would be cool to do once and see what your capable of but after that your gona wana put a bullet in your brain!


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

MK5golf said:


> Thats where your going to see the best mileage, with cruise on an ac off. Trust me though, I did it once for something like 450 kms (divide by 1.6 and get your miles!) and im never doing it again lol. Maybe it would be cool to do once and see what your capable of but after that your gona wana put a bullet in your brain!


80 mph vs 68 mph is a difference of about 50 minutes to go 400 miles. Drop that down to 55mph, and that difference becomes 2 hours and 16 minutes. I'm curious to see how good of fuel economy my rabbit can get, but I'm not THAT curious. No freaking way...

Not on a 20+ hour trip at least... I think that's long enough that I'm not trying to add more hours to that.


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## thygreyt (Jun 7, 2009)

cracKness said:


> I made it to NY yesterday afternoon around 2 ish... so far, only filled up twice, have over 1/4 of a tank left, and I'm still in awe at my 458 mile tank.
> 
> So far, its been cheaper than a flight, and absolutely no need for a rental lol...
> 
> ...


lol... thats how i do it too!  

i used to go EVERYWHERE at 90ish mph.. and then i discovered the wonders of going slower...


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## MK5golf (Jun 30, 2012)

thygreyt said:


> i discovered the wonders of going slower...


My friend is obsessed with eeking out every single mpg he can. He practically touches the bumpers of 18 wheelers, shifts as soon as he can practically bogging the engine every time, and never uses the ac. He drive a 5.0 2012 mustang :screwy:
Anyone who wants to get good highway mileage on their 2.5, as a general rule of thumb, I find its obligatory to keep revs under 3000 if your expecting to achieve anything respectable


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## seanmcd72 (May 14, 2008)

Stop in SC for gas. It's about $2.76 a gallon for 87 right now.

Check your tire pressure before you leave. Don't race anyone, and have fun.


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

seanmcd72 said:


> Stop in SC for gas. It's about $2.76 a gallon for 87 right now.
> 
> Check your tire pressure before you leave. Don't race anyone, and have fun.


Thanks for the tip. Its $3.95 here for premium!

I did check / raise my tire pressure to 40 before leaving FL, that probably helped a little too.


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## Teknojnky (Jun 1, 2002)

MK5golf said:


> True story
> It was me and 2 friends in my car, 09 rabbit 5 spd. Drove from montreal to ottawa and back. Cruise was set at about 55 mph. no ac. i have a cai. Calculated mileage in high 30's (I believe it was 38, we did this a while back dont remember) I was thinking with one less passenger and in cooler weather we could easily break 40 mpgs (war summer day. scorching actually figure that effected economy.) Anyways im never going to do that again, no patience! I like to think this car was made for good highway speeds, i always cruise at 120 km/h (dont know what that is in miles off the top of my head, sorry) with ac (when needed). I almost always calculate my mpgs and with a good mix of city (real city with dt mtl traffic) and good highway (livin in the suburbs) i usually come up with a number between 24 and 26 mpg (us gallons).


My last fuel up was good for 25.9mpg which was mostly highway cruising at 120kmh (75mph). I'm still thinking that a bigger 5th gear (0.717) like the TDI guys do would be very beneficial. The one I mentionned would drop about 200rpm to about 2800 instead of 3000 when at 120 (75mph).


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## MK5golf (Jun 30, 2012)

Teknojnky said:


> My last fuel up was good for 25.9mpg which was mostly highway cruising at 120kmh (75mph). I'm still thinking that a bigger 5th gear (0.717) like the TDI guys do would be very beneficial. The one I mentionned would drop about 200rpm to about 2800 instead of 3000 when at 120 (75mph).


it would most defenitely benefitial, im going to look into such a mod, since I only use 5th for cruising anyways. The only negative to this car, at least for me anyways, are the high rpm's on the highway. Really take a chunk out of your mpg and I just cant drive under 100 km/h (60mph) for too long a time, not patience! 
Also i forgot to mention... i really upped the psi in my tires. i think vw recomends 35 psi, i believe i pumped it up to something rediculous for the trip (dare I say 45? sorry I cant remember off the top of my head this was 3 summers ago when the car was new) but i betcha this had a positive benefit on fuel economy.


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## psn (May 22, 2012)

Teknojnky said:


> My last fuel up was good for 25.9mpg which was mostly highway cruising at 120kmh (75mph). I'm still thinking that a bigger 5th gear (0.717) like the TDI guys do would be very beneficial. The one I mentionned would drop about 200rpm to about 2800 instead of 3000 when at 120 (75mph).


I'm wondering if the 5th gear from the MkVI Jetta/Golf 2.5 could be used. According the to the VW website these models have a 0.66 5th gear (as well as taller 3rd and 4th gears). That would be good for a drop of ~14% in rpm, as the '09s (allegedly) come with a 0.77 5th gear. So instead of 3000 rpm at speed X (closer to 70 than 75 mph for me), the engine would be turning 2600. I feel like my car has enough torque/power to be fine at that rpm on the highway. And if you are one of those crazy folks who has a big turbo in your 2.5, you'd really be golden...


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## vr6-kamil (Sep 14, 2008)

I drove about 750 miles from Seattle, wa to big sky, mt for Yellowstone park. I cruised at 77-78mph at well over 3k rpm i think close to 3.5k rpm the whole time going thru many mountains (2 mt passes) and got 31.5 mpg both ways so total 1500 miles. 

I got an '09 though and slightly modified which also contributed to better mpg I think. I has a UM chip, votex exhaust and k&n replacement filter


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## MK5golf (Jun 30, 2012)

vr6-kamil said:


> I drove about 750 miles from Seattle, wa to big sky, mt for Yellowstone park. I cruised at 77-78mph at well over 3k rpm i think close to 3.5k rpm the whole time going thru many mountains (2 mt passes) and got 31.5 mpg both ways so total 1500 miles.
> 
> I got an '09 though and slightly modified which also contributed to better mpg I think. I has a UM chip, votex exhaust and k&n replacement filter
> 
> ...


 Your rpms are that high and your getting those mpg numbers? im jealous to say the least, but i suppose the mods did the trick. Are you calculating this by hand or are you relying on some sort of readout from a display on the car? The latter is not accurate, the former would be the method to use. 
Makes me wanna go get that chip now!


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## Anile_eight (Sep 30, 2009)

psn said:


> I'm wondering if the 5th gear from the MkVI Jetta/Golf 2.5 could be used. According the to the VW website these models have a 0.66 5th gear (as well as taller 3rd and 4th gears). That would be good for a drop of ~14% in rpm, as the '09s (allegedly) come with a 0.77 5th gear. So instead of 3000 rpm at speed X (closer to 70 than 75 mph for me), the engine would be turning 2600. I feel like my car has enough torque/power to be fine at that rpm on the highway. And if you are one of those crazy folks who has a big turbo in your 2.5, you'd really be golden...


This is exactly what happened when I went to a tdi 5th... I'm at 2600 rpm at 72 mpg getting 33-34 mpg.


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## vr6-kamil (Sep 14, 2008)

MK5golf said:


> Your rpms are that high and your getting those mpg numbers? im jealous to say the least, but i suppose the mods did the trick. Are you calculating this by hand or are you relying on some sort of readout from a display on the car? The latter is not accurate, the former would be the method to use.
> Makes me wanna go get that chip now!


No I calculated it by hand. Miles driven divided by the amount of gallons of fuel put in


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## vr6-kamil (Sep 14, 2008)

Anile_eight said:


> This is exactly what happened when I went to a tdi 5th... I'm at 2600 rpm at 72 mpg getting 33-34 mpg.


Where do I obtain TDI 5th gear? From what year and model TDI would I need to get it? Is it hard to install? Thanks in advance


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## vr6-kamil (Sep 14, 2008)

Anile_eight said:


> This is exactly what happened when I went to a tdi 5th... I'm at 2600 rpm at 72 mpg getting 33-34 mpg.


Damn I'm doing exactly 3000 rpm at 70 mph, would love that tdi 5th


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## Anile_eight (Sep 30, 2009)

vr6-kamil said:


> Where do I obtain TDI 5th gear? From what year and model TDI would I need to get it? Is it hard to install? Thanks in advance
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


A link to a VERY GOOD THREAD!!! read this and have a good look. There is plenty of info on here:http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/5th-gear-swap-VW.htm

Now, I didn't do the swap myself, only because i was getting the diff installed and they said they'd do it for $50 on top. It was a no brainer!

Now, from what i've read/heard, there are a lot of little clips etc that can pop out if not put back properly and or not go back properly. I have heard people getting quoted $150-$200 to do it. It really doesn't take much time if you know what you are doing. The longest part is probably getting the car in the air and prep'd for install lol besides the physical removal. Now on our cars the clearance behind the 5th housing and the frame is tight so a wrench is very much preferred (angled ratcheting even better).

Here is a thread where I chimed in some info. 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5576929-TDI-5th-gear-swap&highlight=TDI+5th

It's all there, plus there seems to be a bunch of gears for sale on here.


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## cracKness (Feb 20, 2007)

OK so I'm back home. I didn't bother doing what I did on the way up, cuz I was tired as fk and just wanted to get home. The whole way I varied between 65 and 80, with some spurts above 80... and I got close to about 400 miles to the tank but I always filled up before the refuel light, and I don't recall having a fill up over 13 gallons. Did end up having to fill up a 3rd time though, but I'm currently over 3/4 tank so it wasn't too bad.

I have a feeling that this engine doesn't do too bad on the highway no matter the speed, but it doesn't do so well in the city.

Still love my little beast lol...:laugh:


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## MK5golf (Jun 30, 2012)

want to get respectable city numbers? I shift around 2k- 2500, coast to each and every stop, and downshift to use engine braking when possible. (I believe if your in gear coasting to a stop for example, your not using a drop of gasoline.) Starts should be slow. I find it easier to drive like a granny in the city than the highway. City trips seem so short and your going to end up stopping a lot anyways so why even bother trying to rush, your adding stress for nothing. Highway though like I said earlier I tried driving like aunt Delores but I dont have the patience to do that all the time, ESPECIALLY not for long trips.


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## Anile_eight (Sep 30, 2009)

First tank from Daytona Beach Fl to just north of Florence SC was 32.07 mpg with ac on most of the way.


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