# One Thing I Miss About My Jetta TDI



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Give your CDT a chance to break in. It appears all Lordstown Cruze trims require 5 to 10,000 miles to achieve their best fuel economy.


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## q2bruiser (Jun 8, 2014)

obermd said:


> Give your CDT a chance to break in. It appears all Lordstown Cruze trims require 5 to 10,000 miles to achieve their best fuel economy.


Will do.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Are you going off the DIC, hand calculations, or your fuelly? BTW your diesel prices are my Shell 93 prices.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Merc6 said:


> Are you going off the DIC, hand calculations, or your fuelly? BTW your diesel prices are my Shell 93 prices.


Looks like OP has a fuelly account.


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

Hope the Cruze doesn't go down the crap hole in 8 years when I'll finally get rid of this gasser. Soooo want the diesel version but it NEEDS a manual version!


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Best I've seen with 5000 miles on mine is 42mpg imp all city. 
My friend gets the same or better with his gas cruze with the manual transmission


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

I have never found my CTD to be very impressive in the city. I pretty much match what the window sticker says for the city, but always exceed it on the highway.


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## Scott M. (Apr 23, 2013)

I think that is by design. It seems to me that GM set it up to favor the highway MPG's


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

They should have a city button or Eco that changes to a different set of shift points for maximum city mpg


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## VtTD (Nov 5, 2013)

diesel said:


> I have never found my CTD to be very impressive in the city. I pretty much match what the window sticker says for the city, but always exceed it on the highway.


Ditto. I have found that from a stop, gassing it (within reason), instead of babying it, does better with MPG. The car does pretty poorly in the MPG dept getting up to speed whether you hit on the gas or baby it, but once you are cruising (even at 35mph) it's fantastic so I try to get up to speed as quick as possible then I can let up on the gas, even if it is just hopping from stop sign to stop sign. It's a lot more fun too!:grin:


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## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

Back in the 1980's (or possibly the 1970's) a group of proper engineers from BMW were tasked with finding out_ how to drive a car as fuel-efficiently as possible_, while remaining safe on the roads.

After trying all the usual things, they determined that the best overall efficiency was gained by getting up to speed briskly, and getting the engine to sit at about 2000rpm.

This, of course, was for engines that were nothing like those in the Cruze, but the basic concept of "get up to speed quickly so you spend as much time at speed" still seems to give the best overall results, without going to the extremes of hyper-miling.


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## Vetterin (Mar 27, 2011)

money_man said:


> Best I've seen with 5000 miles on mine is 42mpg imp all city.
> My friend gets the same or better with his gas cruze with the manual transmission


That's just about what I get also, but I don't do much "hammering" with mine.


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## alyupe11 (Jun 9, 2013)

Have to agree... 2 previous tdi's had better in city mpg. The CTD is amazing at highway mileage and overall very happy with its cruzing ability.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Weight has a lot to do with it, and the CTD is quite heavy for it's size. In all city driving, I've seen Hondas (1 Accord, 1 Civic) do better than my Cruze @ 27-28 MPG. But mine blows them away on the highway, and the diesels return ridiculous highway MPG. 


Sent from Bill the WonderPhone


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

+1 on highway mpg...I averaged 53 yesterday to and from work. I am saving so much money on fuel, I may be able quit working.


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## Cruze2.0TD (Feb 12, 2014)

Mine usually gets about 30 US MPG city driving. About 50% better than my '98 Camaro Z28 and literally three times better than my '95 Chevy K1500. For the amount of driving I do, any of the 1.4T Cruze's, or even the 1.8L Cruze would have probably been a much more logical buy as I doubt the diesel will ever pay for itself in my case. However, after having the Camaro and even my truck with its fully built 5.7L, I wouldn't have been happy with the power of the 1.4T or the 1.8L. The diesel was the best of both worlds. Power that I am constantly impressed with and amazing fuel economy. The Cruze is not only the favourite car I own, but is one of the favourite cars I've ever driven (somehow I like it even more than my dad's BMW).


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

To be perfectly honest, I never bought the Cruze in hopes that the diesel option would ever pay for itself mileage savings wise. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Didn't do the mat and honestly, don't care. I mean if I'm going to spend $25k-$30k on a new car, what difference does it make when you get right down to brass tacks? I mean you are going to spend the money on a car, correct? The money has been spent and you own the car. I just happened to buy the car I wanted and as a side benefit is friggin awsome mileage, great power, good looks, awsome quality (so far) etc...


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

grs1961 said:


> Back in the 1980's (or possibly the 1970's) a group of proper engineers from BMW were tasked with finding out_ how to drive a car as fuel-efficiently as possible_, while remaining safe on the roads.
> 
> After trying all the usual things, they determined that the best overall efficiency was gained by getting up to speed briskly, and getting the engine to sit at about 2000rpm.
> 
> This, of course, was for engines that were nothing like those in the Cruze, but the basic concept of "get up to speed quickly so you spend as much time at speed" still seems to give the best overall results, without going to the extremes of hyper-miling.


I remember that report. They were specifically testing how to get the best fuel efficiency out of a 6/3 cylinder engine. It would use 6 when needed and drop back to 3 while cruising at low engine speeds and load. What they discovered is the heart of hypermiling any turbo or supercharged car - keep the engine speeds below full throttle but get to speed as quickly as possible.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Hmm. Next tank I'm going to try this get up to speed quick thing. I've always done it slowly


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

VtTD said:


> Ditto. I have found that from a stop, gassing it (within reason), instead of babying it, does better with MPG. The car does pretty poorly in the MPG dept getting up to speed whether you hit on the gas or baby it, but once you are cruising (even at 35mph) it's fantastic so I try to get up to speed as quick as possible then I can let up on the gas, even if it is just hopping from stop sign to stop sign. It's a lot more fun too!:grin:


I may not have a diesel, but this is how I drive my 1.4T auto and average higher than most do on a good day with the gas auto. Typically driving like that I actually gain MPG driving across a city according to the DIC. I would call it brisk acceleration, not grandma slow and not floored. In auto mode this amount of foot input typically shifts in the 2800-3200RPM range. 

Getting on it hard off the line and coasting the rest of the distance to the next light technically a hypermiling technique, pulse and glide.


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## Barefeet (Jan 1, 2014)

I'm not saving money driving my CTD. The problem is I enjoy driving it so much I look for any excuse to go for a ride. I even take the long way home from work.


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## VtTD (Nov 5, 2013)

obermd said:


> I remember that report. They were specifically testing how to get the best fuel efficiency out of a 6/3 cylinder engine. It would use 6 when needed and drop back to 3 while cruising at low engine speeds and load. What they discovered is the heart of hypermiling any turbo or supercharged car - keep the engine speeds below full throttle but get to speed as quickly as possible.


Interesting. So do you think that translates to a car that is not turbo or supercharged? I've never really done much in the way of consistently getting up to speed quickly to check the mileage on all the cars I've had before this one. I always just thought that was bad for MPGs. I love how you can "briskly" get up to speed keeping the car mostly in the 2000-3000 RPM peak torque spectrum on this car if you work the pedal right and it doesn't seem to hurt MPGs.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

VtTD said:


> Interesting. So do you think that translates to a car that is not turbo or supercharged? I've never really done much in the way of consistently getting up to speed quickly to check the mileage on all the cars I've had before this one. I always just thought that was bad for MPGs. I love how you can "briskly" get up to speed keeping the car mostly in the 2000-3000 RPM peak torque spectrum on this car if you work the pedal right and it doesn't seem to hurt MPGs.


I know it translates to my ECO MT. When I keep the engine speed below 2,000 RPM during acceleration I get measurably better city fuel economy than if I go up to 3,000 RPM or even 2,500 RPM. In addition, by watching the instantaneous fuel economy readout I have verified the start of turbo boost. The turbo in my ECO MT starts providing boost as you accelerate through 1,500-1,600 RPM and there is a consistent 5 MPG drop which I believe is the result of the additional fuel needed to keep the air/fuel mixture consistent when the turbo starts providing boost. I have seen this occur in all six forward gears.


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## q2bruiser (Jun 8, 2014)

Merc6 said:


> Are you going off the DIC, hand calculations, or your fuelly? BTW your diesel prices are my Shell 93 prices.


Fuelly.com

Diesel ain't cheap here in CO.


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## q2bruiser (Jun 8, 2014)

alyupe11 said:


> Have to agree... 2 previous tdi's had better in city mpg. The CTD is amazing at highway mileage and overall very happy with its cruzing ability.


Agreed. My CTD beats the old beater in HW mileage. By a good margin.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

I very often get up to speed briskly. Quite often my accelerator pedal has 2 positions - on (i.e. floored) and off.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

diesel said:


> I very often get up to speed briskly. Quite often my accelerator pedal has 2 positions - on (i.e. floored) and off.


My Saab 900 and Beetle were driven in a similar fashion, but they didn't do ANYTHING quickly =D


Sent from Bill the WonderPhone


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

In town driving in auto I seldom get past 4th gear and I have tried to manually shift up with no success. The transmission must be set up to prevent under revving the engine? On the highway 110kph = 1700rpm in sixth.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I wish you could shift up at any rpm like a manual trans vehicle. 56-57km/h bumps me into 5th and 71km/h bumps me into 6th


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## q2bruiser (Jun 8, 2014)

money_man said:


> I wish you could shift up at any rpm like a manual trans vehicle. 56-57km/h bumps me into 5th and 71km/h bumps me into 6th


Interesting. Mine does not exhibit this behavior.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

q2bruiser said:


> Interesting. Mine does not exhibit this behavior.


I would think my diesel is not a unique case.


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## Cass23VSU4 (Mar 13, 2014)

When I get stuck in city traffic I'll switch to the auto-stick. From a stop light, I take off in 2nd then shift the rest of the way until I get up to speed. After that, it's back in auto. 

That method seems to keep the 1.5 tons of Cruze happy and moving. The hand calculated avg. is around 43 mpg for city/hwy traffic dependent of course.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I haven't tried starting from different gears. Is there a notice change in the mpg for the better?


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## Cass23VSU4 (Mar 13, 2014)

To be honest, I'm just trying to play around with quirks of the Cruze and going through 'breaking it in' process. I only have 12500 miles on it now, so I'm not really focusing or putting an emphasis on the mpg. 

What I'm experiencing so far, it seems that the transmission TCU is programmed for fuel economy and tends to place you in a gear that you don't necessarily need to be in when in full-auto in stop & go traffic. 

From the time I started using the manual-auto mode for around town city driving I've been seeing a bit better overall performance & slight mpg increases. 

Also, note that I have stock GY Fuel Max tires at 42 psi cold/front and 44 psi cold/rear. I use Amsoil Diesel Injector Clean, Amsoil Diesel Cetane Boost and Cold Flow (winter time). I try to stick with Shell diesel, since my Cruze tends to like it and performs better with it better than Sunocco and Exxon diesel (hence the cetane boost and injector clean). 

Sorry for the long answer, just tying to give you as much info as possible.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Maybe when I go out today I'll cruze around in the auto stick mode


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