VW Jetta TDI Performance & Economy Upgrades - Part V

People often ask us if it's worth their money and their time installing performance diesel parts like cold air intakes, programmers and exhaust systems.  We wanted to help newcomers and skeptics alike see that there really is money to be saved and a better driving experience waiting for them with just a few easy to install aftermarket upgrades.  Obviously for many VW TDI owners, diesel fuel economy is a primary motivation.

This is the 5th and concluding blog post about installing an AFE intake into a 2012 VW Jetta TDI Sedan.   If you haven't read them yet, we recommend starting at the beginning with the 1st Post.  If you've already viewed parts 1 through 4, read on.

In part 4, we measured an increase in fuel economy of 2.48 MPG on a mostly uphill trip of 217 miles from St. George Utah to Ely Nevada.  While in Ely the car was used so little that we didn't put more fuel into it after our fill up with the odometer at 1141 miles.  Here's a picture again of that odometer reading with a full tank of fuel.

On the trip back to St. George we again drove normally, averaging about 72 mph.  Temperatures were very nice, with about 55 degrees in Ely and 85 degrees when we arrived in St. George.  We didn't fill the tank up until the next day, and when we did the odometer was now at 1363 miles.

So the total trip distance was 1361 minus 1141, or 222 miles.  On our original test trip with the stock Jetta TDI, we had driven 220 miles.  The difference in trips was due to a very small amount of around town driving while in Ely.  Now let's check out the amount of fuel pumped.

With 222 miles driven on 5.012 gallons of diesel fuel, the return trip with the AFE 2.0L TDI intake installed works out to 44.29 miles per gallon.  In blog post 2 of this series, we reported fuel mileage of 41.30 mpg with the stock Jetta sedan.  So with the AFE intake our fuel mileage increase by 2.99 mpg on this trip.  

Just like before, we decided to figure out a combined mpg trip average.  439 total miles traveled (217 going, 222 coming) with 10.646 gallons of diesel used (5.634 going + 5.012 returning) equates to a trip average of 41.23 mpg.  The original trip average was 38.50 mpg, meaning with the AFE cold air intake we improved our overall fuel economy by 2.73 mpg.  And, we had better power and improved turbo spool.  

With results like these, we're convinced that adding an AFE cold air intake is one of the easiest and best ways to get improved VW TDI performance.

Next up, we're excited to test this car out on the soon to be released all new Diesel Power modules for 2012 & 2013 2.0L TDI's.  We're being told a pre-Christmas release date is likely, and since just like many of you we've been waiting over a year for this exciting upgrade, we can't wait!   The new Diesel Power modules for 2011 2.0L TDI's should be available in limited quantities by the 10th of December.  And all preliminary testing shows great driving characteristics, 20% torque gains, and fuel economy improvements too!