Happy June

[furthur]

I'm furthur, from southern Oregon and I'm new to your forum. I'm interested in getting the best fuel mileage I can.
To pull my teardrop trailer better, I traded my Subaru Forrester 2.5 L, for a VW Touareg, V6, 6 spd Tiptronic. The Subaru, a very nice car, was getting 21-24 mpg typically, but on 6% grades was in .3rd gear and going 45 mph. The Touareg , so far has gotten over 19 mpg - best- and pulls those same grades in 5th, occasionally down to 4th, at 60-65 mph.
So I pull the grades much better, but it cost me a few mpg.
My hope, here, is to try to get a couple of those back.
I'll be watching and reading for a while.
Thanks for letting me come aboard.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Welcome to the site! Did you consider the VW TDI when car shopping. That would have yielded mileage and torque. It is pricier than the gasoline model though.

[furthur]

I do have a TDI Jetta. I know, it would give better mileage, but with the boondock camping pulling the teardrop,
often down forest service roads or way back on trails in the desert. I need the higher ground clearance and AWD. The Jetta is my wife's daily driver.

[BikerBecca]

Originally Posted by furthur

I do have a TDI Jetta. I know, it would give better mileage, but with the boondock camping pulling the teardrop, often down forest service roads or way back on trails in the desert. I need the higher ground clearance and AWD. The Jetta is my wife's daily driver.

I think he meant the Touareg TDI instead of the gasoline model. I just got the Mercedes ML350 and the diesel puts out 455 lbs/ft of torque. I'd bet the VW TDI produces lots of torque too.

[Janet H]

Welcome to the board! I also tow with a Touareg gasser and it does well. I agree the TDI is torqier, but the cost differential and limited availability made this an impractical choice for me.

[furthur]

Yeah, I think so, too.
The V6 TDI is very torquey. Very. That will likely be my next one.
But the Jetta TDI would do a nice job of towing my tear. Loaded, with water, the teardrop is 11-1200 pounds. And lots of the trails and Forest Service road I drive, the Jetta TDI would work. It's the unknown factor driving those roads. I have been up some that I have to ford streams close to mid door. No room to turn around. Keep moving.
So, for the tear towing, the gas V6 does very nicely.

[Draigflag]

I'm hopefully picking up my new diesel at the weekend. According to the ratings, it will do over 80 MPG, but I'll believe that when I see it!