kga1978

I'm in New England too (Boston) and I get exactly the same numbers - around 21-21.5 of mixed city/hwy driving (12k miles on the clock). I was kinda expecting and hoping for more.

Now put a roofbox on that baby and see those numbers go down South for real....! (when I do that I go from about 29mpg on the hwy to 21mpg!!). Too bad I have to put that roofbox on for my Boston > San Diego trip next week...

ssteigss

My 13' got 24 mpg in mostly city driving. Average speed 28 mph according to computer.
My 15' is so far averaging 23 mpg same conditions but up until 2 weeks ago its been below freezing everyday which drops the average.
Overall im happy considering its a 4000lb vehicle with Awd. My fwd 4 cylinder Passat did no better.

vwtoys

Are the quoted MPGs from the center display or actual calculated from fill-ups vs miles traveled? Those two numbers do not match. So when you quote your MPGs you must state "center display" or "hand calc".

I've driven like a granny for a week emptying my tank, mostly freeway driving in LA at moderate speeds (60-70). I got about 24 MPG overall (hand calc). The last day was 30 miles of stop and go traffic, so that naturally took a bite out of the MPG pie. During that week I consistently get average 32.5MPG (center display) on the way to work (no traffic) and 30MPG on the way back (light traffic). If I didn't have the stop-and-go day I'm confident that it would be 25-26MPG (hand calc). So you could see that the 32.5MPG/30MPG (center display) value is fairly optimistic. I believe I got about 470 miles out of the tank before refilling though. Had I driven the whole tank through at the same granny pace and no traffic I would get 500 miles out of the tank.
(in order to get the quoted 27MPG highway, you would probably have to get 535 miles over the entire tank (19.8GAL), this probably means driving 40-50MPH throughout the entire trip). I doubt anyone has achieved 27MPG (hand calc) in their commutes. If I get 32.5/30(Center display) that should've translated to 590-640 mile.

ex-quattro PETE

Excellent point.

That's why I use Fuelly to track my mpg and not rely on the car's computer.

Redd

dc-
You need to take a road trip. Fill the Q5 with regular 87 octane gas, because the new ones have flex-fuel systems and can use it perfectly well and low-test actually has more fuel energy. Get on an interstate and set the cruise control for 70-75mph and I'll bet you see some horrible number like 28mpg.
I know I have.

Step down on the wrong pedal and tickle the turbos? And you can throw out the mpg. That's how turbos work and why sometimes, a bigger normally aspirated engine is a better idea. But as long as you let those turbos stay asleep...yes, the car gets pretty good gas mileage for a two ton beast.