Hello Dr Diesel,
I received my August issue of Diesel Car and I read your articles first, and lo and behold, someone with my name and address was mentioned in your article – it really startled me. Thanks! The mileage on our new Golf (see Issue 339 “Chips in the USA”) is an already excellent 36 to 45mpg (US gallons, so equivalent to 43 to 54mpg here). We now have about 800 miles on the clock and I have found the best way to increase the rpm, as you suggested, is to use the paddle shifters.

I also noticed an advert in the magazine for an economy tuning dongle. Do you think that this so-called dongle product is any good? Diesel fuel is $2.59/gallon over here in Indiana and sometimes as low as $2.49/gallon (Eat your heart out readers – this is equivalent to under 50p/litre – pity the diesel fuel is often very poor quality, which is why I advised James to source some good additive). Volkswagen has finally picked up our old damaged Golf from the dealer, and the last thing they told us was that VW will take the car somewhere and take it apart to find out just how it managed to survive the accident, and how they left the option packages we selected from being installed. The new car has everything on it. One question I have is: is Dr Diesel your real name? Thanks!
Jim Gullicks

Jeez, James, sounds like the mileage is pretty good James. Great. Smart work with the paddle shifters – get those rpm up to 3,000 every now and again. As I said before, I wouldn’t bother with thinking about doing anything with the motor until you’ve a few thousand miles on the clock. But you would do best using a US based company if you do try something like this, and preferably some company close to your home. There are some dodgy companies out there, and you don’t want to get stung. Regarding my name James, I used to be called Gas, but I just couldn’t live with it, so way back a few years I changed my surname to Diesel… Keep taking the pills James!
Doc

P.S. Notice how easily I slip into the transatlantic drawl! I actually spent two years living “just down the road” from James when I worked in the US of A for a couple of years, back before the Civil War!