Best van mpg?

245

Comments

  • zeon999
    zeon999 Posts: 229 Forumite
    Have you gave the VW transporter a thought?

    36.7mpg and CO2 emissions at 208g/km

    http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-and-driving/volkswagen-transporter-1.9tdi-swb-range-1004399.html
  • goldspanners
    goldspanners Posts: 5,910 Forumite
    ive got a vito,dont get one.
    they are fast,but they are thirsty.and expensive to repair.(if you can find someone who wants to repair it).
    at my work we are changing over to the new transit,the 100ps transit gets around 30 - 35mpg on motorway at 70mph.
    the new transit it so comfortable to drive and powerful, i cant wait to get mine.you actually arrive at your destination relaxed!
    the layout in the cab is good,plenty of storage space with a handy fold out dashboard table for lunchtime!
    as for load carrying the vito has a good load capacity for its size,but if you dont need it then go forget the vito.
    the nissan primastar/vauxhall vivaro/renault trafic vans are also pretty good on fuel,not sure of figures but good mileage out of a tank,and are pretty comfortable to drive.
    but my personal choice is the ford transit.
    ...work permit granted!
  • bizman
    bizman Posts: 4 Newbie
    This is all good stuff. However I think I am always going to have the problem of pushing a large brick shaped object through the air. I need a luton for the flat load bed and width for my mobile bar units.
  • jago25_98
    jago25_98 Posts: 623 Forumite
    I went for VW T4 LWB HighTop in the end, because it was a deal not to be missed.

    But being a high top, the fuel effiency isn't great. I'd like to measure it.

    I have a VAGCOM and laptop but can't see a way to measure mpg.

    And letting it go onto the red I don't like doing. So how to measure mpg?
    Order of events: Banks lose our money -> get bailed out -> were inflating GBP to cover it -> now taxing us -> next will grab your funds direct -> things get really desperate to balance the books. What should have happened?: banks go bust and we lost our money much quicker
  • goldspanners
    goldspanners Posts: 5,910 Forumite
    jago25_98 wrote: »
    I went for VW T4 LWB HighTop in the end, because it was a deal not to be missed.

    But being a high top, the fuel effiency isn't great. I'd like to measure it.

    I have a VAGCOM and laptop but can't see a way to measure mpg.

    And letting it go onto the red I don't like doing. So how to measure mpg?

    you dont need a laptop or diagnostic software for this.
    just work it out mathematically.
    or use this http://www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php
    ...work permit granted!
  • jago25_98
    jago25_98 Posts: 623 Forumite
    you dont need a laptop or diagnostic software for this.
    just work it out mathematically.
    or use this http://www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php

    The fuel tank isn't uniform so to measure litres used I'd sure have to let it run to zero to measure as I said?
    Order of events: Banks lose our money -> get bailed out -> were inflating GBP to cover it -> now taxing us -> next will grab your funds direct -> things get really desperate to balance the books. What should have happened?: banks go bust and we lost our money much quicker
  • tomstickland
    tomstickland Posts: 19,538
    First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Weight is only really an issue if you are doing a lot of acceleration. If you are driving for long periods at a steady speed then the weight won't make much difference.
    The big killer is the aerodynamic drag. That's proportional to frontal area of the van, so large van is never going to be as good as a car derivative. Lowering speed is the only way of working round that.
    Happy chappy
  • ozvaldinho
    ozvaldinho Posts: 446 Forumite
    I run a fleet of sprinter lutons which get around 26 mpg on longer runs, but I did test drive a LWB peugeot boxer van. I was really surprised to get almpst 40mpg from it.
    It had the 150 bhp engine, but was so flexible that it would trundle round town at 30mph in sixth gear with just a wiff of throttle or just ticking over.
    Also, being a front wheel drive means it's lighter, around 250kg more payload.
    The load height is really low at the back, because of no drive shaft. That means you can make the overall height of your luton lower but still keep the same box size. This reduces the frontal area by several square feet.
    An engine with higher power output has more torque and can often work more efficiently. my 129 bhp sprinters get better mpg than my109 bhp models.
    Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Mercedes have a licence to print money with their sprinter engines:
    90 bhp model is Xthousand
    109 bhp is a thousand more
    129 is 2000 more
    150 bhp 3000 more

    YET there is no physical difference in the engine or chassis, only in the engine management system! Brakes, suspension everything else is the same right across the range. It must be tempting to buy the base model and get it 'chipped' I know there might be insurance and warranty issues to consider, but I'd love to know if anyone has done this.
  • vaio
    vaio Posts: 12,287
    First Post Combo Breaker First Anniversary
    Forumite
    jago25_98 wrote: »
    The fuel tank isn't uniform so to measure litres used I'd sure have to let it run to zero to measure as I said?

    easy…..

    fill it, note mileage.
    drive normally for a day/week/month keeping track of any fuel you buy.
    At the end of the test fill it again
    Add up all the fuel, add up all the miles, divide one by the other
  • ozvaldinho
    ozvaldinho Posts: 446 Forumite
    It might be worth seeing if you can get a subsidised place on a SAFED course. Safe And Fuel Efficient Driving was a MOD scheme to cut emissions and accidents, it was free last year, but even at £50 was well worth it.
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