My New Van is thirstier than my old!

alun4

bigjl wrote: »

I would check that as we have been told that the Sprinters that where bought over a year ago where Euro5.

Though you may have struck lucky with an old stock van.

I was told by somebody in the know that the Autobox fitted to the more recent ones, 2008/9 onwards is not the same as that put in the older ones, it isn't as robust. Abd certainly seems to rev the engine a lot harder than the older box, but that could be down to the lack of torque in the 2.2 compared to the beafy 2.7.

And considering we have had around 400 of the old 2.7 Sprinters with only a few gearbox issues, and the new ones have already got some issues with the gearboxes within the first year of use does make me think this is true.

Maybe Merc where losing profit. I was told the gearboxes are £4000 a throw:eek:

I am sure the VITO didn't change until October 2010 production. They called it a facelift model but there are very few differences .... headlight surround and a bit below the bumper. Mine is the same as the old one.
The gearbox is, jowever anither matter. I would not be suprised if this turns out to be the problem!

pmm1981

alun4 wrote: »

The cumulative "since reset" is now 25.9 mpg over the last 2500 miles where as I was showing 34 to 35 mpg on the old (all its life of 130000 miles).
I am not an aggressive driver. Indeed, I like to think I read the road ahead well enough to minimize throttle/brake to a minimum and the journeys are similar in both vehicles.
My thoughts are that something (a management system) is not working properly but Mercedes are reluctant to help saying things like ... "The tyres are wider" and "It has been very cold" .

Have you manually checked your mpg to see if your onboard mpg is working correctly?
It is easily done by doing the following
1 Fill the tank with fuel,
2 reset the trip computer,
3 When you next refill fill the tank again,
4 note the milage on the trip computer and the amount of fuel it took to fill the tank (litres),
5 divide the milage by the number of litres it took to fill,
6 multiply this answer by 4.546 to convert to your MPG figure.

If you wish to make some small fuel purchases between the 2 full tanks make sure you note down the exact amount of fuel put in so you can add it to the amount of fuel figure.

alun4

pmm1981 wrote: »

Have you manually checked your mpg to see if your onboard mpg is working correctly?
It is easily done by doing the following
1 Fill the tank with fuel,
2 reset the trip computer,
3 When you next refill fill the tank again,
4 note the milage on the trip computer and the amount of fuel it took to fill the tank (litres),
5 divide the milage by the number of litres it took to fill,
6 multiply this answer by 4.546 to convert to your MPG figure.

If you wish to make some small fuel purchases between the 2 full tanks make sure you note down the exact amount of fuel put in so you can add it to the amount of fuel figure.

Yes, I have kept the records so I can work it out mathamatically after I had done the first 300 or so miles and I fill up each time so by now I can conclude the onboard figures are "spot on" !

only_mee

A new diesel engine will needs some good miles under its belt before the mpg increases.

alun4

only_mee wrote: »

A new diesel engine will needs some good miles under its belt before the mpg increases.

I had thought that the mpg would really be there after 2500 miles. Are they "run in" on a bench or is that a myth?

only_mee

Tolerances now wouldn't need the bench run in tbh

alun4

Just an update. Went to the local Mercedes dealer again. The manager came out to look at the computer display. I told him I was going to France this week so he zeroed and asked me to note all the fuel I put in in the next 2 weeks (I had just filled up) and do the calcs again on my return. Two of the demonstrators (both auto, a couple of months older than mine and with about 10,000 miles on them were showing the same 26mpg.

This is 8 - 10 mpg less than my old van and in contradiction to the banners advertising the Vito on the dealer windows quoting its excellent fuel performance: Mercedes van attributes the Vito's success to build quality, long service intervals and highly competitive fixed cost maintenance contracts.

It is proven to be the most fuel efficient van in its class after a Vito CDI, which was entered by rental giant Northgate and set a new record of 55mpg in the AA/ALD Automotive MPG Marathon.

I would imagine far better than I am getting fuel figures on the French motorways but it is the like with like comparison at home between my 5 year old Vito and new Vito.