Vans MPGs...

mark_ian_newton

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies in advance if this is in the wrong forum, and thankyou for taking the time to reply to my post.

Bascially I am looking to buy a van in the near future, as my 206 - which has taken a lot of abuse over the last few years is close to dying. Essentially I do a lot of a sailing and windsurfing, and owning a van, would make my life a lot easier!

The problem is, that I need something that I can commute in as well (my daily commute is about 30 miles - mostly motorway). Really I am looking for something that will give me around about 50mpg or so. Not 100% sure thats possible. I was wondering though, if anyone had an experience of the Citroen Dispatches/Experts, I was looking at the old models. One of my friends has a Scudo (same van) which is perfect, although his is a petrol engine I think and not very good on fuel.

Has anyone got any suggestions for a good van to buy or where to look for the data? I know that MPGs vary massively, depending on things like tyre pressures, how you drive it, and how much stuff you put in the back.

Anyhow, thanks in advance,

Mark.

plane_boy2000

Not sure if you will get a van that will do 50mpg.

Have you also thought about a van derived car like the citroen berlingo or such? Might give you more choice and be a bit more refined for your commute. What about a decent sized estate like a mondeo - probably get a bit closer to your 50 mpg and be a lot nicer to live with day to day

skivenov

Most car derived should do that (Combo, Berlingo, Kangoo, Caddy, etc), in fact you may even nudge 60mpg. New SWB transit will do 40mpg with ease. Sprinters are shockingly bad on fuel.

Scudo's are trouble, I swear we have more recovered than we deliver.

GAZ237

http://www.parkers.co.uk/vans/

tim9966

My company van, is about the size you after is a Nissan NV200 and it does about 38mpg.

It's mostly used for multi drop town driving which is the worse for fuel economy so might do nearly 50 on a long run.

GAZ237

Another possible option rather than a van, is a people carrier/mpv.

Most now have the option of folding up or completely removing all the rear seats.

Would give you a much more versatile vehicle than a van.

mark_ian_newton

Thanks for the replays all. I will take them into consideration. I have done a bit of searching rounds and come up with a few different sites.

This one by the government is pretty useful I think. Look for (remove spaces and add full stops for hyperlink):

vanfueldata dft gov uk

(apparently as a new user I am unable to post links at the moment)

I notice that on the Parkers guides, they don't actually quote any MPG's. I guess as has been said, it all depends what you use it for, and how much you load them. To be honest, with all my windsurf kit in, I doubt I would be carrying more than about 60kgs (the good thing about windsurf kit is that its light!)

The reason why I thought a van would be better, was down to space and the fact that currently in my car, everything gets soaking inside. I can live with a van day in day out. Just don't want to end up living to buy fuel for a van!

I had noticed that the new Berlingo's can do up to 60mpg - the 1.6 tdi engine. I am just not sure if they are big enough for what I am after. The new Dispatches (2.0hdi) are quoted as being able to do up to 48mpg extra urban (motorway?!), and the Transit Connects look like they will do similar. I was just wondering if anyone knows if the old school Dispatches/Scudo's/Experts would do a similar MPG - obviously this is unlaiden - but well, this is how I commute to work. Normally just me, a ruck sack with my lunch in it, and a couple of coats.

Anyhow, just some thoughts.

Thanks again one and all, I shall carry on gathering data...

Mark