Fuel Consumption

Cheltenham to Trowell Services. 100miles @ 40+ mpg 2.2l Warwick
Pleasant surprise.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

On motorway journeys I get around 42, on z mix of motorway and mainly A roads I get 36 but on a mix of all types of roads I get 34. Still better than my Nuevo which gave 30.

Yesterday got 37.263 on my 1998 Topaz a VW  T4 a 2.4 pleased with that, for an older vehicle.

Wow, I must have a heavy right foot, my average is no more than 29 and that includes French toll roads.

Mind you as some one quoted some time ago if you use the theory of 10 mph 1st, 20 mph 2 gear etc. I really do need a 8 to 9 speed gear box! So I am not bothered about my fuel use, when I am I shall pack in driving.
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Richard

Wow your arms and  legs must be killing you having pushed it for 70 of those miles !! 

rgermain wrote:Wow, I must have a heavy right foot, my average is no more than 29 and that includes French toll roads.

Mind you as some one quoted some time ago if you use the theory of 10 mph 1st, 20 mph 2 gear etc. I really do need a 8 to 9 speed gear box! So I am not bothered about my fuel use, when I am I shall pack in driving.
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Richard

Same as my 2014 Kingham I can't get an average over 29 mpg.

My Berkshire 23/24 mpg towing a car.

I do wonder at how the average fuel is worked out. Do you fill up, run for say 400 miles and top up again to get the figures, or just read the LCD display.

I always find that driving conditions cause such differences to the readings displayed.IE you can drive at 70 for an hour on the motorway, then sit in traffic or crawl along for the next 20 mins and end up with an average of 25 mph, I assume this also applies to fuel use. Or you can drive on the Motorway at a steady 55 and get magic returns, all to be lost when you get off and drive through the next town or climb a hill.

Also depends on what you have on board at the time weight wise! as well as weather and road conditions.

Just asking as I never myself bother to check my fuel use, I just enjoy using the van.
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Richard

I fill up to the brim run right down fill again to the brim, then use the formula below.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Chrisk, I don't think much of fuel consumption from your formula.

Bad Penny wrote:Chrisk, I don't think much of fuel consumption from your formula.

It is OK as an approximation.

Using the formula gives you a correct mileage within 50+ miles

It is recommended to do a  FUEL check as if it varies after being constant, could be  a prob lem , so can be sorted before it gets to be a major concern,

rgermain wrote:I do wonder at how the average fuel is worked out. Do you fill up, run for say 400 miles and top up again to get the figures, or just read the LCD display.

Just asking as I never myself bother to check my fuel use, I just enjoy using the van.
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Richard

I think you'd be right on those with LCD facility! I've never had that in any car or van i've owned so always 'necked it' at the top on each refill. I only keep a record on tours and when not touring generally drive around with 1/4 tank as there's no point lugging extra weight around short distance.

I keep a full tank, top up  when it when it gets to the 3/4 full mark, unless on a long trip when it may go lower, never to the 1/4 full mark though, at the pump it goes two clicks every time, so it is full. extra weight of fuel doesn`t bother me, rather know I have the fuel on board. ETTO.

rgermain wrote:I do wonder at how the average fuel is worked out. Do you fill up, run for say 400 miles and top up again to get the figures, or just read the LCD display.

I always find that driving conditions cause such differences to the readings displayed.IE you can drive at 70 for an hour on the motorway, then sit in traffic or crawl along for the next 20 mins and end up with an average of 25 mph, I assume this also applies to fuel use. Or you can drive on the Motorway at a steady 55 and get magic returns, all to be lost when you get off and drive through the next town or climb a hill.

Also depends on what you have on board at the time weight wise! as well as weather and road conditions.

Just asking as I never myself bother to check my fuel use, I just enjoy using the van.
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Richard

I must admit to checking my average fuel consumption, but this is partly to do with being a bit of a driving 'nerd' and I'm interested in such things.

There is the obvious check that everyone does, even those that think they don't check fuel use ( ) which is knowing how much I get out of a tank on average (e.g. in my Clio I get 400 from a full tank in my normal driving). 

Nowadays I usually check by using the dash on board computer reading, which is automatically calculated based on the mileage you've covered and the fuel used since the last reset. Fast and simple and sometimes accurate.  I've found that if it's not entirely accurate, its consistently inaccurate.

In the past, I simply filled up to the automatic cut off, then zeroed the trip mileage, then drove.  When I needed to refill again I then knew the litres I put in and the mileage I had covered, so I had the average mpg, calculated in about 5 seconds before I even left the garage.  It was always pretty accurate.  I'm a fill up then drive till nearly empty then fill up again kind of girl, but I know others do it differently.

As Daisy said, it is a good early warning if something is going wrong, although it's never happened to me fortunately.  I just do it because I'm like that

The only trouble is, I still can only think about it in miles per gallon, not miles (kilometres) per litre!  

Sally
x

The read out on the on-board computer can be set to either miles or kilometres.

I fill up to brim run till nearly empty then fill up to brim again, see how many miles you done then divide milage by gallons, it usually says how many gallons on receipt, or convert Lt to Gallons

chrisk wrote:I fill up to brim run till nearly empty then fill up to brim again, see how many miles you done then divide milage by gallons, it usually says how many gallons on receipt, or convert Lt to Gallons

I must admit, that is a slightly quicker way of saying what I tried to say.

Average 35mpg on local roads , unable to get into 6 gear, 40 mpg on motorways,A roads .
Boaby

I can get 33mpg when motorway cruise controling around 64mph
The vehicle average is 28.8 mpg but that includes some vmax runs   . That was before I realised you can get to the EuroTunnel 2 hours late and they still let you on.

I onced checked the computer against actual usage and found the computer to over state mpg by 1 mpg.

Sagabike wrote:Cheltenham to Trowell Services. 100miles @ 40+ mpg 2.2l Warwick
Pleasant surprise.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Not a hope in hell!!! Was it on a trailer??? There is only ONE way to be certain re fuel consumption and that is tank full to tank full over many tankfulls. 

See my report below.....
The route....
31Aug 2018 Home to Portsmouth for Brittany Ferries Cap Finestere sailing to Santander, Spain. Dep Portsmouth 1700
1 Sep Arrive Santander, 1730 to Bilboa AIRE, arr 1930. Good AIRE, fantastic panoramic view over city
2 Sep Bilbao to San Sebastain AIRE. Great place, amazing beach, good PIXTOS, if pricy
3 Sep San Sebastian to Train de RHUNE, (Petit train, in France), a rack railway. Had to bypass, impossible to park, huge queues, carried on to St Jean Pied de Port, MUNICIPAL SITE. Great site 100m from centre, super town and market day as well, so we missed the train but got the market!
4 Sep SJPDP to Roncal Spain. AIRE in town car park. Route through the first of the Pyrenees, over 1100m (3600ft on 3 occasions) Good AIRE, interesting if small town, shops and a pub
5 Sep Roncal to Jaca. Well, almost, Jaca proved to be a huge town and not very interesting, in addition the AIRE was in the middle of nowhere, so we moved on to AINSA. Ainsa (AIRE) an interesting Medieval town, well worth a stop, AIRE is car park (huge) confusing re night stop but we did anyway as did 8 or 9 others
6 Sep Ainsa to ANDORRA. Andorra proved to be interesting, but not in a great way. Very busy, too fast traffic, and wrong Sat Nav co-ordinates for the SITE, eventually got there. Site 10 min walk from centre, but not an interesting place. Massive thunderstorm all afternoon.
7 Sep Andorra to RIBES (SITE) Interesting journey, campsite way up a rough track but OK when there. Did the rack railway to NURIA, very good, then cable car to summit. Rustic place but none the worse for that
8 Sep Ribes to ARGELES SUR MER, (Camping Catalan) we finally reach the Med! OK site, bit of a Benidorm sort of town but ok really. Mongs in car park next to site till 0600, wished I had a gun! Tourist train ride around town, driver must have been ex TGV or formula 1!
10Sep ASM to Villefrance. AIRE Station car park for the Yellow Train. Villefrance is a medieval citadel and very interesting. Yellow train proved disappointing initially, just a routing local train, but got the tourist train return journey which was much better
11 Sep Villefrance to AXAT (SITE). Dash over mountains to catch first Red Train, much better than yellow train. 2.5hrs return trip through mountains. V Good. Site was 4km away , Camping Des Moulins. Ok site but only just.
12 Sep Axat to MASSAT (Municipal Site) Rustic site and rustic town, just what we like.
13 Sep Massat to St LARY SOULAN, should have been a municipal site (now closed) so an AIRE in the sport centre car park. Interesting enough town but totally skiing biased
14 Sep SLS to La Mongie, to PAU. What a day! All in Cols of varying scariness! La Mongie is half way along Col Du Tourmalet, and itself is 1800m (5900 ft) altitude. Here we got the cablecars to PIC DU MIDI, 2872m, 9432ft. Awesome once in a lifetime trip. Blessed by great weather too. Expensive, no, not really only 40Euros each.
Carried on to top of Col du Tormalet, highest the camper got, 2115m, 6938ft.
Joined Gorge de Luz, then proceeded to Col d'Abisque onwards to planned stop at Eaux Bonnes. Quite the most scary road I have ever done and certainly wouldn't do again, see notes later
Site at Eaux Bonnes was closed, so proceeded to Camping Le Sapins near PAU
15/16 Sep Pau, (SITE) Nice and slightly rustic. Bus to city 100m.Pau interesting city.
17 Sep Pau to Biarritz, (SITE Camping Biarritz). Biarritz an enchanting town, very nice in every way, buses proved difficult though. Good site with bar and shop, 15min walk to beach, 30mins on bus to centre.
19 Sep Biarritz via BAKIO to BILBAO. Bakio has a Basque winery I wanted to visit, was OK, but pleasant trip, then onto Bilbao for 2 nights before the return ferry. Bus to city centre, every 15mins from AIRE, gets you there but not through the best bits of Bilbao. Open top bus tour does though and proves that Bilbao is well worth a visit
20 Sep BILBAO to PORTSMOUTH Brittany Ferries Cap Finistere . Dep 1500. Very rough Biscay crossing, arrived 1 hr late into Portsmouth  (21st)to enjoy the delights of the M25 at 1700 on Friday evening..............never again!
All in all a trip of a lifetime, well worth every effort.
A word of warning, Col D'Abisque is, IMHO not fit for purpose. No safety barriers, a 1500ft drop from edge of tarmac, only just wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass. Too dangerous  and should be avoided at all costs.
Now some statistics:-
Total distance (not incl on ferry) door to door 1743 miles
Distance in Spain/France 1335 miles
Fuel used 295 ltrs, 64.9 galls
Consumption 26.85Mpg
Gas used 13ltrs
Nights on EHU 4 (Bilbao aire includes electricity whether or not you want it) Rest totally on solar
Max altitude for motorhome  6938ft
Max altitude on foot (via cablecars) 9432ft
Vehicle Peugeot Boxer Warwick Duo. Weighed pre departure full, ready to go, full water, full fuel, full gas, all clothes food etc, 3250Kg, still 250Kg payload left
Failures.............none, for vehicle, 3 pairs glasses for me!
Wine bought 29 botts
Pics  820
IH
23/9/18

IanH wrote:

Sagabike wrote:Cheltenham to Trowell Services. 100miles @ 40+ mpg 2.2l Warwick
Pleasant surprise.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Not a hope in hell!!! Was it on a trailer??? There is only ONE way to be certain re fuel consumption and that is tank full to tank full over many tankfulls. 

See my report below.....

PYRENEES TRIP

I&J

31Aug to 21 Sept 2018

The route....
31Aug 2018 Home to Portsmouth for Brittany Ferries Cap Finestere sailing to Santander, Spain. Dep Portsmouth 1700

Now some statistics:-
Total distance (not incl on ferry) door to door 1743 miles
Distance in Spain/France 1335 miles
Fuel used 295 ltrs, 64.9 galls
Consumption 26.85Mpg

Totally agree Ian and this seems a more credible figure than whats being bandied about. I use exactly the same method as you though only during tours as i never run with a full tank when at home (whats the point when i do a supermarket shop each week?!!).

I've only been back home the past three weeks so not yet got round to working my mpg but each tour i 'neck it' on the tank, then repeat at each refill irrespective of how much is in the tank when i refill. I note the mileage on the fuel receipt plus highlight the litres pumped in as some countries have obscure indication of litres....such as using a lowercase 'L'. I always try to choose the flattest area on pumps though obviously it's not always possible. As other Mk5 Duetto owners will no doubt know, filling the tank on 'em is a pain in the proverbial. They are extremely sloooow fillers and you have to watch out for 'blow back' if trying to pump in too fast.

Most recent tour mileage was 5,371 miles in total but i still need to get the total amount of litres totted up before i can do an mpg. I don't expect much more than 28 and would be amazed if i've returned 30. A Duetto is a heavy van when fully loaded with fuel + full water tanks. My tour driving varies greatly from pottering around country roads at 25mph to blasting along Autobahns at 75-80 when needing to get from A to B. Also queuing to get through various customs points i kept the engine running with having a fridge full of food.

I also use the same method as the posts above.
 I never use toll roads or buy vignettes, and prefer to go over mountain passes rather than under them, always travel with a full tank of water as I never know when I'll be able to fill up again, so the van is always pretty heavy.
Over the 3500 miles or so of our spring trip to Slovenia the average MPG works out at exactly 30, which is the same as the last dozen long trips.
Reasonable and real world I think.
Al.

bikeralw wrote:I also use the same method as the posts above.
 I never use toll roads or buy vignettes, and prefer to go over mountain passes rather than under them, always travel with a full tank of water as I never know when I'll be able to fill up again, so the van is always pretty heavy.
Over the 3500 miles or so of our spring trip to Slovenia the average MPG works out at exactly 30, which is the same as the last dozen long trips.
Reasonable and real world I think.
Al.

Re. Vignettes Al depending on country it's sometimes difficult to avoid, in fact if touring Bulgaria it's impossible as it includes all main roads. Cost isn't much...€8 a week or €15 for one month but traffic police are regularly at the roadside to catch the unsuspecting tourist.....and fines are hefty, not to mention 'on the spot' in cash and if you haven't enough they march you off to an ATM.


They should sell them at the border...but they don't. You have to find a garage to buy one.