fuel economy

[timothy goggin]

I can live with 36mph but every time I fill up, it reminds me of the Dealer crowi g how fuel efficient this van would be, it really £450 / year I'm talking about but that alot in my money. What about the weight? 600kgs with roof a bars including the driver should be OK?

 

[Neil Nicholls]

Mine runs 500kg min all the time, often 1000kg.
Seems to make little difference in this van, they just seem greedy

 

[timothy goggin]

Yes Neil, hit the nail on the head.
I've the long wb, just wish it was 20 cm longer, for me would make all the difference getting into people's drives as I work mostly in the domestic market and with all the equipment I bring in and out like to get as close as possible. The swb crafter is just that bit wider which rules it out. Can we have a vote
SWB
LWB
ELWB

 

[PukkaT6]

At 80mph mines less fuel efficient than a 60s Mustang with a hole in its tank.

 

[timothy goggin]

We can all lobby VW
If enough of ours do so, mabey they will listen. What would be acceptable fuel wise over all 36mph with a 6 - 800 load in total for the t28?
I could live with that

 

[andys]

We can all lobby VW
If enough of ours do so, mabey they will listen. What would be acceptable fuel wise over all 36mph with a 6 - 800 load in total for the t28?
I could live with that

That's about what I get, but I don't think a T28 has 6-800 kg payload. Fully loaded with everything possible mine tops the scales at 2710kg but I think you'd need a T30 to get a 6-800 kg payload. Could well be wrong though, terrible memory so happy to be corrected.

As for consumption, I'm fine with anything over 30mpg and was pleasantly surprised that I got more than expected (and 10mpg better than my 130 T5) so no lobbying from me.

 

[mopardave]

I don't think you've a cat in hell's chance of getting anywhere tbh. If they ain't interested in doing anything about those downright bl**dy dangerous H4 headlamps....you've no chance griping about fuel consumption.

 

[Scruffy]

We can all lobby VW
If enough of ours do so, mabey they will listen. What would be acceptable fuel wise over all 36mph with a 6 - 800 load in total for the t28?
I could live with that

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

[CRD]

My question to everyone on the whole consumption question would be this-

If you really don't think the apparent wild variations are down to driving style, load carried, speed and journey type (city driving v motorway etc), then what do you think is causing it? Do you honestly think the fuelling parameters between vans means that two models of exact specs driven under same conditions will give two wildly differing results?

Why doesn't there (to my knowledge) be the same variations in all the other VAG group cars that run the same 2.0tdi engine?

If one van can use more fuel than another under the same circumstances, so in effect running rich, I would expect the notoriously sensitive emissions control on the vans to pick it up?

Now, I'm more than happy to be wrong on this subject, but from my experience, my 150tdi kombi at 55k miles with 70 litre tank can return 600 miles to 0 showing on range when driven below 65mph on mway (approx 50% of my daily commute is mway).

I concede that the 2015 1.6ttdi Vivaro that we have appears to be more economical on the whole the the T6 and can easily average 40mpg+

 

[Scruffy]

I whole heartily agree. Some people, I believe are in denial that their heavy right foot, or 19" alloys etc etc make a massive difference to mpg.

 

[mopardave]

@CRD.....that is something I've thought about a lot. There's no logic to it....now, I'm not an engineer so I'll probably get shot down in flames but.....how can it be that two vehicles that have come down the same production line....manufactured to the same tolerances can be so different? But then, could you not extend that argument to some degree to the fact that you can get huge differences in reliability in two machines that are made with the same components? My first question would be, do you trust the MFD readout? Are you checking your consumption manually? I've banged on about this but my MFD was, until recently, a total work of fiction.....so I won't go through all that again!! If it's not the Multi Fantasy Display reading over, then my next thoughts would be....how was the vehicle "run in" and then, how is it being driven and on what roads? I try quite hard with mine....150 kombi manual on 17" Devonports but lined out. I'm averaging 40 to 42 mpg. I have seen a genuine 60 mpg.....okay, okay....I was being pushed up the A1 in the recent high winds! My inclination is to think that on two similar vans on similar roads, it has to be mainly down to driving style??? Right....I'm off to get my tin helmet!

 

[mopardave]

And I forgot to add....mine also varies wildly! If I drive like Reginald Molehusband and have my "boy" walking in front of me with a red flag.....or at night with my H4's blazing.....in decent road/traffic conditions.....40+mpg is no problemo! If on the other hand, I'm in heavy traffic and "up hill and down dale" and wearing some deep sea diver boots....I can easily "achieve" low 30's or worse!!

 

[CRD]

@CRD.....that is something I've thought about a lot. There's no logic to it....now, I'm not an engineer so I'll probably get shot down in flames but.....how can it be that two vehicles that have come down the same production line....manufactured to the same tolerances can be so different? But then, could you not extend that argument to some degree to the fact that you can get huge differences in reliability in two machines that are made with the same components? My first question would be, do you trust the MFD readout? Are you checking your consumption manually? I've banged on about this but my MFD was, until recently, a total work of fiction.....so I won't go through all that again!! If it's not the Multi Fantasy Display reading over, then my next thoughts would be....how was the vehicle "run in" and then, how is it being driven and on what roads? I try quite hard with mine....150 kombi manual on 17" Devonports but lined out. I'm averaging 40 to 42 mpg. I have seen a genuine 60 mpg.....okay, okay....I was being pushed up the A1 in the recent high winds! My inclination is to think that on two similar vans on similar roads, it has to be mainly down to driving style??? Right....I'm off to get my tin helmet!

I purely work on distance travelled per tankful- I have seen my mileage as low as 480 and have eked out to 600 a few times. I would stress that the latter is under ideal conditions though- mostly empty kombi van, driver only and driving like Miss Daisy not exceeding 65mph!

 

[CRD]

Why doesn't there (to my knowledge) be the same variations in all the other VAG group cars that run the same 2.0tdi engine

To maybe answer my own question here, I think maybe in a lighter, more aerodynamic vehicle, differences in acceleration are more noticeable than when driving a heavy wardrobe on wheels. The 150 that I have whilst not exactly slow, is not the most nimble of things either, so if swift progress is required, more lead welly driving is required which murders mpg.

 

[Dieseldonkey]

If I recall correctly, aerodynamic drag increases with the square of speed. Twice the speed, 4 times the drag. 3 times the speed, 9 times the drag and so on.

I've noticed significant differences in mpg with tail and head winds. But over a year, this should pretty much average out. 35mpg. Incidently, about the same as my Qashqai got towing a caravan. A combination that would have had a larger surface area effected by aerodynamic losses. 1400kg for the car and 1200kg for the caravan. So heavier too, compared to an empty T32.

But there again, I rarely towed it through a city centre.

 

[.50]

I struggle to comprehend how I can only get a maximum of 440 miles to a tank and yet someone else with the same spec gets 600.

I literally cant drive it any more economically than I do.

I probably lost 1 or 2 mpg after fitting larger wheels, but thats all.

As I've already mentioned many times, my 1.6 biturbo 160ps Vivaro gets 40mpg being driven exactly the same way, it has the same size tyres and carries 500kg of kit. ( the T6 is always empty ).

All the guys I know with T6's get roughly the same as me, round 33mpg, so I don't think its just mine.

Still the most dissapointing aspect of the T6 though.

 

[Pete C]

Drove 92 miles to Wales yesterday. Was in a hurry as we did want to miss the chip shop (!), but didn't break any speed limits - 36mpg.

Drove back home today - same weather, same route, but not in a hurry - 43mpg.

Pete

 

[Dieseldonkey]

With a 70 litre tank, even at 33mpg, this works out about 508 miles. Although you probably wouldn't want to take the fuel level quite that low to achieve the 500+ mileage.

 

[mopardave]

Filled up tonight.....Vpower diesel as usual. Nearly had a gripper when I saw it had gone up to 1.489 per litre! Anyhow, I gritted my teeth and took it up the trumper…..(I'm seriously wondering whether I'm going use vpower on every tankful in future?!)…..on the previous tankful I managed 43.8 on the MFD. Calculated manually, this was actually 41.2mpg.....not bad but not brilliant as those 505 miles were fairly steady. So, having composed myself after being fisted at the till, I thought, right MD, let's see what we can get out of this baby. So off we go......very little traffic....accelerated gently to 55mph engaged CC and wafted 20 miles up the A1. Didn't touch the brakes or accelerator for the four junctions. Managed 60mpg again. In reality, that would equate to about 58mpg. Not sure if 50mph would have improved things....it felt happy at 55mph so that's where I left it. Hardly scientific....and it was only 20 miles. Generally, over a tankful, as I said previously, it's v low 40's. Hills and traffic absolutely kill it. Note the tyre pressure warning.....I have to put 10psi in every week now so it's time to get my 16" Claytons on and get it checked out.

 

[Tiab]

500 mile work trip plus 100m commute in South East:
67.5l diesel, 600m = 41mpg. MFD=39.9
45.1l 388m = 39.1 mpg. MFD=42.4
Caravelle T6 204bhp DSG7 T30.8 LWB W/ 10K on clock.
17" Davenport's, 235/55/17 103v.
Bilstein B14.