Fuel economy

[Vagophile]

You lot must have to much time on your hands.
Admin, can you change my name please to LeadFoot…

Before my Cali purchase, my 2.7 litre 156h.p. Merc based motorhome returned a steady 25 m.p.g. over 75,000 miles irrespective of the driving speed (which was never faster than 80m.p.h. usually on cruise at 65m.p.h.)
Therefore, anything better than that in the Cali is a positive for me!

 

[Ozzy Pete]

Just driving south through France now at 70 rather than 60. Mpg showing 38.7 so it’s costing, perhaps, 25% more in fuel to go 10mph faster. Sounds odd!

Just as well I suppose as most of the roads in France exc motorways are 80 kph or 50 mph. Takes longer to get there but the French plod love booking Brits for speeding and imagine all the burned out cameras are now fixed from the last time we were there.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

From a mathematical perspective.

Air resistance is proportional to the Square of the speed traveled.

At 60mph speed squared is 3,600
At 70mph speed squared is 4,900

4900/3600 = 1.36

There is 36% more resistance from the air you have to push through when driving. That translates to 25% more fuel.

If you do 80 then that gives 6400/3600 = 1.78

78% more air resistance than at 60mph

 

[Ozzy Pete]

Before my Cali purchase, my 2.7 litre 156h.p. Merc based motorhome returned a steady 25 m.p.g. over 75,000 miles irrespective of the driving speed (which was never faster than 80m.p.h. usually on cruise at 65m.p.h.)
Therefore, anything better than that in the Cali is a positive for me!

Our VW split screen kombi with the astonishing 1200 motor would give a steady 18 mpg regardless of what speed you were doing. But then the top speed was around 45 ish mph down hill and wind behind you.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Before my Cali purchase, my 2.7 litre 156h.p. Merc based motorhome returned a steady 25 m.p.g. over 75,000 miles irrespective of the driving speed (which was never faster than 80m.p.h. usually on cruise at 65m.p.h.)
Therefore, anything better than that in the Cali is a positive for me!

To be honest.
I’m quite happy with an average of 30mpg, considering the size and weight of the Cali. Anything more is just a bonus…

 

[andyinluton]

To be honest.
I’m quite happy with an average of 30mpg, considering the size and weight of the Cali. Anything more is just a bonus…

I would be happy with 30 mpg

The GC averaged 25.9mpg to Sheffield & back at an average speed of 56mph on the M1 last night. ACC at 70mph no aircon.
Hopefully that will improve once the engine loosens up, its still under 1000 miles.

 

[bob_summers]

I'd be a bit cheesed off with 30mpg. Over a long trip on m-ways I'm getting 40mpg from a 2008 T5 1.9 manual (CC set to 60mph in Spain/France). Sort of hoping the incoming 150 DSG Ocean will return similar - prepared to accept slightly worse as it's heavier and auto - but 30 doesn't seem like progress.

Our VW split screen kombi with the astonishing 1200 motor would give a steady 18 mpg regardless of what speed you were doing. But then the top speed was around 45 ish mph down hill and wind behind you

Can imagine. I had the 2000cc aircooled, wasn't much faster than that (used to really annoy the truck drivers in France on the sections they weren't allowed to overtake). From the smell in the cab, I wouldn't be surprised if half the fuel consumption was just evaporation from the hot engine!

 

[Vagophile]

Our VW split screen kombi with the astonishing 1200 motor would give a steady 18 mpg regardless of what speed you were doing.

It's strange that although I owned my first car in 1963, I was never really concerned and had very little idea of the m.p.g. of any of my cars until the fuel crisis in the '70s and even then I thought that 30m.p.g. from a 1000c.c. petrol engine was O.K.

 

[subthree]

Just driving south through France now at 70 rather than 60. Mpg showing 38.7 so it’s costing, perhaps, 25% more in fuel to go 10mph faster. Sounds odd!

Drag is proportional to velocity squared.

 

[WelshGas]

Comparing fuel consumption between different vehicles is basically a waste of time because you are not comparing like with like. Different driving style, vehicle weight, weather , traffic conditions , different ages/milage etc and the list goes on and on.
The only use for such calculations might be in relation to that individual vehicles health and even then the above variables make it a very coarse tool.
The only standardised measures are those used by manufacturers when they test and publish standardised mpg and emission figures which are carried out in a standardised fashion and we all know how accurate they are compared with real world driving.
If the figures for your vehicle are within 10% or so each time you do the calculation then your vehicle is OK and if within 20% or so of the published mpg from the manufacturer then your doing well.

 

[Wesel]

Since the start - statistics made over 60,000 km - my Cali drinks an average of 9.02 liters / 100 km (31.3 mpg).
I always write down my quantities and km traveled and an app on my smartphone does the calculations. The on-board computer still lies by almost 10%.
But I have a 4motion to train, snow tires in the winter and all-terrain tires in the summer, and I always drive at the maximum authorized speed. So I think that's satisfactory.

 

[chockswahay]

Our VW split screen kombi with the astonishing 1200 motor would give a steady 18 mpg regardless of what speed you were doing. But then the top speed was around 45 ish mph down hill and wind behind you.

My first car, a 1967 1500 Beetle would just about manage 18 mpg on a good day! Then again, it would do 110 mph and 0-60 in about 7 seconds (and spin up to 7000 rpm)

(I should mention that I bought it from my brother…… a rally driver who knew how to tune VW’s )

 

[Ozzy Pete]

It's strange that although I owned my first car in 1963, I was never really concerned and had very little idea of the m.p.g. of any of my cars until the fuel crisis in the '70s and even then I thought that 30m.p.g. from a 1000c.c. petrol engine was O.K.

Around that time I had a Rover V8 which did 14 mpg and a mini traveller. It was cheaper to have the 2 on the road because of the way the Rover drank petrol. One day Rover next day mini. The best I ever got mpg from the Rover was 24 mpg doing 56 mph on a run from Leicester to Llanelli which we did every other week.
Modern vehicles are so much better on fuel consumption but there’s a limit to what technology can do.

 

[chockswahay]

Once upon a time we had a V8 Landrover ……… that never did less than 12mpg……. But then it never did better than 16 mpg either……and that was 1994

 

[chockswahay]

You lot must have to much time on your hands.
Admin, can you change my name please to LeadFoot…


View attachment 91348

Blimey, you’re getting the miles in!

 

[Loz2286]

Once upon a time we had a V8 Landrover ……… that never did less than 12mpg……. But then it never did better than 16 mpg either……and that was 1994

I had a Vogue SE Range Rover, 3.9litre bored out to 4.5litre. I could drop the mpg to under 5 if I floored it. It broke me financially, but....oh the sound!

 

[Vagophile]

I had a Vogue SE Range Rover, 3.9litre bored out to 4.5litre. I could drop the mpg to under 5 if I floored it. It broke me financially, but....oh the sound!

Time for an LPG conversion!

 

[Kayleigh]

Comparing fuel consumption between different vehicles is basically a waste of time because you are not comparing like with like. Different driving style, vehicle weight, weather , traffic conditions , different ages/milage etc and the list goes on and on.
The only use for such calculations might be in relation to that individual vehicles health and even then the above variables make it a very coarse tool.
The only standardised measures are those used by manufacturers when they test and publish standardised mpg and emission figures which are carried out in a standardised fashion and we all know how accurate they are compared with real world driving.
If the figures for your vehicle are within 10% or so each time you do the calculation then your vehicle is OK and if within 20% or so of the published mpg from the manufacturer then your doing well.

Exactly! For example, I managed 49 mpg today on a day trip to Polesden Lacey according to the onboard computer. That is largely due to speed and driving style (including 25+ years experience of coasting)! Probably lots of other minor factors too that come into play

 

[WelshGas]

Well we’ve got to 8 Pages, a little way to go compared with the T6 Forum, now on 28 pages.

What's your MPG?

150 DSG Kombi on 18”wheels. Very low 30’s when brand new, but 6 weeks old now with nearly 4K on the clock and it’s now averaging 35 mpg. These engines need time and miles to loosen up, my old T6 ( 131k) when I sold it,was rarely under 40 mpg and more often than not mid 40’s. Head winds and...

www.t6forum.com

 

[westfalia]

30 all day long for me, that's with a good tail wind.
You won't see me watching the world go by, the world watches
me go by

 

[Cali Phillip]

I often see low 40s mpg when on motorways on the computer but when it comes to tank full to tank full average that’s a different story. Probably looking at nearer to mid to high 30s. You really cannot get a true average mpg of nearly 50. If that was true you really do have one very special vehicle for something that weighs 2.1/2 tons.

good MPG overall average seem fragile, to lots off influences including regeneration that really seem to effect mpg.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Imagine the MPG of this thing…

 

[WelshGas]

Imagine the MPG of this thing…

View attachment 91652

No GPM.

 

[Hawthorn37]

I don’t know if it’s the engine that’s loosened up - or the drivers, but after our first week away averaging a disappointing 30.5 mpg, on the last 2-week trip to North Wales and Anglesey we managed 38 mpg overall. That included a few trips up and down mountains. On the journey to and from Wales we reached 41mpg. I suspect the improvement is more influenced by the drivers loosening up

 

[bob_summers]

I don’t know if it’s the engine that’s loosened up - or the drivers, but after our first week away averaging a disappointing 30.5 mpg, on the last 2-week trip to North Wales and Anglesey we managed 38 mpg overall. That included a few trips up and down mountains. On the journey to and from Wales we reached 41mpg. I suspect the improvement is more influenced by the drivers loosening up

Hopefully mine "loosens up" too. 40mpg was easily doable in my T5 1.9tdi manual over a long M'way trip - haven't got close to that yet in the new 150 DSG, it's more like 30mpg.