Keep in mind that the Vanagon was designed as a utility vehicle first,
built on a truck chassis. It was built in a period when 55 mph was the
norm. And, true to form, my stock 88 GL 2.1L with manual tranny, will
get 21 mpg if I peg it at 55 mph and don't dog the engine.Any thing
faster than that  and mileage drops precipitously. Headwinds and
tailwinds have a significant effect as well. After all, the things
aren't the epitome of aerodynamic efficiency.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott wrote:
> As I've posted previously, my 84 1.9L auto only gets about 15.5 MPG
> while others have reported somewhat higher mileage. Even after filtering
> out those who seem to be quite optimistic, and paying especial attention
> to those who deny not keeping careful records, Mellow Yellow still
> trails the pack. It gives us great sadness.
>
> It has been proposed that my poor numbers might be due to a funky O2
> sensor, or crummy compression. I'll get to the compression tomorrow or
> the next day, but right now I have hooked up my handy-dandy voltmeter to
> the sensor and with the engine warmed up, it is outputting between .36
> volt and .66 volt, ranging around about .55 volt. This seems kinda
> normal, from what I read.
>
> --
>
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR
>
>