Possible, but are they running in a lean condition and doing more
harm than good?  A sort of false economy of sorts.  Shorter than
stock tires will generate more miles on the odometer than are really
traveled thereby skewing the mpg to the high side as well.  An
incomplete filling of the tank would skew to the upside as
well.  Filling the tank to the very top is wasteful anyway, so how do
we accurately document MPG?

Driving at 55mph, although boring, is perhaps a way to get a 2 in the
tens column.  I've gotten 20+maybe 3 or 4 times in 11 years of
driving a Vanagon,but the norm is 15-17.  There's a good website on
how to drive economically called hypermiling or something like
that.  www.cleanmpg.com/forums  They're more into attacking the EPA
method of determining MPG ratings for new cars, but there's some
useful as well as unsafe practices as well.

I guess I look at it this way;  if I'm not making $3-400 a month
payments on a vehicle I can't afford to fill the tank up with gas in
the first place, then driving a paid for Vanagon with "poor" mpg
ratings will just have to do for now.  Anybody done the math on how
long it will take for a Prius to pay for itself in gas savings?  I
guess if they ever start rationing gas again, maybe it will
matter.  Geeeeeee. Gas Rationing....there's something we haven't
heard in a while.  Wouldn't we be rationing it if it were in short
supply?   No, it's just costing more.

Time to dismantle the soapbox.  I need the wood for burning in my stove.

DM&FS

At 11:22 AM 4/21/2008, Mike Miller wrote:

>What about them folks reporting 18-21`mpg?
>
>Delusional? diesel? deceptive?
>
>Mike
>
>
>On 4/20/08 6:52 PM, "Dennis Haynes" <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The factory rating was only 15 mpg for both city and highway. You will not
> > get much more on a regular basis. My best on long trips is about 17 to
> > 17.5. With AC and 70+mph 15 is more likely.
> >
> > Maximum economy occurs around 45 mph on fairly level roads. I have done as
> > well as 21 dong extended low speed tours such as New England or route 1 in
> > Florida.
> >
> > Dennis
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> > Mike Miller
> > Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 9:40 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: MPG redux
> >
> > Van folk,
> >
> > Took the 87 syncro with the new O2 sensor on a trip up the California
> > coast,
> > Highway 1, mostly curves and ups and downs. Got 16 MPG which isn't what
> > I'd
> > hoped for.
> >
> > Next step is to try a highway cruise. I'll post the results.
> >
> > Mike
> >