On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 7:04 PM, Maggie Dew <wildebus@gmail.com> wrote:
I always knew I got better gas mileage in my Vanagon (LVC)  from slowing
down, but here are some stats from Sierra Club:

Good topic consider ing the times Maggie.  Here is the post I put up on
WetWeties yesterday:

*Going from Lynnwood (just north of Seattle) to Fishermans Bend last week I
tried a little experiment to check gas mileage on my very heavy (5,000 lbs
plus) '90 Automatic Westy w/stock 2.1L WBX.  Total of 612.7 miles by the
odometer.  33.75 gallons of gas, overall average of 18.15 MPG.  This is
better than I've been seeing on long runs by about 1-2 MPG.  Once on the
freeway I set the cruise control to 57 indicated, actually 55 by the GPS and
held that, there and back except for a few miles above that in dense traffic
around Tacoma where I was running up 60+.  By segment: Lynnwood to Woodland,
166.7 miles, 18.55 MPG.  Woodland to Fishermans Bend and back to Salem with
a side trip (lower speeds and some moderate hill climbing) to Silver Springs
17.71 MPG, 201.9 miles.  Then the final leg, Salem to Lynnwood, 243.9 miles,
18.24 MPG.
Conclusion, slow down and save a little gas.
For those of you driving standard 4 speed transmissions, you should expect a
little better performance than that, your final drive ratio is better than
in the automatic.
Footnote:  Based on careful watching of the odometer on 'Measured Five Mile'
stretches on the highway my odometer (and speedometer) read about 4% high or
just a little less than that.  So corrected miles and MPG are actually
closer to 589.13 miles and 17.45 MPG.  But I like the uncorrected numbers
better :).

*I doubt that the Sierra Club percentages will apply to the Vanagon though,
our form factor/drag numbers are way to high.  But, and based on anecdotal
results from many list members, slow down and save some gas.  But where is
the point of diminishing returns?  How slow can you go?  Ultimate solution:
don't drive, uses no gas at all!!  But then why would we have a Westy in the
first place?
*

*