Hi you guys,
in order to have a useful talk about vanagon fuel economy ..
you have to say Which Transimission , and what engine of course.

This is what I've found ...
85 Weekender, 2.1 waterboxer engine, auto trans - an atrocious 16.5
driven nicely onthe freeway, and only 14.2 in town, in the winter.
85 Westy , 1.9 wbxr engine, manual trans   20.5 summertime onthe highway
...driving 60 to 65 ..
including passing a truck downhill hitting 80mph..  Even got 21 mpg on
one leg on that trip. .  This is about the best gasoline fuel economy
I've ever seen in a Vanagon ..low 20's tops, with 18 being about 'par.'

if the air-cooled Westy has an auto trans youcan expect poor mpg #'s
like low 17's.
Even if manual trans ..
I'd hardlyexpect to see 20mph highway very often.

gotta say what trans too, heck even tire size, plus what engine.

On 11/23/2012 4:34 PM, Harry Hoffman wrote:
> I don't know how much this will help, since I have a bostig conversion...
>
> But I routinely get ~ 15mpg local roads and 19mpg highway miles. I've
> been told that I'm on the low end of fuel economy and that should be
> 19mpg - 21mpg.
>
> Even before I made the switch my mileage never got about 19mpg in my
> 2.1L water cooled.
>
> I'd love to see actual data on the 25mpg people. I hear of them but it
> seems more like a pipe dream to me.
>
> Cheers,
> Harry
>
>
> On 11/23/2012 07:06 PM, J B wrote:
>> We just got back from our trip to San Jose. Was planning on going to a pre-Thanksgiving meet organized by VWCamperFamily which was close by but unfortunately couldn't make it - maybe next year.
>>
>> Anyway, I had a question as to fuel economy and what I should be getting.  I have read anywhere from 18-25mpg is normal for the air-cooled campers but the best I can get is in the low 17's. This trip got 14.2 with one tank and that was mostly highway at 55-60mph, and the best only 15.5mpg. (81 air-cooled westy)
>>
>> Also updated my blog, please feel free to take a look
>> http://1981vwcamper.blogspot.com/
>>