Below is the result of a MPG survey I did in March. FWIW Last
August's trip to Michigan (6,000Kms) my carburetor never missed a
beat and I averaged about 12 liters/100kms or about 19.5 mpg (spot on
the MPG Survey results)  Here reprinted (FYI) are the results of the
MPG Survey:

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Date:         Mon, 23 Mar 1998 21:41:07 PST
Subject:      MPG Survey Results

Thanks to those of you who participated in the Vanagon MPG survey.
Here are the results in summary form (You may have to clean up the
table a bit to suit your email package):
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SummaryResults:
MPG Automatics:                 City    Highway
   Vans                                  17.5      19.5
   Westfalias                           16.5    17.4

4 Speeds:                        City    Highway
   Vans                                 17.4     22.4
   Westfalias                           18.0    20.5

5 Speed Syncro 4WD               City        Highway
   Vans                                 17.3    20.0
   Westfalias                           12.0    17.9
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Summary Results:  L/100 Km
Automatics:              City    Highway
   Vans                         13.5    12.1
   Westfalias                   14.3    13.8

4 Speeds:                City    Highway
   Vans                         14.0    10.7
   Westfalias                   13.2    11.6

5 Speed Syncro 4WD      City  Highway
   Vans                         13.7  11.8
   Westfalias                   19.6   13.3
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There were 28 usable responses:

# of vans in survey:    Vans    Westfalias
Automatics                      2       4
4 speed manual           7       8
5 speed syncro 4WD      5       2
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All respondents were for gasoline engines.  One eurovan, one bus, one
response did not break out city & highway, and one response did not
include any MPG data; these were not included in the averages but are
reported with the raw data.

The results put numbers to common knowledge:  Automatic transmissions
consume more fuel that manual transmissions; 4WDs consume fuel more
than 2WDs; heavier vans (Westfalias) consume more fuel.  I tried to
report the numbers in a way that allows each of us to compare 'our'
van with others of like kind.

We could all take driving lessons from Sudhir Desai's mother. Sudhir
reported 27 and 30 MPG (7.8 & 8.7L/100km)!  When I asked him about it,
he responded: "my mom owned the van before i did, and kept it in
perfect running order, and she got 27 mpg averaging both engines the
van had in it's life. the 30mpg was her best effort with the first
engine that was in our van driving 900 miles to Gemantown, Tennessee."

We are all aware that averages, by their nature, aggregate disparate
information.  Many people noted differences in summer and winter
driving (I used mid-point #s in these cases); vans in Florida being
compared to vans in Alberta might not be fair; and we all have
different driving habits.  For those who find meaning in the numbers,
I am glad to have done the work.

On a personal note, my motivation in doing the survey was to get the
numbers to compare the fuel consumption of my newly purchased Canadian
'91 Westfalia Syncro that is wearing a Weber 4 barrel CARBURETOR (it's
a long 'engine box fire' story).  In June, I plan on driving from
Halifax to Winnipeg and back, I'll report on my fuel consumption,
gotta beat 27 mpg (let's see:  80 psi in the tires, 40 mph, hook up
the propane tank to the intake manifold....:-).......)

Malcolm Stebbins
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