Yea, I think the mileage drops off SIGNIFICANTLY when you get up over 50 mph
or so. (wind resistance and high rpms)  I made a drive down the coast hwy
(1) from Big Sur - top speed was about 40 mph for most of the way.  I think
we averaged about 18 mpg on that trip, and that was with some 70 mph travel
mixed in.  I definitely see a big difference in how far I can travel on a
tankful at 65+ highway travel versus 45 mph country road travel.

Brent Christensen
'89 Syncro Westy "Klaus"
'95 Cherokee Sport

----- Original Message -----
From: L&A Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@SYMPATICO.CA>
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 1999 6:22 AM
Subject: Re: gas mileage

> Brent,
> Our average of 20.6 mpg (US gals) over 1395 miles was in our Syncro
Westfalia
> shod with Yokohama LT 195/75 R14 tires. Harry Yates suggested this tire
for
> Syncros and he was right. BTW where is Harry these days.
>
> Half of the trip was in rolling hills on paved country roads across the
bottom
> of the Finger Lakes NY and then diagonally down to Westies in the Woods at
> Stokes State Forest NJ. We had a small amount of stop and go driving in
> Allentown PA but the rest of the trip was mostly on interstates returning
up the
> the Thousand Islands on the Saint Lawrence River.
>
> I generally keep the revs at about 3500 and rarely go much over 4000 the
> exception being in hilly country where the long range between 3rd and 4th
gear
> seems a mile wide. My driving style in the Vanagaon is not aggressive
(saving
> that for our MR2 T). I don't get much return from driving aggressivly in a
> fully-loaded under-powered Syncro Westfalia.
>
> Larry
>
> Brent Christensen wrote:
>
> > WAIT A MINUTE - are we talking miles per *imperial* gallon???  Or are
your
> > tires under-sized?  Are Canadian miles shorter than US miles?
> >
> > Either there is something very mysteriously wrong with my Syncro's
systems,
> > or your numbers are out of whack.  I average about 16-18 on trips with
> > average speeds of about 65-70 mph.  (And I thought that was pretty
darned
> > good for a 4WD camper) This is with stock-sized load range C tires.
> >
> > The engine runs beautifully, no stumbles, funny smells, lumpy idle, or
any
> > other tell-tale signs of problems that would cause bad mileage.  I can
only
> > DREAM of getting 20+ mpg in a Syncro Westy!
>