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Date:         Fri, 14 Jan 2000 13:54:00 -0400
Reply-To:     Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Subject:      (Fwd) MPG Survey Results - a repost
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Here is a repost of my 23 Mar 1998 MPG survey, with a few minor editorial changes. It's in the archives, and now its in there thrice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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): --------------------------------------------------------- Summary Results: 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 --------------------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------

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/100 km)! 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 30 mpg 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 2 barrel progressive CARBURETOR (it's a long 'engine box fire' story). In June, I plan on driving from Halifax to Michigan 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

------- End of forwarded message -------


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