Fuel economy - hi-cube style vans

aerodynamic

The SDI never was fantastic at high mpg- the low blow 75 TDi is far better due to the better cylinder filling from the low pressure turbo. That said, I'd consider 49mpg pretty good at a motorway cruise considering the small engine, and biggish body it has to propel.

Tim..

Do you reckon I'm right in thinking that the lack of decent aerodynamics will have much less of an effect around town than on the motorway, especially given that it's screaming along at 3000rpm when doing 70mph? I know it's got a big body, but I don't think it weighs all that much compared to the car equivalent, I think it's more the un-aerodynamic shape that lets it down?

Also, do you reckon I'm likely to get much better town economy than motorway economy due to the fact that the revs are fairly high on the motorway?

Peter

Probably not. with 64bhp you're likely demanding pretty much full power if you drive around town briskly. Stopping and starting uses alot more fuel than crusing, even with the revs pretty high.

If you reduced your speed to say 60mph on the motorway I think you'd see a big improvement on mpg.

Tim..

it can be a lot better than you think when you slow down,

i have a motorhome based on an R reg Iveco turbodaily, it's got a big body on it (7 meters long, 2.15 meters wide, and 3 meters tall, it's also a coachbuilt, with a luton type section, not much of an overhang over the cab windscreen, but enough to affect the wind resistance even more,

this engine is a 2.8 litre turbo charged direct injection jobbie, just fitted an intercooler too, prolly about 120 bhp there, old technology engine tho, not an electronic component in sight (handy when the alternator wasnt connected up once and the battery died, bump started her (handy being direct injection, they start the second the engine turns) and drove home with no battery.. no lights either mind, but you cnat do that in a modern diesel :)

Anyway, not sure of exact fuel consumption figures, but when i was drining at 70 to 80 mph everywhere in her, i could just get 240 miles from a tank of fuel (70 litre tank, when i fill up i usually pu in about 64 litres, so we're not totaly emptying the tank)

For the last 2 weeks i slowed down to 55 on 'normal' roads, and do no more than 60 mph on dual caridgways and motorways,

last tank of fuel we got 367 miles before we needed to fill up, and it took

My engine only has about 5,000 miles on it now, was totaly re-manufactured last year when number 4 exhaust valve made a bid for freedome.. whilest i was doing 70 mph, it didn't get far.. the turbo caught it after it had mangled the piston and liner, but my fuel economy will only get better as the engine gets run in, gotta put at least 20k on her beofre i'll get a stable fuel economy figure mind.

That's exactly the thing - I've got absolutely no need to drive around town briskly. It makes bugger all difference in London, which is why I bought the SDI - because I thought it'd be as good if not slightly better around town than a TDI engine. Plus they're actually a bit more driveable at lower speeds - there isn't the complete lack of anything at all below 2000rpm that you get with a TDI. I'm not just on about turbo lag, but there is a bit more torque right from the word go with a n/a diesel that you don't get with a blown one.

True, but I'm going with the fact that the majority of the 'cruising' work will be 30-40mph instead of 70, and the stop-start aspects will be kept to a minimum through careful route planning, and keeping the revs nice and low (acceleration isn't important) should minimise consumption for the stop-start-lots-of-gearchanges bits.

Yep, that's definitely what I intend to do on the way in and out of London. Working as a courier out of Slough, there's only 7 or 8 miles of motorway before the 60 limit sets in at Heathrow, so the difference it'll make will be practically nothing anyway.

I'll see how it goes anyway. I'm just gutted that no companies are willing to let me use the Maestro for work. As soon as you mention "F reg" they just say "that's way too old", and I can see their point as far as company image etc goes, but the 2 litre diesel lump in the Maestro is more economical than the 1.9 SDI in the Inca, it definitely feels more torquey and more powerful, and it shakes the whole van like only an old Land Rover diesel can :-) The SDI certainly feels very weedy in comparison.

Still, I've seen an immaculate Y reg Berlingo HDI on Autotrader with 100k on the clock and a f/s/h (every 6k from new) for £3k+VAT and I'm tempted, but I'll stick with this for the time being.

Peter

as long as you don't buy a high mileage kangoo...............they are just pants at high mileages

Why? What goes wrong on them?

Peter