UKC

My girlfriend and I are considering getting a van or a larger MPV like an espace or a delica to convert into a camper but one of the major question marks that we have is regarding fuel consumption.

I reckon my fuel by filling right to the top and dividing the cost by the number of miles travelled since last fill up giving me the cost in pence per mile (this method is great for working out petrol money for joint funded trips to Wales etc). Mpg would be just as helpful as obviously one can do a calculation based upon the current price of petrol to get the cost per mile (which is my preferred metric).
Obviously it matters what type of driving one mostly does (ie road type eg dual carriageway or around town etc), whether one is driving generally economically or frequently stuck in traffic or rushing to get places etc, and it matters what size engine and what fuel is employed and also the size of vehicle.

So if you'd like to help me to make my decisions and know roughly (or exactly) what your own fuel consumption is in your vehicle then please would you offer the following details:
1) make, model, engine size and fuel type.
2) pence per mile (please include the fuel price at the pump) or mpg.
3) the type of roads that make up most of your journeys.
4) how heavily you feel that you push the accelerator and what your average speed tends to be.

My answers are:

1) BMW 318ti 1.9L Petrol
2) 14.8ppm (126.9p)
3) mostly dual carriageway
4) generally light on the accelerator always mindful of the cost averaging 60mph often times safely but not far behind a tall articulated lorry.

Thanks
EZ

In reply to EZ: Renault traffic lwb high roof
1.9 ltr diesel
35mpg on a 50/50 mix of motorway and country roads. one thing to take in to account is that it is a 2.9 ton van and it is constantly loaded up to 2.7 ton.

In reply to EZ: I forgot point 4. 70mph on the motorway but I am quite hard on the van on the back roads.

In reply to Dax H: 50mph then (the speed limit for that vehicle )

In reply to EZ:

1) VW T5 1.9 (138bhp)
2) 18ppm (1.32)
3) 50/50
4) Stick to 70/75, not too heavy on accelerator round town.

In reply to EZ:

Oh ... dear.....God!

:P

In reply to gingerwolf:

Haha. It's a distant dream at the moment but a serious one. We need to price it up to see if we are rich enough first.

In reply to EZ:
1) VW T4 2.5 TDI, campervan conversion, no high top
2) 40mpg
3) long distance single/dual carriageway
4) super frugal. 60mph, slow acceleration etc.

In reply to EZ: Crikey, 126.9p/ltr! Haven't seen sub 130.9 prices round here for years.

Ben

In reply to EZ:

Ford Galaxy 2.3 Petrol (second generation).
28 (usually) to (vaguely possibly) 35mpg. I live in Germany so petrol price won´t be too relevant to you.
Half school run/shopping/local, half motorway.
Nail it. Main roads 75-80, motorway 90-100+.

In reply to EZ:
(1) BMW 319. Petrol
(2) 18.4ppm
(3) Mostly motorway
(4) Generally treat the accelerator as a stop and go switch, average speed around 80 on mostly motorway with some town driving.

In reply to EZ:


Rather tired '98 Ford Ka
41mpg (14.3pence/mile today)
Mixed use, mostly A/B roads
Driven hard

'98 BMW Z3M
24-28mpg (running costs dominate)
Similar use
Similar driving

Interesting one has 6x the peak power output of the other but they're not significantly different on fueling costs. The Ka should do ~30% better than this on paper, it's pretty tired and being so slow it gets thrashed.

jk

In reply to EZ:

1) VW Bora 1.9 Tdi (diesel) (130 bhp model)
2) 57 mpg combined (63 mpg on a long run, 48 mpg around town))
3) Mixed single carriage way/ motorway
4) Very little need for heavy accelerator use, the car is very lively without, average speed 40 mph on single carriageway - difficult to do more due to congestion. 70 mph on motorways. When roads are clear I've found the most economical speed is 50 - 60 mph

In reply to EZ:

1) Jaguar X-type Estate 2.2 Diesel
2) 50mpg Motorway runs @70mph, 46 @80mph 40MPH around town (ave speed 30mph).
3) Varies as above.
4) To get 50 mpg I treat her gently, if I push it on motorways then 45mpg. around town 40mph but I'm not the gentlest to get this. I am however very frugal in the braking department - engine braking and carrying speed where safe to do so. 55K miles so far, one set of pads.

In reply to gingerwolf:

Hey - wait until you get a bit older. You will decide to stick two fingers up to peer pressure and the perceived thing to do in favour of spending bit extra on serious comfort. You will then never look back. You won't find me camping on a £4 a night campsite these days!

In reply to EZ:

1) Volvo C30 1.6 Diesel (eco model)
2) 11.5ppm on average (at £1.35-1.40 at pump)
3) commute is A/B roads, not too busy, do a lot of motorway miles and A roads up to the dales.
4) generally careful (avoid heavy acceleration and braking), stick to speed limits apart from clear motorways where I usually do 75/80mph.

In reply to EZ:

1 audi a4 estate, 1.9tdi, 130bhp
2 40-45mpg commute, 50-55mpg weekends
3 commute is 1hr for 16 miles A roads. Weekends motorway @80-85 cruise. did a 60-65mph trip to sheffield a few weeks back and got 60mpg
4 brusque, but love 6th gear to cruise on m-way!

In reply to EeeByGum:

Haha. Totally agree. Five star camping for me in a bunkhouse is more likely than a tent. Gingerwolf does know me so the comment was more about that really. I'll subject him to some of my not so economic driving when we get out next as payback

The real drive in thinking of a camper was that we are going to Festival Number 6 in September and [my girlfriend] not being the camping sort really (read "at all" although I am looking for a tent for climbing trips) we decided to stay in a hotel and are stumping £240 for three nights. Ouch. It's ever likely that we don't go away so much. So We reckon that a £5000 cheap home conversion would be paid up in 8 to 10 weeks of holiday use. Admittedly it's money that we wouldn't be spending anyway because we wouldn't spend a week in a hotel at that price normally so in terms of how much life costs us it would be a net increase but I would like to be able to go on holiday a bit more than I can afford at the moment and this way one ends up with an asset rather than a hotel bill that isn't worth anything after the stay.

Loving the info guys. Very useful. It seems that diesel is ridiculously better on fuel economy. Keep them coming please and thanks to those who've already put in. If I get enough to make it an interesting table then I'll put it into excel or something such and make a winners and losers results for engine size etc

In reply to EZ: Instead of asking three men and their dog, have you thought about googling "fuel economy by car"?

In reply to Sir Chasm:

I had thought about it but liked the idea of people's real opinions about fuel consumption as a cost. I work in engineering and I can guarantee that the product that I produce won't work as well in the field as it does under test during the manufacture process. We produce a best case scenario test result and I imagine that the same can be said of fuel consumption figures from manufacturers and even to a certain extent from independent commercial testing.

In reply to Sir Chasm: Which of us is the dog???

In reply to Sir Chasm:

Published fuel economy and real world fuel economy, especially with older vehicles, rarely have much in common.

In reply to EZ: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/camper-van-gives-illusion-of-fre...

Not suprisingly, they have a different angle on the whole idea...quite amusing

In reply to The New NickB: For the hard of googling, try putting in "honestjohn" and "realmpg".

In reply to EZ:

blimey ! looking forward the reports conclusions, and details of the Ford Ka camper conversion

In reply to Jim Hamilton:

Haha. I had a friend who converted his Peugeot 106 into a one man sleeper and did Europe for about 4 months in it.

In reply to EZ:

My ex managed 40mpg at a steady hundred from Glasgow to Inverness once in a BMW 316. I think there was a good south wind. Silly woman nearly had a nervous breakdown worrying about how many PFs would be on her tail for it: none, as it turned out. I was damned impressed with the fuel consumption though.

Now using BMW 318 (M43). All fuel cons recorded and graphed since purchased. Normal use is cruising on the twisty mountain trunk roads A82/A87, usually early morn or late eve. 33 to 36 mpg depending on hurry or headwinds. 35 to 39 mpg on easy motorway stuff in flat places if no hold-ups.