What's your MPG?

[The Bear78]

As @Scruffy mentioned on the previous page I find the #2 MFD figure to be remarkably accurate.
Some things that I have noted (140 Euro 5 manual):

• Anything above ~55mph really kills mpg.
• Accelerating hard in short bursts (speed limit increases for example) doesn't seem to effect the MFD figure anywhere near as much as it does in reality.
• The best RPM/gear seems to be what the MFD recommends but that will keep the revs uncomfortably low.
• Cold weather/the morning commute is worse than warmer/later in the day.

After a change of work location I spent the first full (80litre) tank driving as carefully as possible. It's a 35 mile trip on A roads with several 30mph villages. Sticking to 50 mph and building speed as gradually as possible I would always see over 48mpg on my way to work then more often than not 50+ mpg on the way home. Obviously hills play a massive part but over this distance I would expect that to even out.
I did this for the full tank but only made 43.5 mpg when calculating at the pump. This mirrored the #2 figure within 0.5 mpg.
I dont know what it does now as it just too boring driving that slow but I typically see around 600 miles between fills whereas the careful tank lasted for 740 before adding 77 litres.

 

[RedUn]

Thanks for your response.

I would he more concerned if I was the only one with poor mpg, but I know that many, many other T6 owners are also unhappy with fuel economy.

My van is terribly spoiled. I wants for nothing, has the best of everything, (oil, fuel tyres etc), and has only done 16,000 miles in 3.5 years.
As I've stated many times on various threads on this great forum, I drive my van like an absolute GRANDMA.
Never go above 62mph, accelerate slower than a one legged snail and anticipate traffic for miles ahead.

Its almost got to the point of obsession when driving it to try and reach a decent mpg.

I do wonder about the regens if your doing that low mileage, I normally do about 300 miles a week in mine, during lock down that stopped and the first big trip (400 miles) I did it basically regenned the entire trip and it did 32mpg. Since then its back up to the normal of 40?

 

[Qais2020]

Hi all I came back from London today on a 250 miles trip. Van was showing 40.1 mpg that’s £35 of fuel. Is that any good

 

[DXX]

Thanks for your response.

I would he more concerned if I was the only one with poor mpg, but I know that many, many other T6 owners are also unhappy with fuel economy.

My van is terribly spoiled. I wants for nothing, has the best of everything, (oil, fuel tyres etc), and has only done 16,000 miles in 3.5 years.
As I've stated many times on various threads on this great forum, I drive my van like an absolute GRANDMA.
Never go above 62mph, accelerate slower than a one legged snail and anticipate traffic for miles ahead.

Its almost got to the point of obsession when driving it to try and reach a decent mpg.

Only 16K miles, from memory my vans fuel economy steadily improved up to about 25K miles.

 

[Qais2020]

I think DSG’s do drink more fuel.

 

[Skyliner33]

Thanks for your response.

I would he more concerned if I was the only one with poor mpg, but I know that many, many other T6 owners are also unhappy with fuel economy.

My van is terribly spoiled. I wants for nothing, has the best of everything, (oil, fuel tyres etc), and has only done 16,000 miles in 3.5 years.
As I've stated many times on various threads on this great forum, I drive my van like an absolute GRANDMA.
Never go above 62mph, accelerate slower than a one legged snail and anticipate traffic for miles ahead.

Its almost got to the point of obsession when driving it to try and reach a decent mpg.

I’ve just driven 146 miles from Newcastle to Manchester. I’ve tried to keep the speedo as close to 65mph as possible (and keeping an eye on Waze) but never below 60 or above 70 on the motorway sections.
My Mfd said 43mpg for the journey when I parked up.
180bhp DSG

 

[VanDamMan]

I can’t blame anyone...for my 30.5 mpg...the time said 2h 07 min.....distance 137 miles.
But did find a new route West to East. M6 A50 M1 ( avoid Leicester) then drop on to A14.....Really Great drive

Edit...I gave up worrying about fuel efficiency when I brought the van ....and care more about the driving pleasure

 

[Qais2020]

I was getting 43mpg on my old t5.1 6 speed manual. What a lovely van that was. It had 165k on the clock

 

[Qais2020]

I wonder if a DSG mapping will improve the mpg on a T6 150

 

[.50]

I do wonder about the regens if your doing that low mileage, I normally do about 300 miles a week in mine, during lock down that stopped and the first big trip (400 miles) I did it basically regenned the entire trip and it did 32mpg. Since then its back up to the normal of 40?

Each regen knocks around 40 miles off the mfd range.
I literally do not use the van for short trips anymore. (I use the Vivaro instead).

Yet more contributors in this thread stating 40mpg adds to my frustration.

I find it hard to believe that the guys getting these great mpg's are driving as ridiculously as I am.

Its a good job I don't do many miles and the van so good in other areas otherwise it would have been long gone by now.

 

[s2ulk]

Have had my T6 150 Caravelle a few weeks and MPG has been impressive but this morning I took it to the shops and back - 8 mile run with mix of 30mph and 50mph and for 47.8 mpg!! Surely that can’t be right - I didn’t get that on my diesel 3 series

View attachment 79750

Well it was back to normality this afternoon as I took the kids for a 30 mile round trip and managed 34 mpg. My kids aren’t overweight and i wasn’t driving like a lunatic with them compared to this morning but we did have AC on whereas I didn’t in the morning and there was a bit more stop/start at traffic lights. But who knows!

 

[PeterB54]

I have a 204 BiTurbo DSG and find that short journeys give me indicated 32-34 average mpg.
However on a trip on motorway at 67-70, with no stop/start for roundabouts and with engine fully warm it goes to 40-44mpg. I think that is because the bigger turbo kicks in and then engine is more efficient.

 

[Skyliner33]

I’ve just driven 146 miles from Newcastle to Manchester. I’ve tried to keep the speedo as close to 65mph as possible (and keeping an eye on Waze) but never below 60 or above 70 on the motorway sections.
My Mfd said 43mpg for the journey when I parked up.
180bhp DSG

Each regen knocks around 40 miles off the mfd range.
I literally do not use the van for short trips anymore. (I use the Vivaro instead).

Yet more contributors in this thread stating 40mpg adds to my frustration.

I find it hard to believe that the guys getting these great mpg's are driving as ridiculously as I am.

Its a good job I don't do many miles and the van so good in other areas otherwise it would have been long gone by now.

I forgot to mention I had a rigid solar panel bolted to the roof bars as well. That must have had a negative effect. I know it’s easy to say but I don’t worry about fuel now. Just been interested because of this thread and I really don’t understand how @.50 is getting so bad.

 

[$immo]

I read this thread this morning then thought I'd check mine. Zero'd everything and drove from the campsite heading home (only 90miles). Full camper, lowered, heavy Amarok 19" wheels, reimo bathtub roof, bike rack, 80% full diesel, awning 3 adults and full water tank. 150hp manual with Aircon on (it's tropical in the South) mix of A roads & M/way doing 65mph.....
Got home to read 42.6mpg, well chuffed but can't understand how you get so little @.50 ?

 

[.50]

I read this thread this morning then thought I'd check mine. Zero'd everything and drove from the campsite heading home (only 90miles). Full camper, lowered, heavy Amarok 19" wheels, reimo bathtub roof, bike rack, 80% full diesel, awning 3 adults and full water tank. 150hp manual with Aircon on (it's tropical in the South) mix of A roads & M/way doing 65mph.....
Got home to read 42.6mpg, well chuffed but can't understand how you get so little @.50 ?

Again, thanks for your input.

I'm not about to get on to VW about 8t as they will dismiss it as my driving style, plus I know I'm not alone in the T6 world when it comes to poor mpg.

I perhaps would say to all those that are getting good fuel economy, be thankful, because its probably just luck rather than how you drive it, and spare a thought for those of us left bitterly disappointed by our vans fuel consumption despite our greatest efforts to get anywhere near the kind of figures some of you are.

We are departing for France next week camping.
My van will be loaded with all our gear,(300/400kgs), 2 adults and 2 children, full tank of fuel, nothing on the roof or on the back, and we will drive virtually all of the French side on the motorway at 60mph.
I expect, (as last year), to average 27/28mpg.

 

[T7_MCE]

As I said earlier, majority motorway miles as i commute Swansea to Cardiff for work, approx 90mile round trip. I sit at 70mph on cruise, with a 50mph section through Port Talbot. Last weeks full tank lasted 346 miles - 4 days commuting.

Yesterday I drove to Tenby.

I checked the mfd this morning, display 2 was reading 29.7mpg

@.50 I feel your pain !

 

[VDubnewby666]

I think Iposted on an earlier thread about mpg, when I first got the 204 DSG ‘velle’ - I was averaging 40+mpg mixed travel. Having had the mods done - HiLo roof, propex tank etc - I now average 35 mpg. As others have said in many different words; you don’t buy a T6 for the economy, you buy it because it’s the best thing on 4 wheels!

 

[Daffy]

Thanks for your response.

I would he more concerned if I was the only one with poor mpg, but I know that many, many other T6 owners are also unhappy with fuel economy.

My van is terribly spoiled. I wants for nothing, has the best of everything, (oil, fuel tyres etc), and has only done 16,000 miles in 3.5 years.
As I've stated many times on various threads on this great forum, I drive my van like an absolute GRANDMA.
Never go above 62mph, accelerate slower than a one legged snail and anticipate traffic for miles ahead.

Its almost got to the point of obsession when driving it to try and reach a decent mpg.

Funny thing fuel consumption, it is so variable with lots of things apart from the vehicle and driver having an input including the road surface, weather, humidity, temperature etc etc. An example is those noisy concrete road sections will reduce fuel consumption by around 1.5% as they don‘t flex like a tarmac surface so have a lower rolling resistance, whereas water on the road will cost you around 2% more.

In a previous work life I worked for a vehicle manufacturer (not a dealer or importer), we did a huge study on fuel consumption to try to help our driver trainers understand how to get the best out of our product.

There is a theory that to move a vehicle from A to B uses X power and as long as average speeds are the same then fuel will be the same regardless of how the vehicle is driven, anyway to test this we had a test vehicle that was driven many times over a set route of around 160km on various road types, some circuits were driven as economically as possible and some were driven hard. The results were consistently better fuel for the harder drives.

To bring a bit of perspective speed limits were respected so it was more about getting to the limit faster rather than a faster speed, the theory being in getting to the limit quickly put you in a more economical gear in less time and in a shorter distance therefore a higher %age of the route was spent cruising rather than accelerating.

Re tailgating a truck, if your more than a couple of feet from the rear you are in very turbulent air so it really isn’t going to help at all, quite the reverse. Anyone who rides a motorbike will know how bad it can be.

Apologies for the musings, its like all these things, the harder you look the more complex it is...

 

[Markgf]

So, I have been driving around in a 110 Startline loan van with 16in steelies For the last 3 weeks. I do a journey to a regular customer. 18 miles, mixture of 30,40,60 mph. I’ve just got 47.4 mpg this morning. I’ve had 3 102/110 T5.1/6/6.1 Highlines with 17’s. On a really good day, my mpg would start with a 4, mostly 38/39mpg. I know there is a more weight to a Highline, so, is it mainly down to tyre size?????

 

[DXX]

Funny thing fuel consumption, it is so variable with lots of things apart from the vehicle and driver having an input including the road surface, weather, humidity, temperature etc etc. An example is those noisy concrete road sections will reduce fuel consumption by around 1.5% as they don‘t flex like a tarmac surface so have a lower rolling resistance, whereas water on the road will cost you around 2% more.

In a previous work life I worked for a vehicle manufacturer (not a dealer or importer), we did a huge study on fuel consumption to try to help our driver trainers understand how to get the best out of our product.

There is a theory that to move a vehicle from A to B uses X power and as long as average speeds are the same then fuel will be the same regardless of how the vehicle is driven, anyway to test this we had a test vehicle that was driven many times over a set route of around 160km on various road types, some circuits were driven as economically as possible and some were driven hard. The results were consistently better fuel for the harder drives.

To bring a bit of perspective speed limits were respected so it was more about getting to the limit faster rather than a faster speed, the theory being in getting to the limit quickly put you in a more economical gear in less time and in a shorter distance therefore a higher %age of the route was spent cruising rather than accelerating.

Re tailgating a truck, if your more than a couple of feet from the rear you are in very turbulent air so it really isn’t going to help at all, quite the reverse. Anyone who rides a motorbike will know how bad it can be.

Apologies for the musings, its like all these things, the harder you look the more complex it is...

Spot on with the turbulence message, I’ve done a lot of work with hydrodynamics and the same is true. Apart from being dangerous tail gating is costing both vehicles fuel.