How do you drive yours?

[Shaggy]

Well All this week I have been driving the van without pushing it not going over 50mph and not burning away from the lights, at I have got 25mpg, thats amazing for me, as the week before I was burning around and was only getting 16.7mpg I could of saved so much money over the years.

 

[slammedresto]

on my own i tend to cane it, theres not much weight in my buses ( u understand when u meet me, 5ft4....lol )

with nipper and the wife on board, a lot more sensible :mrgreen:

and more sedate after ive just filled up and parted with a lotta cash :mrgreen:

 

[Tofufi]

Gently

I'm a student, I can't afford petrol :lol:
Think my bus is getting around 25mpg, not too sure. I'll work it out and post back

In my beetle I have persuaded more than 40mpg on an 80 mile trip before. This is with a twin carb 1641 that spits flames if you back off too quickly. Filled the tank, drove 82 miles and I couldn't fit £10 worth in the tank again 8)

Yes, I drive like a nun. Motorway cruising speed is normally 50-52mph.

The beetle has a fair turn of speed when pushed though, which is more than can be said for the van...

 

[Tofufi]

Just calculated my MPG for the van in the last 300 miles since I filled up...

31.8MPG very VERY roughly! (Using google maps to estimate my journey lengths, and knowing I filled it with £45 worth the other day... 39-40 lites to fill the tank since I last filled it a month and 280 ish miles ago).
Recently I've been cruising at 60 in the van too, to see how it went. It handled the extra 10mph a bit too effortlessly really.

That's damn good for a stock 1600 motor, completely original fittings etc.

That's actually made my day 8)

 

[Shaggy]

Wow thats really good, I am going to sort my valves out at the weekend and then see how it goes, I have a 1641 with a single carb

 

[Guest]

i was going to say ...16mpg (or even 25 mpg?) you must really be caning it? or your engine is running rough? :?

 

[bananacustard]

I rarely push mine over 50 and I'm getting roughly 30mpg at the moment. Keep checking points/timing though.

 

[faux]

on my own i tend to cane it, theres not much weight in my buses ( u understand when u meet me, 5ft4....lol )

:lol: Nice one Gary, someone shorter than me!

Drive it like you stole it!!!! :lol:

Not really, I'm very nice to the old girl! Slow and low is the rule for me.

I get about 25/30 mpg depending how much weight/people I'm carrying.

 

[Graham L]

To be honest I've never really calculated it but having driven it to work for the last week it drinks fuel, may have something to do with my driving style though (country lanes to work, 50-60 all the way) on Motorways I sit at a recorded 70 which is about 63mph according to my Tom Tom.

its a 1641 with single carb

 

[ddffrost]

I think my mpg has gone up alot since i ditched the roof racks and tuned up the carb slightly.

I recon i get about 20-25 doing 45 - 50 on country roads and 50 - 55 on the motorway

 

[Tofufi]

I'm surprised at the wide difference in MPGs people get.

I suppose my bus is a tintop microbus, so cuts through the air a bit more easily than a fully loaded westy or hightop.

I also keep well on top of my timing and points to ensure constant good running and MPG.

At one point, I managed to get my beetle down to 17mpg. With a fairly gentle driving style. Just down to poor maintainance and a **** 'performance' air filter.
Now I keep a much closer eye on things, and the difference in MPG is great 8)

If people were to post engine pictures, I wonder if the engines getting better MPG have more standard parts?

 

[Shaggy]

I bet you are right about that, standard parts are the way to get better MPG, although I have a brochure for a 72 and it says 24 MPG is what we should be getting

 

[Tofufi]

Is it a USA brochure?

Their gallons are different to ours by a factor of about 1.2 > 1. Hence their 24mpg is about 29 english MPG. Assuming you've got a USA brochure. And all USA '72s were type 4 engined, which get poorer MPG due to the increased capacity.

ThAt's what is getting me 30-32mpg on mostly long distance journeys. Including 3 hours stuck in a traffic jam on the M5 actually.

Let's see ya engine

 

[Shaggy]

Well it was printed in Germany but it say imperial gallons.

 

[Tofufi]

Fair enough

I still consider that low for a T1 engine.

 

[Shaggy]

Compared to what I have been used to thats great...haha but thats through not looking after my engine
But now I know you can get 30mpg that is my aim, then to gas and thats close to 60mpg now you can't say that of a lot of cars

 

[kombiporsche]

I used to drive mine like that 8) .....

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ou03-d9VM

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=47sOePcfGaQ

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=DDzosC0peQ0

.... until I broke the rear hanger boss on my case :shock: :shock:

 

[Shaggy]

Yeah that would stop you in your tracks I guess, cool videos

 

[Guest]

I used to drive mine like that 8) .....

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ou03-d9VM

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=47sOePcfGaQ

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=DDzosC0peQ0

.... until I broke the rear hanger boss on my case :shock: :shock:

vince.... your mad :shock:

but it does look like fun

 

[angus]

Well, hoping to get my van round the Top Gear track in the next few weeks! 8) :mrgreen:
Bog standard - but could make a cool video...