Hi yostumpy,
A vacuum gauge probably won't help you, especially in a VW van.
Imagine that every driver can be described on a spectrum from aggressive to economical. Aggressive: jack rabbit starts, goes as fast as road conditions allow, short stops, no coasting. Economical: follows the advice given here.
It turns out that the average driver is aggressive most of the time. What a vacuum gauge does is shows those aggresive-ish drivers how to drive more economically. Moderate accelerations, low power cruising, coasting between stops.
But if you are reading ecomodder.com you are likely beyond using a vacuum gauge. You will know about bsfc maps, pulse and glide and more. Things that a vacuum gauge probably is more misleading than helpful.
The VW is under powered so you'd be frustrated trying to not get rear-ended while keeping the gauge in the economy range.
-mort
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