I'll start with a little history, I thought some of our American members might like to see something different.
Van number one, a Mercedes MB100 2.3 Petrol. wasn't exactly economical, blown head gasket at 100,000km, while fixable, it wasn't economical to do so.
So onto van number two, a VW T5 with 44,000km on the clock. 2.5 TDi (128kW/ 400Nm), six speed, 30mpg in all city use. It was a blast, but the head cracked soon after I got it and the repair bill was/is astronomical.
So finally, onto a brand new van.
It's a Renault Kangoo 1.6 petrol. Some as delivered pics:
It's almost like this van was designed for the hypermiler. It has EPAS which works engine off, and there's enough vacuum for SIX full brake applications (I've only ever had three with any other car). The radio continues to play while you crank the engine, and the headlights turn off when the car comes to a stop with the ignition off (while not ideal at night, but it works great in bad weather as I can sit engine off a traffic lights and the headlights aren't drawing power when they aren't needed).
Best tank to date is 6.7l/100km with a best trip of 4.7. It would be better by it's all city driving with commute speeds as low as 16km/h (10mph). I don't think it's ever exceeded 60mph to date.
First mod, LED stop lights I had from the MB100, using good quality globes that are much brighter than stock. It's very sunny here and sometimes it's hard to see stop lights with the sun already lighting up the lenses. Also LED reverse lights, cheap-ish ones because I had them on hand.
I couldn't get my UG working with the Renault so I fitted the SGII out of the Transporter, it won't be needing it much longer.