Quote:
Originally Posted by User1
@ Isaac,
I'm looking to be able to average about 30 mpg on flat land, with no tail/head wind, and going ~60 mph. To do this, one of the first things I'll do is make sure the tires are up to max on tire pressure.
Some of these city vans are reported at being 28-29 mpg highway. So I don't think shooting for 30 mpg is out of the question.
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In that case your best bet are probably aero mods, although the most effective, a "boat tail" will make the van longer. Of course going slower also helps reduce aerodynamic drag, but probably isn't what you'd want to do.
Of course if you aren't looking to mod, just buy the van with the best highway fuel mileage rating. Personally though, if go with the Ford Transit Connect as I've heard the RAM Promasters have had problems. Highway driving probably isn't going to affect whether you have FWD or RWD either as the Promaster is FWD if I remember correctly.
Full tires may help. Seems that somewhere here on the forum there have been ones who've filled tires and found there's a point at which more pressure no longer increases fuel mileage. It might be worth testing out at what point does more pressure stop increasing fuel mileage because A) so you don't wear out your tires prematurely for no real reason and B) so you have the best controllability possible while still getting good fuel mileage.
I wonder if pulse and gliding would even be worth it at around 60mpg, but that's another thing you could think about doing.
I'm still not sure of any of these newer midsized vans having both a manual and a diesel, at least here in the USA. The diesel full sized Chevy Express has an engine that gets 29 or 30mpg (depending on year) in their midsized trucks. But in a full sized van is expect it to get less than that. If Chevy only made a midsized van with that engine, that would be the ticket. But the last (current?) midsized van Chevy made was actually built by Nissan IIRC.