We found by driving at 50-55 mph and driving steady we got 27 mpg out of our transit auto sleeper, but then had trouble with the egr valve. Had new valve fitted and mechanic said we have to drive it harder as it's not getting hot enough to burn the crap off. We now drive at 60 and drive harder and get 23mpg but no black smoke.
Interesting how many people find cruise control improves MPG. Of course, nothing about cruise control improves a vehicles efficiency, but is does have a considerable effect on driving style.
Along with that, I think (I'm sure I read this somewhere) the current way of thinking and with modern diesels is to maintain speed going up hill, rather then years ago it was considered more economical to go with the gradual reduction of speed on a hill. Cruise control will keep to the set speed until theres no more ooomphh left. Anyway, throttles on the right.![]()
We found by driving at 50-55 mph and driving steady we got 27 mpg out of our transit auto sleeper, but then had trouble with the egr valve. Had new valve fitted and mechanic said we have to drive it harder as it's not getting hot enough to burn the crap off. We now drive at 60 and drive harder and get 23mpg but no black smoke.
I have never really looked at the fuel consumption on my motorhomes, I am a relative rookie having only discovered motorhoming 2 years ago and enjoyed several holidays and weekends in the 2001 Hymer Swing with a Fiat 2.8 JTD that I bought to test the water
Interestingly the last 2 times I picked up the van from storage this year, the hand brake seemed to stick on after release. A couple of shunts forward and backward released this.
So I had the brakes inspected and the pads needed to be replaced on the rear axles. One pad was down to the metal, sticky cylinder. So after replacement of the pads, there is no surprise then that the mpg imrpoved by 2mpg over the 400 miles covered last week, resulting in 26mpg average on mixed roads.
:drive::drive::drive:
I have a little Romahome doing 50-55 MPG @ 55 MPH on the motorway ,not sure what it's doing around town.
I am surprised you were unhappy with the fuel consumption on your original Motorhome. I have the same model as you except it is a 2002 model and I get between 26 and 29 mpg out of it. I make a point of driving between 50 - 55 mph on single roads and between 60 - 65 mph on dual carriageways and motorways. Considering the shape of the vehicle I am very happy with the economy. One thing I have noticed is that fuel economy is not so good in the winter. I check the fuel economy every time I fill up from nearly empty to full.
As an aside to this discussion early this year I topped up my tank with 66 litres of the special or performance diesel (found at some pumps) by mistake, I was livid because it was about 5p per litre more expensive, so I had wasted (as I thought) over £3. I have to say my old Motorhome performed extraordinarily, in fact it went like a bat out of hell, I was going up hills in 5th gear that I could never normally manage in 5th. My MPG improved a little also. I have always been a cynic about so called super grades of fuel and fuel additives, but I have to say I was proved wrong on this occasion.
Has anyone else had this experience?
My Renault Master conversion has averaged 36mpg over 4000 miles in the past 9 months