Van gas mileage

[Greg Loe]

I'm looking for a light weight van that gets good(better) gas mileage. Cargo van. Any suggestions?

 

[Walt]

Chevy Astro vans can get 16-18 from what I hear - good prices on used ones. Or you could get a used sprinter van and get 25+ (these are harder to find from what I've seen - expect to pay near new price).

 

[TimP]

I can tell you a regular cargo van isn't so bad. Especially empty. An astro van isn't going to be much better. It's more about weight than anything.

Keep in mind what you are going to use it for make sure it has the capacity for what you're going to do with it. The best van on the road for fuel is the sprinter at least the older ones were great, like mentioned above. The only problem is the fuel savings isn't as great anymore cause of the increased cost of fuel. Too bad they don't put epa ratings on the commercial vans cause I think they do as well if not much worse than an astro van.

 

[Becker]

I agree with Tim

 

[RC Eden Carpet Cleaning]

It seems like all the standard cargo vans get pretty close to the same in gas mileage. I have all three major van types (Express, Enonoline, and Sprinter) and if you really want to get better gas mileage get a used Sprinter. I've averaged 20-25mpg LOADED, and this is mostly city driving :shock:.

The other great thing about Sprinters is their engines, the Benz 5 cylinder will give you ridicules life. You could get one with well over 100k and be very very happy. A nice used one is going to cost you about $20,000 though.

 

[Larry B]

Lets not forget the very poor safty rating of the Astro & Safari vans. Dont worry about an extra mile to the gallon when you get in a wreck and the van buckles under the drivers seat.

They were the best selling mid-size cargo van ever made because of gas mileage and weight ratings but the safety factor on them was the main reason they stopped building them.

 

[Kevin]

Wouldn't the savings be higher because gas prices are higher?

:roll:

 

[Guest]

I get 12 miles a gallon with my Butler truck and I,m happy with that

 

[TimP]

The other day I drove probably 110-120 (10-20 miles in the city) miles and ran the TM 1 hour on a quarter tank. About 7-8 gallons I'd say. 6.0 v8 chevy 1 ton with an 85 gallons of water on board and all my cleaning gear.

 

[steve g]

back when I ran vans, I would get about 10mpg this was in a dodge 360 v8 with a mix of city and highway and running the truckmount. the best mileage out of the vehicles I used was an isuzu box truck with the diesel I got about 16 with a mix of city and highway. these are commonly sold used from rental companies like penske etc, I would be real tempted to buy one, I just can't quit thinking about how little metal is in front of you with those.

 

[RC Eden Carpet Cleaning]

I would be real tempted to buy one, I just can't quit thinking about how little metal is in front of you with those.

Makes for excellent visibility... but not so great on those pesky head on collisions.

 

[Brian R]

8% of my total company income this year has gone to fuel.
That is F'n horrilbe.
Ugh.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Greg, why do you want a "light weight" van?

the fuel milelage won't be much (if any) better.
Unless you're talking about a FWD mini-van.
They only average 20-22mpg


I don't know what the newer Chevys get, but Ford's Triton 5.4 gets good milelage.
18mpg hi-way fully loaded is what I get.
City milelage really depends more on the driver's habits and can vary wildly from one driver to another.

as far a diesel engines go, unless you turn mega miles and plan on running in excess of 300K miles, you won't realize any real savings or virtues of a D engine.
The 20% better fuel milelage will be a wash, cause D-fuel costs 20% more than reg unleaded.
('least it is 'round my hood)

..L.T.A.

 

[The Great Oz]

Two cylinder 28 HP engine. Great mileage!

 

[Doug Cox]

Why the hell does anyone care what kind of mpg a van gets? Does evryone drive long distances? All I care about is how much my fuel costs compared to how long I worked (or how much money I made) on any given day. I work within 15 miles of my house, so I've never grasped the MPG issue.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I work within 15 miles of my house, so I've never grasped the MPG issue.

it's 12 miles just to the end of the corn and alfalfa fields for me, Doug

The van rolled up 60 miles today

..L.T.A.

 

[TimP]

October will be 2 years I've owned my van....14,510 miles and 850 hours (I've been putting less hours on the TM since my omni and sticky tabs too). I don't go too far it seems....most of my jobs are within 10 miles. Fuel economy isn't a big deal....fuel consumption on the TM is. I've been seriously thinking about going slide in for my next TM because of fuel consumption. And seriously considering propane. Although I think I want a larger #5 blower but it may come down to fuel consumption since fuel is gonna be pretty high in another 3 years when I will probably change TM's.

 

[KevinL]

Gas will be cheaper in 3 years or we won't be using it.

 

[Brian R]

Why the hell does anyone care what kind of mpg a van gets? Does evryone drive long distances? All I care about is how much my fuel costs compared to how long I worked (or how much money I made) on any given day. I work within 15 miles of my house, so I've never grasped the MPG issue.

I cut my mileage down to 12,000 a year for the past 2 years.
This is from 30,000 when I did contract works 3 or 4 years ago. I had a smaller van with smaller equip then.
Advertising in your own area is the way to go.
If I run out too far, the prices stay high.
I still have some people 30 miles out that use me but they know what it's gonna cost but they love the work.

 

[Scott S.]

just figured i would point this out. yes deisel gets better milage but costs $1 more than gasoline. u figure out the math. deisel engins will typically always run longer due to the lower rpm they run. (yes there are high performace deisel engine in sports cars) but semi's run 1,000,000 on same engine but i have yet to see a gasoline engine run that far.

 

[Bob Savage]

Larry B...

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which is known for its testing of vehicles and results that are often shown on NBC's Dateline television news program, gave the Astro a "poor" rating in 1996 because of what by all appearances was a horrifying display of structural failure in the Institute's 40 mph (64 km/h) crash test into a fixed, offset barrier. The underbody of the test van buckled, pitching both front seats forward and shoving the crash dummy into the dashboard and steering wheel, leading the Institute to comment that "[t]he collapse of the occupant compartment left little survival space for the driver."

In testing performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), however, the Astro and Safari fared better, improving from a single-star rating in 1990 to a three-star (driver) and four-star (passenger) rating by 1999. In side impacts, the Astro and Safari both received the highest, five-star rating in every year that the test was administered.

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