MPG on my recent Norway trip

[gasgas]

I've just done a spreadsheet to monitor the fuel consumption of Hardly, my 1999 Transit Automatic Autosleeper Pollensa. We started out on 22 June and returned on 24 August, covering 5367 miles and used 703 litres. That's 154.6 gallons, and 34.7 mpg.
I'm astounded to be honest, I would have hoped for 30mpg. But I was driving with a warm engine all the time of course, and I more-or-less stuck to 50mph. There's no reason to go any faster, you would miss the next 'wowahwee look at that' moment. I'll be writing about it for MMM in two parts: first part is preparation and second part is wot-we-did.
If anyone wants to dispute my findings I can forward you a copy of my spreadsheet for you to pick holes in. It would be nice to have it audited . . . . .
By the way I had the door mirrors vinyl wrapped before I went, and as there was a bit of vinyl left over I got it put on the bonnet. That certainly added 5mph to the speed, and you should see the oncoming cars veer off into the ditch to avoid me!

 

[andyjanet]

Well done Andrew & Alicia ,
Behind every man there’s a better woman , thankyou both for contributing to an Amazing Trip,
Congrats on getting Hardly to the Lofoton and Arctic Circle destination

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Very surprising, but the old smiley front I couriered in did well on fuel, but it only saw 50mph as I passed through, and it was a Yellow M reg.

 

[wildebus]

that is a remarkable MPG for such a aerodynamic vehicle

 

[Trotter]

Sounds about right. The new engine in Demi is showing 34mpg average on the dash. Still running in , keeping below 60, unless that speed annoys HGV drivers.
Glad you had such a great trip in good company.

 

[gasgas]

that is a remarkable MPG for such a aerodynamic vehicle

Well I suppose the aerodynamic driver was a factor as well. . . .

 

[saxonborg]

You must have been coming downhill a lot.

 

[alun100]

Was planning on doing this earlier this year but had to cancel due to a hospital appointment so planned for next year instead. MMM are usually quite slow publishing stuff. Any chance of seeing your route and the do’s and don’t do’s?

 

[andyjanet]

The route is on pois wild camping

As for do’s and don'ts

Do look at the scenery
Don’t drive fast
Do enjoy
Don’t stop saying WOW

 

[gasgas]

You must have been coming downhill a lot.

Well going up to the top of the world was counterbalanced by coming back down towards the equator so it evens out in the end. If I had gone to the south of France the mpg would have been even better.

 

[gasgas]

that is a remarkable MPG for such a aerodynamic vehicle

I thought similarly but I never paid cash for diesel, I have included all the receipts I kept, but because I probably didn't keep all the receipts, I went through all my bank account statements, and my credit card statements, and I have included every transaction that I can trace to a petrol station. What it means now is that when I have a day out, as today we will go to Kenilworth Castle, I will use Hardly instead of the car. In fact I might SORN the car and just use Hardly. That will save me £0 per year in road tax . . . . . .
Hardly goes even better now I have emptied it. And The Big Woman is no longer in it . For those who didn't go to Norway I found this original cinema poster in a second hand shop. You can judge the size of her compared to the mains socket below.

 

[andyjanet]

Snap

 

[pj palance]

Well done Andrew & Alicia ,
Behind every man there’s a better woman , thankyou both for contributing to an Amazing Trip,
Congrats on getting Hardly to the Lofoton and Arctic Circle destination

i like it great ok pj

 

[Rumour]

Blimey! We only get an average of just over 26 out of our Pug 2.2 HDI Mind you, I tend to do 70 on motorways that are clear, 60 otherwise.

 

[Sharon the Cat]

Our van is on a Fiat Ducatto base, just over 9,000 miles on it now. We were getting 30-31mpg. Now we're using the French toll roads with lovely smooth asphalt Phill's foot has got far heavier and it's dropped to 25mpg.

 

[Rumour]

Our van is on a Fiat Ducatto base, just over 9,000 miles on it now. We were getting 30-31mpg. Now we're using the French toll roads with lovely smooth asphalt Phill's foot has got far heavier and it's dropped to 25mpg.

Yeah, mine drops on major roads, so we had cruise fitted to our 20 year old! I just set and nip in the back for a sleep! Nah, not really, but it does help me control the MPG a lot better...

 

[gasgas]

The reason I would like cruise control is that my right knee gets very painful sitting in the same bent position for long periods. The reason I got an automatic was that my left knee got very painful pushing the clutch every car length for an hour crawling through Barcelona at chucking out time. I could deviate neither to the left, nor to the right, as someone once said. There were no available side roads to turn into, nowhere to pull over to park or stop and my knee was screaming 'get an automatic'. If you do some research you might find as I did that automatics in 1999 were rare, and limited of course to Mercedes and Ford. I'm keeping this one, you can keep your new faults-can't-be-fixed automatics.

 

[Sharon the Cat]

Yeah, mine drops on major roads, so we had cruise fitted to our 20 year old! I just set and nip in the back for a sleep! Nah, not really, but it does help me control the MPG a lot better...

Cruise control counts as high-tech. That means I would use it all the time but Phill............. won't.

 

[Rumour]

Cruise control counts as high-tech. That means I would use it all the time but Phill............. won't.

My main reason for having it fitted was to save my right ankle seizing up. To be on the A71 in France for three hours with my foot in one position, it was painful. Now I just set it and I can move feet and legs at will. So, when did you discover Phil was a Luddite?