Bongo Fury

I normally get about 27-29 mpg out of my unconverted 2.5TD AT.

Coming back from the Western Highlands yesterday, I was keeping a steady 45 mpg wherever possible - into lockup, a bit more to ensure I was in a reasonable power range and not dropping out of lockup too easily, and just bumbling on home.

Fuelly reckons I got 35.6mpg from the last half tank. I've got another couple of 140 mile drives in the next few days, so I'll see what happens...

Tyre pressures increased fro 32/34 to 36/38, too...

Driver+Passengers wrote:I normally get about 27-29 mpg out of my unconverted 2.5TD AT.

Coming back from the Western Highlands yesterday, I was keeping a steady 45 mpg wherever possible - into lockup, a bit more to ensure I was in a reasonable power range and not dropping out of lockup too easily, and just bumbling on home.

Fuelly reckons I got 35.6mpg from the last half tank. I've got another couple of 140 mile drives in the next few days, so I'll see what happens...

The answer is in the first sentence. You were coming from the Highlands and going to the Lowlands. Must have been downhill all the way.

It depends on how you drive,I am a steady driver,hardly ever do more than 60mph and our Bertie always manages to do 32mpg overall.

We had had 35 mpg from our fully laden + kitchen 2wd aft when driving at 56 mph on French motorways . We have also only managed 18 mpg when driving at 80 mph

Matt&JoyBongling wrote:We had had 35 mpg from our fully laden + kitchen 2wd aft when driving at 56 mph on French motorways . We have also only managed 18 mpg when driving at 80 mph

Strange that, we also got our best mpg on a French motorway. Can only put it down to the fact didn't stop for about 180 miles and you can generally keep a constant speed unlike our motorways.

briwy wrote:

Matt&JoyBongling wrote:We had had 35 mpg from our fully laden + kitchen 2wd aft when driving at 56 mph on French motorways . We have also only managed 18 mpg when driving at 80 mph

Strange that, we also got our best mpg on a French motorway. Can only put it down to the fact didn't stop for about 180 miles and you can generally keep a constant speed unlike our motorways.

That was our conclusion. Put the cruise control on at 60mph and sit back and enjoy

I would like to try it when not full of luggage & kitchen. Might get 38mpg???

I got an average >33mpg, including some forest tracks, so I'm happy.

My 4wd diesel with rear conversion has averaged 34mpg over the last 3000 miles and on a decent motorway run will get over 37mpg, however to achieve this I have to keep the speed to 60 and under, keep revs under 2500, I also have a simple throttle lock type of 'cruise control' fitted which I am sure helps the mpg, it also has the later type electrically controlled fuel pump which is supposed to more fuel efficient. Increasing speed to 70 has a big effect on the consumption.

I have a '96 Pop Top V6 Petrol 2.5 with LPG conversion,and fully loaded have just done round trip of 500 miles to North Yorkshire. Filled up with gas(51.25 litres/11.3 galls) before leaving, having done 391km(242 miles) since last fill. At a cost of 73.9p per litre that works out at 21.4 mpg, gas being less efficient by about 15/20% than petrol? If you compare the cost of unleaded which was 134.9 at the same filling station I am getting the equivalent of 39mpg(21.4 x 134.9 divided by 73.9). A few miles up the A1 I found another Shell garage with LPG @ 69.9p which would have resulted in over 41 mpg as their unleaded was also 134.9p. all this at between 60 -70mph, not bad I think as we were on a mixture of A1 and back roads - the same consumption coming back by the way!

Yep a calm right foot always helps as does removing any unnecessary weight from the vehicle, i.e. toys, rubbish etc,lol, I normally only have some tools, water & coolant and on long journeys some oil too, plus as mentioned correct tyre pressures.Another thing you can do..in a manual..freewheel down hills but be careful,lol I do it but being a Police trained driver I know when to and when not to. Having said that I have had the occasional burn up when some snotty nosed kid in a souped up shed thinks he will show up the poor old bongo, just to tick em off when the turbo leaves em far behind,lol.

I've just recently recorded 32mpg with mine, taking it easy but not all motorway running and no special attention to driving style, with tailgate kitchen unit and drawer unit removed thus keeping the car light. I've also recorded 27mpg with a lot of suburban running. the warm weather helps a lot on short runs I think as the gearbox takes no time to be able to lock out in top gear (which it won't do until sufficiently warmed). Not bad figures at all for a car with low maintenance costs and that is lovely to drive and hugely versatile (one bit of the 32 mpg experience was carting a large table and chairs over the Peaks - it ate the load and the journey up)

Hi, I think, having driven the Beast for nigh on 6 months (its my day to day drive), that its the type of acceleration employed that can make a difference. I have found that el Bongo relaxes my driving ,so my right foot has a slower,more incremental push (if that makes sense). Also avoid flooring it when going up hills...I may slow down but the torque in the diesel engine gets me there. Dave

Don't forget that driving with the wind on your tail can improve things hugely.