I cannot drive economically in Europe

rosalan

rosalan

Joined
Jul 12, 2013
Posts
4,072
Likes collected
5,698
Location
The City of Henlow
Funster No
26,906
MH
Adria Supreme
Exp
Since 1980
I have an Adria Renault Master automatic and in most places, cannot drive fast enough to be economical.
At 65mph it is just about possible to stay in top gear (about 2000 revs). Other than motorways I rarely if ever manage to get into top gear making it less fuel efficient. In Portugal getting 5th gear was rare, 4th often being the best I could achieve.
Speed limits compound my inefficient fuel consumption as the van weighs 3.80 tons, over the magic 3.5 in France and frequently limited to 80km (about 50 mph).
Is there something I can do to get better economy and does anyone know what mpg I should be getting?
 
Don't know how old your van is, but our ambulance is 08 master and can travel on most out of town roads in 6th, and at the last time I looked it is averaging 34.5.
 
Having read your post again I see at the beginning you say it is automatic, so what I said isn't much use I'm afraid. :(
 
rosalan said:
I have an Adria Renault Master automatic and in most places, cannot drive fast enough to be economical.
At 65mph it is just about possible to stay in top gear (about 2000 revs). Other than motorways I rarely if ever manage to get into top gear making it less fuel efficient. In Portugal getting 5th gear was rare, 4th often being the best I could achieve.
Speed limits compound my inefficient fuel consumption as the van weighs 3.80 tons, over the magic 3.5 in France and frequently limited to 80km (about 50 mph).
Is there something I can do to get better economy and does anyone know what mpg I should be getting?
Click to expand...
What MPG are you getting and what MPG are you expecting?

Top gear is not always more economical if it is revving below a decent level of torque. Perhaps the auto box knows best? My 07 manual Renault got better MPG than either my subsequent Mercedes auto or current Fiat Conformatic.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Speed will always kill fuel consumption more than the gear selected.

As it is an Auto box I would generally leave it alone.
The only time I put our auto box in manual is on some hilly A roads when it hunts between the top two gears, in this case it is much happier if I drop one gear in manual mode.
 
I have a fiat 2.2 comformatic and it gets into 6th gear at just under 2000rpm, speed is around 47-50mph which is the speed limit in France as I’m 4250kg .... suits me as I’m in no hurry and I get better mpg at around 30-32mpg...

Sometimes I have driven slower because of circumstances at around 40mph and it stays in 5th and I get better mpg..!
 
I can change into 6th at 45mph and it pulls happily at 1500 rpm. As long as it's not up a steep hill.
 
Getting into a higher gear doesnt mean better mpg , as its more down to how hard the engine is having to pull and load up with fuel to do so . The vehicle is commercial based so was designed to be driven in different load conditions to maximise low emissions it may well be able to pull top gear when unloaded or lightly loaded , but when running near max load , etc this may not be possible . The engine will have been mapped to prioritize emissions and balanced against economy , and mechanical stresses and longevity HTSH

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Sounds like the 6th gear +final drive ratio makes 6th an overdrive for flat or downhill driving.

5th may be your effective top gear for everything else.

Either that or your engine has a fault which can often be the root cause of excessive fuel consumption.
 
Mpg depends on your driving technique. Nothing wrong with driving in a lower gear than top and will probably find it more economical than struggling to get into top gear all the time.
Our car has an 8 speed auto gearbox. We rarely get into 7th, never mind 8th unless at motorway speeds and fuel economy doesn’t suffer pootling around in 5th or 6th at 80kph.
 
I was under the impression that the Renault robotised box had a good reputation so the OP is a bit puzzling.

By way of comparison, our Ducato with 2.3 150 and Comfortmatic changes into 6th from about 43 mph and still pulls like a train. Occasionally it feels better to use the manual override to change down a gear because the ECU seems reluctant and the engine sounds a bit laboured at 1500 revs. When it gets very hilly there's the handy UP button.

For smooth stress-free driving you can't beat a proper autobox with a torque converter. Fiat's Comfortmatic is the next best thing until the next generation Ducato with a true autobox becomes available. With Comfortmatic I feel that I have to use a mechanically sensitive driving style, while keeping an eye on those robotic minions doing the clutch and laboriously changing gears, just in case they turn into gremlins and throw a wobbly. Not as relaxing as a true auto especially in stop-start traffic queues. Still preferable to a manual gearbox. If like me you have a dodgy left knee.
 
If not economic in Europe what level of mpg did you achieve in US, Australia etc ?
 
As said above, it's low revs that matter, not highest gear or speed. Use the box manually and select an appropriate gear that gives you lower rpm whilst still within the torque band of the engine.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
My van ( 5.25 t and usually well loaded up ! ) has a 2.3 litre lump and will happily cruise at 50 in top.. and the figure of 2k rpm at 60 is the same as ours.
Seems that you will benefit from a remap ( gives more torque ) .. We had our done and MPG jumped from 19 to 21.. and on a recent 500 mile round trip to Blackpool for some reason it shot up to 25.3 !
 
Forgot to mention, on the way home we had a box trailer with a 125 scooter on board
 
Don't know what mpg you are getting but anything over 22/23 got to be good in a Motorhome.
We have a Fiat 2.3, 150hp Comformatic on a 4500kg chassis, we vary between 24 to 26, well pleased.
 
Had a look at mine today 33.9 but been doing a fair bit of mountains.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
i took a gamble and bought a van that had a known issue of being gutless even with foot flat to the floor. A long journey home at under 50 mph got me worried. first thing I checked when home was the air filter, which was new and fuel filter, new also, so was worrying this is a diesel injection pump
A knowledgeable friend with oil under his nails and skin said it's got to be air or fuel related. cheapest first, i pulled out the air filter and inlet hose to inspect. there was a birds nest in the pipe starving the engine of air
all clean and re-installed a test drive gave superb results with the fault costing near enough nothing
 
Does a mile and there make any difference, don’t worry and just enjoy driving ✅?
 
olley said:
Trying to push a brick through the air at 65+ is never going to be economical.
Click to expand...

Yes. For our 2013/14 Renault Master with automatic (robotised) gearbox the average mpg is in the low 30s. We do a fair bit of fast motorway driving, though, which, given that wind resistance increases exponentially with speed and vans aren't exactly aerodynamic, brings the figure down more I reckon than other types of driving.
 
Mine will just run at 80kph( 50mph) in 5th. drop below & you have to change into 4th Through the 50kph in villages in France it's 3rd.average around 32-35mpg but long distance at around 100kph it will hit 40.

I used to havean auto mpv. Towing wasn't possibñe under 100kph as it would drop out of lock up & change down. They even recommended towing at 8'kph in 3rd. i can just imagine the mpg running 4,7T at 50mph in 3rd.
 
Thank you all for your responses.
I have no idea what other Renault Masters can achieve re mpg. Mine reads 28 .3litres per 100 k if I read it correctly.
My van is an Adria Supreme 3.8 ton

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
rosalan said:
Thank you all for your responses.
I have no idea what other Renault Masters can achieve re mpg. Mine reads 28 .3litres per 100 k if I read it correctly.
My van is an Adria Supreme 3.8 ton
Click to expand...
What is the Speedo in, miles or km, if it's in miles, that's likely to be miles per gallon.
 
gus-lopez said:
Mine will just run at 80kph( 50mph) in 5th. drop below & you have to change into 4th Through the 50kph in villages in France it's 3rd.average around 32-35mpg but long distance at around 100kph it will hit 40.

I used to havean auto mpv. Towing wasn't possibñe under 100kph as it would drop out of lock up & change down. They even recommended towing at 8'kph in 3rd. i can just imagine the mpg running 4,7T at 50mph in 3rd.
Click to expand...
With a Ducato 3.0l my rule of thumb is... 50kmh (in town) = 4th, 30kmh (pedestrian crossings etc) = 3rd, open road 80kmh = 5th / 6th depending on gradients.
Engine remap gives the van 199hp, only problem is how easily it can exceed 130kmh on faster autoroutes. Fuel consumption is just under 30 mpg.
 
Pausim said:
I hope not 28.3 l/100 km is less than 10MPG.
Click to expand...
I agree and overall the reading cannot be accurate, as I have just driven from Cartagena to Pamplona on a tank full with about a quarter tank left. My attempt at converting mpg gave the same reading.
I am not over familiar with the Renault Tom tom gadget which wants to tell me a lot of things I do not need to know.
 
Fiat ducato euro 6 60mph 1700 rpm pulls lovely 30 mpg. If your struggling you need more horses simple remap ??

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top