Hi and welcome Malcolm. You could probably add 25% to your fuel costs approximately. You wouldn't be travelling as fast with the van as you were without. Towing speed is recommended at 85-90 KPH. I'm sure you were driving faster than that when you went with car alone. This is just an estimation. There are lots of variables, one of which is your right foot.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
Thank you Doug, NeilnRuth and the Cruising Granny - your welcome is delightful.
Cruising Granny you advice is much appreciated. I wondered how much more it would cost when pulling a light caravan. I recently towed a covered trailer with my daughter's possessions to Melbourne and cruise control in my Aurion was pretty much useless when climbing a gradient on the Hume. She'd roar and change back to a MUCH lower gear - my consumption was almost double that of what it would have been if I not had that albatross in tow.
i reckon you will get around 6k's to the litre, 166lt times about $1.50per lt. aprox $250. cruise control is a no-no while towing. if you have an overdrive use that sparingly as well. actually i wouldnt use cruise control on any hilly drive, all it does is puts it foot down up the hills, slurping up the gas.
gold dandelion - thanks for your help. Sounds like it would be much the same as towing the trailer I recently took to Melbourne. Here's a link for the little van I am thinking of getting on eBay - matures tomorrow and has attracted little attention so far...
Let me know what you think - it looks pretty light to me. The seller says it's under 600kg - in Vic there is no compliance plate and unless the owner is particularly interested he/she wouldn't necessarily know the weight.
Wow Mal. I just checked that is very small and yes, it should be well under 600kg. Ours is a 14.5' with twin beds etc and originally weighed 770kg. I'd say it weighed a bit more than that now though. So you should get good fuel economy. Hope it's big enough for you!!
neilNruth - yes it is small. That's the attraction for me. I don't really want to tow so a small size is just what the doctor ordered.
I'm by myself - ah, I also have two Chihuahuas who I want to with. I want to make it a "tiny house" and figure the square shape and light construction will be ideal.
I live in NSW and my daughter in Fitzroy Vic will check it out tomorrow.
I don't want an oven cause I'll use a simple two burner lpg range either in or outside the van. I want to put a pull out awning on the door side and use solar panels for lighting etc.
Once I have a camper (hopefully this one) and "Camp Australia" I should be on my way.
I recently towed my camper trailer with a similar weight (loaded), 500klms (round trip) with my Kia Sportage 4x4 (2.0 litre) and averaged 9klm per litre as long as I kept the speed to around 90kmh. Any faster than that and the consumption would rise greatly. Admittedly I have less wind resistance than a similar weight van.
I used to tow the camper with a Falcon AUII (4.0 litre) and got similar consumption figures towing at full highway speeds.
Last year I bought a 1988 11ft Viscount Nipper, which is 570kg, and I tow with my manual Hyundai i30. She's had a bit of a makeover and we recently went on our maiden voyage together...only around 70 kms away.
As well as meeting up with a great bunch of GN's, I regarded it as my shakedown trip, to see what else needs to be done before I take on a longer trip later in the year.
I did use more fuel, but unfortunately I neglected to take notes. I suspect Cruising Grannys estimate is correct. (Naturally Chris.)
The car didn't struggle at all really, I just down-geared more than usual and sat between 85 & 90kmh. I occassionally used 5th gear if I was on a flat road and the car 'sounded/felt' like it 'wanted to.'
Thank you Jack and Beth for your welcome and help with my "economy" question. Very much appreciated.
Beth - I love your lovely little caravan. Do you have any photos of your beautiful "nipper"? I didn't get the caravan I was looking at on eBay and now have my heart set on a neat little beauty, just like yours. I think, being by myself it would be absolutely ideal. If you have information and photos you can share I would be very pleased. My email address is crafthouseimages@bigpond.com
It's going to be hard to estimate cost of fuel Mal. We are now paying less for fuel in SA than we have paid anywhere else. The dearest fuel was what we bought the day we left home! so, in the last month it has ranged from $1.68/lt to $1.49lt.
NeilnRuth - yeah I understand - guess I was just asking for percentage difference.
Same applies to me here in Cessnock NSW - when I went to Melbourne last the first fill up in Cessnock was the most I paid for the rest of the return trip. I've recently heard on the media that fuel is expected to drop in price for the next few weeks. (hasn't happened yet)
Hi Mal, I used to tow a 750 van with a Toyota vienta V6 and I found that I got about 100km less per tank towing. Say 450km not towing approx 350 towing. That was keeping to about 90kph. As previously said, go much over the speed limit and it lessens the kms quite a bit. Tess
It's not very often I'm wrong, but I'm right this time. Naturally. Nah, only joking. I was only going by my towing calculations when I travelled from Broome to Pt. Hedland with the van. The wind was slight from the west, which made it a cross wind on the Great Northern Highway, WA. I have the diesel vehicle, that stretch of highway isn't very challenging, so it was a good place to do some costing. I normally get 12-14 Kms per litre. (I can't calculate litres per 100 kms) Towing in 4th gear, I got 8 kms to the litre. Never, never, never used 5th gear or cruise control when you're towing. I've seen a couple of gear boxes and transmissions come to grief at great expense to the owners. A dual transmission/gearbox cost $6000 to replace in a Ford Transit delivery van towing a 20ft Coramel van. I would err on the side of generous rather than getting a nasty shock when you fill up at the pump. If you get a nice surprise you're in front. By the way, just for information, I get 6 kms to the litre when I'm on the job in 4th gear with head winds. I dont' get anywhere in 5th in those conditions. You should see the needle slip down the fuel guage. It's scary! Safe and happy travels.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
just travelled down hume to gelong van weight 750 net had boat on roof and all extras motor etc averaged 6.6 klm to litre in hilux 2 wheel drive 4lt petrol travelling at 100klm a hour
-- Edited by benji on Monday 4th of June 2012 09:18:35 PM
