This great big van is one of the reasons I started looking into fuel economy and ecomodding. The one good thing about it is that it has the smaller 4.6L V8 engine. Even so, this van is painful at the pump. I'd often burn through a tank every week and back when fuel was over $4.00 a gallon it was costing me $125 to fill up, $500 a month for gas! Now that fuel is more reasonably priced I'm still spending about $75 every time I go to the gas station, and if I'm driving a lot that's still $300 a month.
I recently acquired a little Toyota Tercel and have been giggling every time I go to fill up the tank ($24). But sometimes I still need to take the big ol' work van out on jobs. So I decided to set up my fuel economy meter in the van to see what I can do. I have been very pleased with the results. Just by monitoring the feedback and changing the way I drive, I averaged 21.4 mpg for a 13 mile trip on the way back home from work tonight. That's much better than I have ever gotten in the past with this behemoth.
Build Thread:
Current Mods:
totally stock
Planned Mods:
1) grill blocking for winter
2) electric oil pan heater
3) air dam
