Hi, fellows,
I've just bought my Grand Caravan SXT 2012 last week, used with 34,000 km. I live in Montreal and it's pretty cold here and I don't know if it makes difference to the consumption or not, but according my xxx my consumption is around 29L/100km!
I'm getting scared because I saw you guys telling that your consumption is around 13.5 to 15.0 L/100km.

Has my Grand Caravan some problem??

Thank you!
Andre.

 

Bonjour Andre: Yes, that is very bad mileage. I am averaging 12.5L/100km, and that is mostly city driving with the Econ "on". Are you sure about your figures? I track my fuel purchases on fuelly.com. It's very handy to monitor your gas mileage. If I notice a big increase, it is an alert to have the vehicle looked at.

 

Merci, vonJaerschky,

This information is from my gauge, but I'm approaching half of the fuel tank, so tonight I'll calculate the consumption using the number of kilometers I did.
And I created my profile on fuelly.com . Very useful site! Thank you very much!
__
Andre.

 

29L/100KM is 8 MPG. Unless you are always at full throttle I struggle to even understand how it is so bad. Are you idling alot? If you idle more than normal it will effect what the computer registers for fuel usage.

To me it sounds like you are idling the van in the driveway for extended periods to warm it up. Stop doing that and your mileage will "increase".

 

Hi there,

I bought my van in September and I almost have 10,000 KMs on it. Last week it was a cold week here and when I put gas in the car I looked at the litres and divided it with the kms I have done since I last put gas in and it averaged out 19L/100 KM. I would say I do 60% city and 40% highway. Keep in mind since it was cold that I was idling in the morning about 15 min Mon-Fri each day.

Normally when it's not as cold and I don't idle as much I seem to be getting about 16-17 L/100 KM. A little harder on gas with winter tires as well. Before winter for the same it was about 15-16L/100 KM.

 

Thanks for the help!!
But winter (this is my first winter here), Idling and automatic gears are new to me.
I'll tell you what I did every morning:
1-Normally I don't have time enough to turn on the engine e leave it turned on to warm up. So, I get in the car and go to work.
2-I think my drive style is basically the same of the rest of my neighbors. I don't use the full throttle. I only do an smooth acceleration, because the maximum speed I have reached was 50km/h. This is the maximum allowed.

I bought this Grand Caravan 2012 used, with 34 km. So I don't how long this stayed stopped or who was the last owner... If it makes some difference...

 

If you haven't then you need to reset the onboard computer, there should be a setting to reset all the fuel usage readings, look in the manual.

 

Last week my wife was able to manage only 15.8mpg. Of course, most mornings it was only 0-5 degrees F. One day the van remote start would not even work as she had the fan on cranked up to warm it, it was too much to start. Temperature makes a huge difference. Same driving over the summer and she'll get 19 or so. My Tahoe gets close to 15.5 so yea that is pretty pathetic, but last week i only got 12.8 in that because it was so cold.

 

All you do is hold down the "Reset" button on the steering wheel for a couple of seconds and it resets.

 

I bought my 2012 new last Aug and now have over 13,000kms on it.
Fuel mileage was poor for the first several tanks and improved with time and miles.
This is normal for most new vehicles I have found, no worries.
Fuel mileage has improved strongly in the frst 10,000kms and will continue to improve up to about 30,000kms.

Highway mileage for my 2012 Grand Caravan is very good at 8-10 L/100kms depending on terrain and speed. I generally travel at 80-100kph to maximize fuel mileage. Over 100kph fuelmileage goes down fast, as it does in city driving too. Stop and go is a killer on fuel with the Caravan. The powerful engine sucks a lot of fuel no matter how gentle I try to be on the gas pedal. The Caravan is powerful and nimble in city driving but the cost is in fuel. I average about 12-15L/100kms with city driving, although very short trips on a cold engine can be in the 20s!

About the dash fuelmileage readout: It is more accurate for highway driving than for city driving and the bad news is it is usually overly optimistic! Still, you can learn a lot from it. Also I have had no luck with the "ECON" switch. It makes for terrible shifts and I see no improvement in the fuel mileage. I leave it off.

Also the Caravan shuts fuel off completely when coasting with your foot off the gas pedal over 80kph (sometimes 60kph). So, take your foot completely off the gas pedal (or shut of cruise control by tapping the brake) on downhills and when coasting to a stop.

I just had my computer reflashed for transmission issues which has improved the shifting and I think I see a very slight fuel mileage improvement.

Steve