Just returned from 4.5 weeks of driving through France,Luxembourg and Germany in a rented 22 foot motorhome on a 130 hp Fiat chassis. Could not believe the mileage we got from the diesel engine, 26 mpg average for the 2200 miles that we traveled. Our 98 Minnie Winnie 29 foot gets 8 mpg if we are lucky.
We're wondering if anything available in the US can get this kind of mileage.
Thanks for any input.
* This post was
edited 04/29/12 11:59am by mysusie *
mysusie wrote: Just returned from 4.5 weeks of driving through France,Luxembourg and Germany in a rented 22 foot motorhome on a Fiat chassis. Could not believe the mileage we got from the diesel engine, 26 mpg average for the 2200 miles that we traveled. Our 98 Minnie Winnie 29 foot gets 8 mpg if we are lucky.
We're wondering if anything available in the US can get this kind of mileage.
Thanks for any input.
My Caddie 5.7 diesel will pull down about 30 on the hwy. But it only weighs about 6,000 lbs and has only 105 HP.
No way will it pass US smog now days and either will the motorhome you drove. I would also hate to take it up Donner Pass.
~ Too many freaks & not enough circuses ~
"Life is not tried ~ it is merely survived ~ if you're standing
outside the fire"
I have never seen the Fiats for sale here but I did see one in Alaska and it looked amazing. Extrior detail was fantastic and for just haven driven from Ushia to the Arctic Circle cleaned up nicely. Driver was German and not too friendly. There were several of us who wanted to talk to them but they just sort of ignored us. I'd downsize for one of those, my brother's Blazers don't get anywhere near that milage.
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to go". R. L. Stevenson
Turtle and Peeps wrote: My Caddie 5.7 diesel will pull down about 30 on the hwy. But it only weighs about 6,000 lbs and has only 105 HP.
No way will it pass US smog now daysand either will the motorhome you drove. I would also hate to take it up Donner Pass.
If Marchionne has his way the Ducato based units will be coming to the US. It is not a big deal to make the Euro V rigs Tier compliant, but appears to be somewhat tougher the other way around. i.e Navistar getting MAN's help designing a Euro 5 compliant engine.They the Ducato's would have no problem climbing steep gradients like the Donner Pass.
mysusie wrote: Just returned from 4.5 weeks of driving through France,Luxembourg and Germany in a rented 22 foot motorhome on a Fiat chassis. Could not believe the mileage we got from the diesel engine, 26 mpg average for the 2200 miles that we traveled. Our 98 Minnie Winnie 29 foot gets 8 mpg if we are lucky.
We're wondering if anything available in the US can get this kind of mileage. Thanks for any input.
My Caddie 5.7 diesel will pull down about 30 on the hwy. But it only weighs about 6,000 lbs and has only 105 HP.
No way will it pass US smog now days and either will the motorhome you drove. I would also hate to take it up Donner Pass.
You need to get out more!
NOT ALL states require smog/emission testing!
And in some cases there are Counties, within a state that does require testing, that do NOT have to test!
AND in my state the MH is exempt from testing!
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us".
I think the closest thing you will find in the U.S. would be a MH based on a diesel Sprinter chassis. I don't know what mileage they get but I think it's about as good as a MH can get.
FIAT has made some PR moves, might even be considered market feelers, about bringing the Ducato van here and selling it as the RAM Van. To be competitive (i.e. avoid the 30% chicken tax) they would have to do local assembly (like M-B does with the Sprinter), but there are some idle D-C assembly plants in FIAT's U.S. inventory.
Bringing in the van could still be a long way from getting the Ducato motorhome and box truck chassis, and there is no guarantee that drivetrains would be the same. Daimler introduced larger engines and automatic transmissions for the U.S. market Sprinter, because we have different performance expectations for trucks this size. I.E. in the U.S. market, particularly for the chassis, we would most likely see the 150 or 180 HP engine, rather than the 80 to 115 HP engine that gives great gas mileage driving 80-90 KPH on European roads.
I want one too, but don't think we are likely to see it until fuel prices go up to where, as buyers we choose the vehicles with good mileage, or the CAFE gets tough enough to force them on us.
and an Iveco Chassis 3.0 Turbo Diesel 200 lb torque.
We can only hope that some of these things will inspire US RV Manufacturers!
My posts shouldn't be taken for factual data. They are purely fictional, for entertainment purposes and should not be constituted as actually related to scientific, technical, engineering, legal, spiritual or practical advice. Amen.
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Conquest...available on choice of 3 chassis/engines...a Fiat Ducato chassis 3.0 turbo diesel 200 lb torque. 
