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This past weekend I booked some rooms on Grassy Key for the whole family including my grand kids and my son and his girlfriend from NY. This was nine people with two in car seats, coolers, fishing and diving gear and luggage. Instead of packing up 3 FE vehicles I called around to check on a passenger van. Found a E350 12 passenger van that would do the job with 9 passengers and equipment comfortable.

The deal I got was asking for a nine passenger van knowing the E350 could be rented from Dollar from Thursday till Monday for a total of $368.00. The 12 passenger had less cargo space for more money but they had no 9 passenger vans without the last full back bench seat. I told them I needed the cargo room and they said I could rent the 12 passenger van and remove the back seat for the cheaper 9 passenger price. I agreed but knew I'd pay a lot for gas with the 4.6L V8 and running the A/C with the load I had.

Picked-up the van on Thursday at noon and reset an existing 13.5mpg fuel consumption gauge (FCG), trip A and saved trip B reset for the actual trip from my home. Checked the tire pressure and found the rear right at 82psi and rear left at 75psi with both fronts at 60psi. These tires were Michelin tires with a 80psi Max sidewall pressure so I added 88psi for the rear and 80psi for the front.

I had some of the worst conditions with 3-4 accidents blocking traffic for 30 - 45 minutes at a time, thunderstorms and when I had to make a rest stop the engine was always running to keep the others cool with the A/C. Same thing when I had to stop for food and drinks. In the beginning I got the SGII and trip B to 22mpg before things turned bad with road conditions. Overall trip "A" worked out to 17.1mpg and I only got gas one time to return the van on today (Monday) with almost 500 miles on it for the trip. I think the van has a 40 gallon tank but could only replace 30.244 gallons for the entire trip.

Ford did an excellent job with the E350 4.6L 12 passenger van and I estimated a 19.2mpg trip if I had better conditions with no long waiting accidents with the A/C running at a stop or creeping. The 4.6L is E85 approved, but E10 was only available on this trip. Also, the van had a bumper for a trailer hitch and a stock trailer light connection. I could have towed my boat and not have had to get a private charter boat for us all to go fishing. We had a great time and caught 29 yellow tail snapper to eat and a few sharks to release.

Now that I know I can rent a new vehicle like this with good gas mileage and room, why should I keep an expensive FSP with a bad resale value in my driveway. I didn't even have to wash the rental or provide any maintenance other than adding a little air to the tires.

GaryG

Very good logic. The only reason that I could think of for keeping the fsp is how often do you need it and the next time you need to rent, will the proper vehicle be available? I have a 4x4 truck that sits 99% of the time, but if I need it, it's there and ready.

wow! That's phenomenal mileage for something that big. My dad's got several work vans and a friend of mine has a 1 ton Chevy pass. van for band equipment. I've never heard of any of them getting much better than 10mpg.

I guess I didn't realize you could get a 1 ton van with such a small engine. That probably helps. How many gears in the tranny?

wow! That's phenomenal mileage for something that big. My dad's got several work vans and a friend of mine has a 1 ton Chevy pass. van for band equipment. I've never heard of any of them getting much better than 10mpg.

I guess I didn't realize you could get a 1 ton van with such a small engine. That probably helps. How many gears in the tranny?

I'm sure it had the 4 speed auto and I would not think I would need a bigger engine at all. There was nothing I did to hypermile other than drive it easy and add tire pressure. The A/C ran while loading in and anytime there was a passenger or baby on board. It's hot here and in the Keys now and if I cut back on the A/C any I would have been eaten alive by my wife and daughter.

The E350 had a high ground clearance and no one enjoyed getting into or out of it but the front captain seats with armrest as well as the large bench seats were nice when seated. There were windows all around for site seeing for all the passengers and the ground clearance and seating height had its advantages for vacation. There was lots of room under the 3 bench seats which all or some could be removed for equipment, gear and even a bed for sleeping. It had a front and rear A/C control and I would be afraid of sleeping with the A/C on in a well ventilated parking space. I did this once in my Explorer when I couldn't find a vacant room in the Keys. Woke up in the morning with a 1/4 tank less in gas (~5 gallons) but no mosquito bites.

I expected to get 10-12mpg but when I saw the FCG from the last renter with a 13.5mpg average I knew I could get a possible 18.5mpg average the way I accelerate and time stoplights. There was 5 E350's to choose from at Dollar Rental at PBI Airport but I can see getting a E350 at a smaller rental place may be harder. Some of the rental places wanted $700 - $800 for large vans for 4 days but Dollar e-mailed us back with the $367 price. I went by the Airport to look at the van before confirming the deal.

My wife and kids are already bugging me to plan another trip this summer after lobster season opens in August because this trip was so nice and comfortable. My older Son and his girlfriend said they would fly down from NY for another Keys trip also.

GaryG

For those interested in this kind of van at the $367 or $88 per day price my wife told me she went to Craig's List and found this Promo offer with a Promo Code of 44863 under Standard Van Ford E-350 (or similar). This was under half the price when calling the Rental Companies for a price. My wife said when you go to the Dollar site just put in the Promo Code # in the space for the better price. Who would have thought to check on Craig's List for a rental van but my wife.

GaryG

Yes, renting a big van is a good trip strategy.

The problem I've had is many rental companies won't let you drive more than one state away.Another problem is the per mile rate usually comes into play on long-3000 mile-trips. Rental companies set the rates up so you can't "make money" Once you start talking 50 cents per mile+ daily rate it gets a bit more expensive.

I would love to be able to rent, but the rental companies just don't allow cross country trips the last time I checked. Even at $1000 rental + gas it would be a good deal to rent- if they would allow it.The other problem is we need something big to evacuate the 2 dogs, 4 cats, and 3 adults. You can't find rentals when their is a hurricane in the gulf.
Charlie

Yes, renting a big van is a good trip strategy.

The problem I've had is many rental companies won't let you drive more than one state away.Another problem is the per mile rate usually comes into play on long-3000 mile-trips. Rental companies set the rates up so you can't "make money" Once you start talking 50 cents per mile+ daily rate it gets a bit more expensive.

I would love to be able to rent, but the rental companies just don't allow cross country trips the last time I checked. Even at $1000 rental + gas it would be a good deal to rent- if they would allow it.The other problem is we need something big to evacuate the 2 dogs, 4 cats, and 3 adults. You can't find rentals when their is a hurricane in the gulf.
Charlie

I've had the in State only restriction before also but this contract was only restricted to the continental US and Canada. It was for $88 a day and unlimited mileage also. I did not see anything about exceeding 3,000 mile trips but that may come into play for longer days of rental or something. I found out when I looked at the van that Dollar and Thrifty are now working together in the same building at PBIA. They may be changing the restrictions due to the competition now.

GaryG

Gary, wow, $88/d with no restrictions would be a great deal for us. I'll have to look into it. 3000 miles is probably 5% of the total miles a rental agency would put on a vehicle.

There is a 2002 Econoline conversion van-with the 4.6-on sale locally for $6000-just 60000 miles. If they get that kind of mpg I'll have to take a look at it.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize that the Ford vans got that kind of mpg.
Charlie

Very nice! We should try airing up the tires in our work vans. They're E150's but have the same 281ci motor and they usually only return 16ish mpg on our delivery runs.