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1003 mile tank

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1003 mile tank
10K views 60 replies 28 participants last post by  Scott M. 
#1 ·
I am working at a different location for four weeks. It's just over 82 miles one way, and all but about 3 miles of it is expressway driving. I knew I had an excellent chance to break my previous best of 917. The pump stopped at $75.00 and 17.05 gallons. I had to move to a different pump and add an additional 0.50 gallons for a total of 17.55 gallons total fuel used. Actual calculated mileage was 57.1 Here are the pics. Sorry the pics are turned sideways.

There was one day where it was pretty cold and very windy and had snowed overnight. The wind actually changed directions that day and I wound up driving into a headwind both days. In addition, the snow resulted in some traffic backups on the way to work that day. There was an accident on a another day that caused a traffic jam on the way home that hurt my average for that trip. There were a total of four trips where the car didn't average at least 60 mpg for the drive...both trips on the day it was cold/windy/snowy, the day there was an accident, and a fourth day when the car did a DPF regen cycle during the drive home. The regen cycle was obviously unavoidable, but had the other trips not worked out the way they did I think it's entirely possible the car may have averaged over 60 mpg for the entire tank. The adverse events that had a negative effect on fuel economy all occurred before 500 miles into this 1003 mile tank, and when I filled up today the 500 mile recent average was saying 60.5. This was probably actually closer to 61.5 actual since indicated fuel economy for the trip was 1 less than actual by hand calculation.

Driving speed was 55-60 mph typically. There were 4-5 trips where fuel economy was exceptionally high and exceeded 70 mpg for the drive. I set new 25 and 50 mile economy records during this tank which were 77 and 73 mpg, respectively. It was necessary to use very light acceleration and driving with load techniques to reach these numbers. I was not drafting trucks or other vehicles. Tire inflation is at maximum sidewall pressure. I am at just over 17,000 miles on my car, and it appears that the engine is producing better numbers now that it has a few miles on it. I believe it may continue to improve slightly with more miles. Under the right conditions the car could make 1100 miles on a tank. I don't think I'll be the one to do it, but I think someone will probably manage it if they haven't yet.
 

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#35 ·
Just took my car on a 250km round trip journey. I had 50km already on my tank when I headed out that was city driving. My highway is slightly hilly and when I came off the hwy, the road to the camp is all hills. Going by the fuel used (didn't get to a fuel station yet) I got 48mpg imp. Didn't think that was to bad for a 2700km car @6°c ext temps.
 
#37 ·
Two things, I never said anything about slowing down or driving slowly on a freeway where other traffic is traveling faster.....

Second what I did say was while coasting up to a stop or in stop & go N use can save fuel over just staying in D. While the engine does cut off fuel while in over run it also reduces the distance that you can travel without requiring throttle input due to engine resistance to turning over while the car is in gear in over run.

As the chart shows You can coast a lot further in N if conditions allow compared to just staying in D saving fuel. The chart is from VW, yes their diesel's do cutoff fuel in over run. But again as the chart shows in over run the distance that can be covered without requiring the engine to burn fuel from throttle input is shorter. I have decades of data that shows that N use in these conditions can make a significant difference in clocked mpgs in anything you drive.....
 
#38 ·
I don't get 500 miles out of a tank of fuel. The Cruse does not complain and that's double the mileage of my big motor cars.
 
#43 ·
Colorado has a law that states that on two lane roads you must pull over at the next safe spot if you're not doing the speed limit and there are more than 5 cars behind you. It was put into place to deal with the RVs that have a hard time managing 40 through the mountains.
 
#46 ·
Seems some of your are rolling road blocks for people who have places to be. My method is drive as slow as I want to but if ANY car gets behind me I drive 5 mph over the posted speed limit like 99% of the drivers to.

Sure I will go 55mph in a 55mph zone but not if there are any cars behind me. 4 lane highway that's 65mph that's what I go, but if I have numerous semi that have to get out of the slow lane because of me I will kick my speed up a bit.

You might save a few bucks per tank driving like a dick, but overall emissions are increased because everyone else has to gas on it to get around your inconsiderate ass.
 
#47 ·
Seems some of your are rolling road blocks for people who have places to be. My method is drive as slow as I want to but if ANY car gets behind me I drive 5 mph over the posted speed limit like 99% of the drivers to.
In some cities you will be given a ticket for accelerating above the speed limit. College towns are notorious for doing this. In case no one noticed I'm driving on a four lane highway in the right lane. If too many people are passing I will speed up. My goal is to be about the 30-35% percentile for speed, which means that I will occasionally have to pass someone. I also drive in a hilly area and one thing I have noticed is that many people who pass me going downhill can't even maintain 5 under going uphill and I catch them.

As for semis, if I get in a pack of them I'll drive with them and take advantage of the wind tunnel they create. Several big rigs running 70 MPH create a 20-30 MPH wind tunnel in their direction of travel. This means that your "air speed" will be 20 to 30 MPH lower than your road speed. I did this for about 20 miles last summer and had a 70 MPG average when I finally broke away from the semis.
 
#58 · (Edited)
Wow!

With the warm weather, Ellie's been returning some pretty impressive MPGs lately without me even trying. I'd love to try it out on this road you've been driving on.

As far as the rest of back-and-forth in this thread...don't hold up traffic by driving under the speed limit if people can't pass. I will be one of those drivers that will make it known that you've annoyed me.

If people can get around you...stick with the pace of other slower-moving cars; just don't be a road hazard going 50 MPH in a 70. And don't stick in the left lane with other people going around you. Use common sense :)
 
#59 ·
Congrats OP! Very impressive numbers, Chevy needs to put you in a TV spot saying look what I can do.
 
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