I've found similar...80mph gets a little over 20mpg. I fought my instinct and drove 70-73 for a while and was getting 22-24, so there definitely seems to be an air resistance penalty over 75!
Real World mpg
- Thread starter fhb
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When people re posting their mpg data, what drive mode are folks using? Eco, Normal or Sport? Or does that even matter? I assumed Eco would yield the best result.
About 250 miles and I’m at 17.4 mpg…probably 2/3 city, 1/3 hwy. I do have a bit of a heavy foot when accelerating…I’m happy with it…best mileage of the cars I own.
Mostly normal drive mode, though I tried sport mode out of curiosity…didn’t notice any difference in how it drove. Hoping it will improve slightly after some more “break in” miles…I have the OEM Michelins, so it will prob only get worse once I put some AT tires on…
I installed the FE skid plates, so not sure if the added weight is enough to make a difference in mpg vs standard skid plate…these are much heavier.
Mostly normal drive mode, though I tried sport mode out of curiosity…didn’t notice any difference in how it drove. Hoping it will improve slightly after some more “break in” miles…I have the OEM Michelins, so it will prob only get worse once I put some AT tires on…
I installed the FE skid plates, so not sure if the added weight is enough to make a difference in mpg vs standard skid plate…these are much heavier.
The primary difference between owners' MPG with local driving is the amount of stop and go. The primary difference with highway driving is averagespeed. There is really little to see here.
The primary purpose of Eco seems to be to make the HVAC system in Auto mode even less responsive to a hot car.
Maybe preliminary but now that i'm over 1500 miles on my LC, the mpg has appeared to hover around 22 mpg now versus a starting point of 18mpg. Like a switch went off... we wil see....
FWIW I lost about 5 mpg just adding cross bars and new tires.
I have a 1958 that was consistently getting the EPA highway estimate of 27 mpg with the stock 245/18's and a bare roof. Since then I added roof rails, my old Yakima towers & round bars plus a set of 265/18 Firestone AT2's, my highway MPG is now around 22 mpg.
The AT2's are not super aggressive, so maybe a loss of 1 to 2 mpg max, so I think the Yakima set-up is causing a loss of 3-4 mpg ... they definitely howl. Could get a more aerodynamic set-up, but the round bars are retro like the 1958 is, and Yakima started in my home state of Washington, so I'll just live with the lower MPG's for now.
The moral of the story is that it doesn't take much for your actual MPG to fall below the EPA sticker estimates, off the lot my actual MPG did match the EPA estimates.
I have a 1958 that was consistently getting the EPA highway estimate of 27 mpg with the stock 245/18's and a bare roof. Since then I added roof rails, my old Yakima towers & round bars plus a set of 265/18 Firestone AT2's, my highway MPG is now around 22 mpg.
The AT2's are not super aggressive, so maybe a loss of 1 to 2 mpg max, so I think the Yakima set-up is causing a loss of 3-4 mpg ... they definitely howl. Could get a more aerodynamic set-up, but the round bars are retro like the 1958 is, and Yakima started in my home state of Washington, so I'll just live with the lower MPG's for now.
The moral of the story is that it doesn't take much for your actual MPG to fall below the EPA sticker estimates, off the lot my actual MPG did match the EPA estimates.
I thought I would make out like a bandit with a hybrid bird hunting on logging roads doing 6-10 mph. Not the case though, got 14-15 mpg.
So, I saw a similar drop in average mpg displayed after upgrading my 1958 to 265 70R 18 Wrangler RTs and adding a 3/4 roof rack from Victory 4x4. I wonder how much of that drop is real and how much is due to odometer not being calibrated for the larger tires. Check out calculations at: Tire Size Comparison
That comparison is helpful … so maybe actual mpg is 3% or so higher? On mine I think the Yakima rack is the main suspect . Might drive it with just the roof rails for a while just to see.
I agree, I was very skeptical when reading posts that mentioned better gas mileage after passing 1k miles… I was averaging around 19 and jumped to averaging 23.
Did you consider the difference in diameter of the new versus old tires?
We did some sightseeing yesterday, driving from Cherokee county NC, over to the Lost Sea Adventures, then to a restaurant for some BBQ, then to Watts Bar Dam, and on to Decatur, Tenn, and then back home. There were lots of going slow on windy roads, going up and down over the ‘mountains’, but most of the highways were 55 mph, with 45 mph through little cities, etc. OEM Michelin’s, eco mode, 93 octane E0 fuel, lots of cruise control use, and some driving around small towns, and back roads, with multiple stops, looking for family of origin historical sites, etc.
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Or, if you look at the stable of cars in their garage, all are high performance ones, meant to pin you back in the seat. So, my guess is some of them are spooling up their turbo’s,.. a LOT. Spool up a turbo, and you just dump gasoline in to the engine. You can forget about getting good fuel economy if that happens.
Backroads seem the be the sweet spot. I get around 25-26 mpg when I go a certain route. My overall is 21.7 mpg (calculated by hand; vehicle says 22.1 mpg) as my commute is hilly roads with stop lights and some highway.
If you EVER pull a trailer, use the highest octane fuel that you can.
Only replying to say. When you were at watts bar you could see my house if you knew where to look
Or we're just driving our kids to school. ¯\(ツ)/¯
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