I took a long road trip in my ranger to deliver some display cabinets I built for a customer. 15 hours on the road in one day. I wanted to see how gas mileage was affected by speed. On the way out I drove 60 mph and got 33 mpg, on the wy back I drove 70 mpg and got 28 mpg.
I suppose the weight of the cabinets, less than 100 lbs, was negligible.
So, driving 10 mph slower saved a pretty decent 5mpg, but added slightly more than an hour to the trip.
FWIW John
I believe everyone would prefer the shorter time to the gas milage.
On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:48:00 +0000, JohnR66 rearranged some electrons to form:
And, what were you expecting? If everyone would slow down 10mph, we would save millions of gallons of gasoline each day.
Try it at 80 and see what happens. On another note.. I have a 2001 ranger 2.3L with auto 106K miles and a cab high topper. I only see about 26 Hwy at 65 Mph and about 19 around town. Am i in need of a tune up or some other service work.
2001 2.3 5sp with 58K miles. Currently 31 mpg at 70mph, 25 mpg around town. I drive as like there was a bowl of gold fish on the seat.
Nope, that's about right in the real world. If you drove more like the above poster, you'd see a difference, but very, very few people know how to squeeze out the best fuel economy, and even those who do lose patience with the slow starts and having everyone pass you all the time.
CJB
i can't drive 55!
Actually, that was 1 hour more to the trip each way. I'd probably go for somewhere in between, say 65 mph.
I run 60 to 65 ona long trips when possible, cost of fuel adds up and a 10% or more saving especailly on a bigger SUV can add up to some coin.
----------------- TheSnoMan.com
I had a 2000 Ranger equipped the same way and I remember the terrible fuel mileage. I get anywhere from 18 to 20 mpg with my
2004 F-150 4x4 extended cab with the 5.4L Triton V-8.After driving an F-150 the last 4 years, I wouldn't want to go back to driving a Ranger. The F-150 is a Lariat edition with heated leather seats and as many options as a luxury car.
How were the cabinets sitting in the bed?
2001 V-6 with manual, 60,000 miles and totally stock. I average about 20mpg. Granted, my "commute" is less than 2 miles one way, but when I do get on the highway, it doesn't do much better. Plus, I can never seem to get more than 12 gallons in the tank. Is that normal? Is my tank smaller? Or is my guage possibly off?
I would think that you have expected results. Vehicles tend to be optimized to provide the highest efficiency at typical road speeds. Thus at 55mph the engine is likely in the RPM range where it is most efficient. Moving up to 70MPH, brought you out of the sweet spot.
Even slower than 60MPH, you may have received even better economy since even at 60mph, you are over the 55mph that most auto makers design for.
You could change the gearing in the rear diff to bring RPM's back down into the sweet spot for highway cruising, but that will likely impact any other mode of using the vehicle.
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