Thumper
09-10-2022, 10:44 AM
I’ve been playing around with my speeds while traveling to find my sweet spot speed for fuel mileage. This big square box on wheels isn’t exactly aerodynamic! I’m running close to 12,000 lbs. and it’s a dually, so I don’t expect to make Biden’s tree-hugging greenies happy, but I’d like to keep my wallet as happy as possible.
Yesterday, I ran with the cruise control set at 62 mph when in the highway. We did some around town driving (did a bit of shopping, checked out a couple of “touristy” things, made some fuel stops, etc) plus we ran into a few traffic snarls through the cities we passed through. Then we hit two road construction areas where they shut the Interstate down to one-lane, so there was a lot of the typical stop & go routine with traffic backed up for miles. I still managed to squeeze out a 16.6 mpg average on yesterday’s run, but these things can supposedly do 18. Of course, that may be downhill with a tail-wind, who knows? (I’m also running prolly 500-600 lbs. overweight). Today is another day and I’ll “maybe” make some adjustments, but I’m not really sure I want to get under my present 62 mph cruising speed. I’d be happier at 70, but with the crazy price of fuel these days, I’m happy to compromise.
(Lower left is cruise setting, the 54 is my average mph)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220910/e2288abaa1e71688c642b0d9c5d69e95.jpg
Yesterday, I ran with the cruise control set at 62 mph when in the highway. We did some around town driving (did a bit of shopping, checked out a couple of “touristy” things, made some fuel stops, etc) plus we ran into a few traffic snarls through the cities we passed through. Then we hit two road construction areas where they shut the Interstate down to one-lane, so there was a lot of the typical stop & go routine with traffic backed up for miles. I still managed to squeeze out a 16.6 mpg average on yesterday’s run, but these things can supposedly do 18. Of course, that may be downhill with a tail-wind, who knows? (I’m also running prolly 500-600 lbs. overweight). Today is another day and I’ll “maybe” make some adjustments, but I’m not really sure I want to get under my present 62 mph cruising speed. I’d be happier at 70, but with the crazy price of fuel these days, I’m happy to compromise.
(Lower left is cruise setting, the 54 is my average mph)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220910/e2288abaa1e71688c642b0d9c5d69e95.jpg