Periodically I check the MPG we achieve. I do this for trip budgeting purposes. I don't trust the computer generated MPG display, but it is helpful, so I use the gas receipts. On a recent 2500+ mile trek I made a spreadsheet from the gas receipts and I thought I would share it here.
There are a variety of factors that impact the MPG. Some are:
- Driving habits
- Speed
- Stop and Go
- Terrain
- Onan generator use
- Idling
- etc.
On this trek we were generally level, on interstate highways and I did the driving. I follow the speed limits and will stay in the right lane on divided highways with two lanes going in our direction. In urban areas I generally drive the expressway second lane from the right to avoid those who simply don't know how to merge, or exit. As a consequence our speeds are consistent with little hard braking or flooring of the accelerator. On this trek our highway speeds were usually 55-65 MPH. However there were long segments where the speed limit was 70-80 MPH. The initial day had about 40 minutes of stop and go 20 MPH on the expressway because of road construction and that decreased the MPG for the first segment at 55-65 MPH speed limits.
I do use 87 octane gasoline as recommended by Chevrolet. In portions of the west there is a choice between 86 and 88 octane. I usually fill up at about 1/2 tank level. I simply alternate fill-ups between 86 and 88 octane to keep 87 blend in the tank.
The weather was cool to mild for most of the trek, low of about 32F and high of about 75F. Little precipitation as our route allowed us to avoid some really unpleasant weather coming in from the West.
Perfect driving conditions as far as I am concerned.
From this trek with speed limits 55-80 MPH, I again observed the best gasoline mileage occurred at 55-65 MPH:
- 16.5 MPG - not bad!
At 80 MPH, which we encountered in the West, the mileage decreased:
- 11.0 MPG
- 15.2 MPG
Best mileage is achieved at 45-55 MPH, but we had few segments at that speed range on this trek, so I didn't attempt to calculate the MPG.
Original material: https://roadtrek210.blogspot.com/
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