Got great milage out of my last tank

[Byron Pletcher]

i just started to drive the trac regularly last week and for the first time i was able to track the milage.



i drove 429.7 miles

when i filled up (same station, same fueling sequence) it took 19.880 gallons to fill (i was at about an 1/8 of a tank according to the guage.



21.614 mpg average.



i know this is not the most accurate way to calculate milage although it is the best i can calculate without some add ons.



i am very happy with this..



here was my type of driving on the last tank;

i drive mostly on the highway although in the mornings i sometimes get caught up in slow rush hour traffic ..30-50 mph range.

on the way home it is smooth sailing and i keep it right at about 60 mph so the rpm's are right at about 2,000



my wife and i did take a trip up to breckenridge from denver (180 miles or so) i tried to keep it as smooth as possible going over the mountains not to mention i had all the baby gear and our two mountain bikes hanging out the top of the bed.



i dont really have any mods on the truck,



03 4x4 w/ tonneau and 4:10 ls

mobil 1 in everything but the trans

ford trans fluid.

dunlop tires (all terrain) 36 psi front/ rear



i have made it my goal to attempt to get 20mpg regularly.



just thought i would share.

 

[JerryW Gilliland]

It sounds like you're doing your part to conserve.

 

[Jim Johnson]

You're doing well! I have a stock '01 Job 1 ST that I bought new, a 4X4 with an automatic transmission and the optional hard tonneau cover. Average MPG in rural driving has always been about 18 (my wife drives it, and she drives a lot more conservatively than I do). I think we once hit 21 MPG on a trip in mostly highway driving.

 

[Andy Chase]

Sometimes w/ Gas, I think some places get better gas therefore your mileage is better. My daily driver used to be a 93 F-150 (now w/ 276,000miles on her). I took a trip with it to MI. Along the U.P. I got close to 20 mpg w/ it. I couldn't believe it, It did the same on my return trip. The rest of the trip, going the same speed and similar driving situations, I got at best 15mpg. (normal driving w/ it I got 10-12mpg). I wish I could live there, I'm sure my trac would get 25mpg there.

 

[Larry Gamble]

I used to get 320 miles out of a tank with my 02 4x4 ST. That was normal driving with good acceleration from the lights and doing 75+ when I had the Trac on the freeway.



I stopped leaping away from the lights, coasting up to the red lights, and I never go over 70.



My last tank I got 380.1 miles and put 18.77 gallons in it. That's 20.25 mpg and it was mostly suburban city driving! I'll take it. My ST is paid off, so there is no reason to downsize when I can just alter the driving pattern a little bit.



I'll be keeping a running milage score card to see if this one was a fluke or not.

 

[Richard L]

Byron,

That's good mileage for an ST. I used to get a little over 22 MPG on long highway trips while averaging about 65 MPH



Rush hour trafic that moves at 30-50 MPH is probably saving you gas as long as it keeps moving smoothly. It's the stop and go, slowdown and speed up cycles during heavy traffic that eat up gas mileage. Almost any amount of acceleration eats more gas than cruising at a fixed speed. If you are in traffic and constantly changing speeds, back and forth from 30 MPH to 50 MPH and then back to 30 MPH, you are burning much more gas than if you could just drive at 70-75 MPH



A lot of people here seem to think that just because they are driving on an Interstate highway, that this constitures Highway driving and they should get Highway mileage. That is why I keep emphasizing that you can get real crappy mileage on the highway if there is a lot of traffic that slowsdown and speeds up as the traffic stretches out and then bunches up like an accordian. That is really not much better than driving in the city.



Again, you are getting very good mileage for driving with some Rush Hour traffic.



...Rich