Minimum speed limit on the interstate is 55 mph in Tennessee, but I wouldn’t try it. My dad used to drive that slow, scared the crap out of me more than once. When he was the passenger, he was always griping if I tried to do 70. When I told him that I usually drove 85-90, he just shook his head.
I have the Big Bend as well and my daily trip is in the country town roads 45mph and county roads 55mpg and highway 70 mph and I got 40.3 mpg - temp is 85 out and in econo mode.41.3 MPG!!!_ I did a day trip today to Key West and made a effort to channel my inner hyper-miler the whole round trip, all 353.8 miles of it. I filled up at 0537 in the morning in Hallandale (north of Miami) and was on my way. My peak mpg going down was 47.2 mpg, returning my peak was 46.8
mpg. In reality the true peaks are lower but thats what the ECU is showing. I used Intelligent Cruise as much as possible, normal mode, AC on and just me for weight. 95% of this trip was Freeway speeds anywhere from 45 to 65. There is a very long section between the Key Islands, 80 miles or so of nothing but 45 mph. When I returned I filled up at the same station as I did this morning. My avg for the entire trip according to the ECU was 43.8 mpg. I cross checked this figure manually after filling up with 8.565 gl and came up with a slightly lower overall average of 41.3 mpg. Pretty decent I would say.
Now I know there is some reading this thinking no effin way. Well yes effin way to the non- believers. To elaborate I cheated a little to get this kind of milaege. I put about $1000 dollars worth of mods and other tweaks to enhance this awesome 1.5 Dragon. Since 1976 I've modified V8s, V6s, inline 4s and 6s and now this amazing little L3. This engine has potential for much more tweaking but with what I pulled off today on mpg I'm going to call it good for now. A word of experience here especially to those thinking that the EPA rating is written in stone and that's it. Have some fun and build on what Ford has started. This engine really responds to upgrades, the after market has some really cool stuff, tweak away young grass hoppers.
31 mpg is still good for what the Bronco is, a brick with wheels) My trip was over 95% hwy/freeway, 3' above sea level, flat and level, 80/90 degrees. I have a custom exhaust, custom intake, higher tire pressure and a few other tweaks that help increase mpg. Plus I used Intelligent Cruise 95% of the way as well. Altogether and the fact I had no headwinds helped out.
I agree, staying in the far right lane for hours can become very tiresome. I'm usually in the second or third lane staying out of the way of the Auto Bahn crowd in the far left. This trip was really just to see the maximum potential of the engine and if the mods I had done were worth it. My next long distance trip will be a go with the flow event, no speed trip but just a casual pace with the crowd.
A good rule with most engines. In addition the requirement is to use a weighted average, 45% hwy, 55% city for the EPA MPG calculation. Some may drive 95/5 and others may drive 5/95. The average listed on the window sticker does however give a good bases for an average. In reality there are so many variables that pinning down one common average is nearly impossible.
Much better choice for long trips.
Still driving that same perfect route with no traffic, stop signs or traffic lights and at the optimal speed of 55mph. Both of your screen shots are at the beginning of your tank with only a little over 50 miles. Cherry pick your choice of when to show your mileage much? How about at the end of a tank with all of your driving and not just these perfect conditions?Still hitting 40+ mpg.
.
