relhok Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Drove around 15 miles down Waterloo Road to my Uncle's house twice. If you're familiar with the Trail of Tears motorcycle ride from Chatanooga, TN to Waterloo, AL, it's the last stretch. The speed limit is 45mph as the road curves along over hill and dale. There are a few yellow curve signs suggesting 35 and 25mph. I ignored these. I also passed one old fart each time. It's possibly slightly downhill overall. Anyway, the first trip I set the cruise at 45mph and averaged 33.0 mpg. The second time I set the cruise at 55mph and averaged 30.0 mpg. The reason I went this slow is my wife was fussing when I drove fast and I wanted to aggravate her a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseyglock Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 okay, you are going downhill and engine is mostly on manifold vaccum.... that's why your getting such great mileage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relhok Posted September 12, 2005 Author Share Posted September 12, 2005 The terrain varies quite a bit. There's one uphill where it briefly made what felt like a 5th-3rd downshift. Otherwise, at 45mph it only turned 1800 rpm the whole way. ZZZzzz I found the 3mpg difference between 45mph and 55mph interesting. I wonder if 50mph is better. It's supposed to be the ideal speed. I should have gotten an average both ways but I always haul tail coming home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 actually, I'd suspect you'd find 40mph might be even better, 40mph and up is where coefficient of drag becomes more of a factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerami1981 Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 35 with cruise control left in 5th gear nets me an average of 33-48 mpg according to my gizzmo indash gauge..varies are uphill and downhill..but they still stay in that range...mostly right on the 40 mpg level Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LotusSeven Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Anything less than 40 in 5th gear feels like lugging to me. Also, remember that for a 5MT, 35 mph = only 1458 rpm. At that speed the engine is probably not developing full oil pressure, so letting the cruise control apply large throttle openings (when you hit an uphill section of road) may be a little hard on the crank and rod bearings (if done a lot). Suby recommends that you downshift from 5th below 41 mph. Heavy Metal Killed Beethoven Support Classical Music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerami1981 Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 well so much for my great mileage..though the only uphill sections are just overpasses..guess i'll have to keep it at 40..tired of getting honked at anyhow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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