[bballr4567]

Well, with all the concerns about MPG I was really anxious to start our Christmas road trip to TX. We covered almost 3000 miles and it was a long trip.

Now, I will say this. I traveled with the cruise on with it set around 73-74 as it seems the car downshifts much less at that speed for what ever reason. If the car was downshifting too much, Id take the cruise off. I had the tires set at 36 PSI cold which was good for about 39-40 warm.

Google map of the trip route

Fuelly for Terrain

Basically, on the highway segments we averaged over 28 MPG. Considering one of the trips, I was going at a pretty good clip and it dropped the MPG a lot. Had I slowed down to 70, Id probably eek out 31 MPG but as we all know, its pretty hard to feel safe going the speed limit on a packed interstate.

Now, that isnt the 32 MPG that its rated at but us regular citizens are stuck with E10 while the vehicles are rated with 100% gas.

I also think that we are going to go with low resistant tires when the stock tires run out to get even more MPG.

Anybody else take their vehicle for a holiday trip and how did it do?

 

[rbarrios]

Thanks for this information.
I dont have a Nox yet- but this is important info for me.

 

[NoobNox]

Yeah, the 10% ethanol that most gas stations near me use tends to hurt the gas mileage a little. My last road trip I got 28.7mpg, but that included a little bit of city driving. Oh btw....the stock Michelin Latitude tires are low rolling resistance.

 

[bballr4567]

Hmmm, had no idea they were low rolling tires. I wonder how good they are compared to the rest of FE tires.

 

[KANWAR]

They should be right up there in quality, as they are new. Would assume with the newest technology built in. They also have a long tread wear rating.

 

[NoobNox]

Hmmm, had no idea they were low rolling tires. I wonder how good they are compared to the rest of FE tires.

Don't know, but heres a little more info about them....certainly the best stock tires I've ever had on a car. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Latitude+Tour&partnum=56TR7LT

 

[mdh4psu]

On my holiday interstate travels my Terrain with 6K miles averaged 25.2-mpg (manual calc) with an average speed of 65.2-mph. I have never received great mpg's with this vehicle and only average 20-mpg to and from work and city driving combined.

 

[bballr4567]

They should be right up there in quality, as they are new. Would assume with the newest technology built in. They also have a long tread wear rating.

Sure, they might be up there in quality but I mean how they stack up against the other FE tires from other tire makers.

Plus, Id rather have a tire with a little low tread wear rating because I change my every 4 years for the most part. Ive had bad experiences with older tires in the past and now, they get changed around 4 years regardless of how much tread is left.

Shoot, not to mention, they are freaking expensive. The tires for my G8 are cheaper! lol

 

[mnussbaum]

Drove 400 miles round trip over Thanksgiving to visit the in-laws and averaged 29.7, about 90% highway.

The good thing about those tires--even though they are expensive the treadwear rating is 720. Tire Rack shows a 65,000 mile warranty, so you won't have to replace them as often.

 

[fireman591]

Dang you got some great mileage. I have the I4 awd and we only averaged around 23mpg to and from Arkansas from MI. I had a tail wind both ways but it still did not help much. I had the cruise set at 72 mph. The car had two adults with one child and the tires were at 40 psi. If these numbers don't improve soon I will have to take it into the dealer. I have 5100 miles on it now. Hell if I wanted V6 gas mileage I would have bought a V6. Now I own a vehicle that sucks the gas and can't tow my boat I am kicking myself in the butt for passing on the Rav4 V6. For some reason Toyota knows how to make engines with power and great gas mileage. The good news is I will be replacing my Saturn Vue V6 this fall and I won't make the same mistake twice. No more GM engines for me!

 

[bballr4567]

We didnt start getting good mileage until we got up around 9k miles honestly. Now that we have crested that mark, it seems like we will get 28+ on every highway trip from now on.

Also, I run full synthetic in our I4. Gonna change it this weekend when the OLM hits 20%.

 

[fireman591]

We didnt start getting good mileage until we got up around 9k miles honestly. Now that we have crested that mark, it seems like we will get 28+ on every highway trip from now on.

Also, I run full synthetic in our I4. Gonna change it this weekend when the OLM hits 20%.

Thats awesome. I hope mine kicks in soon. I was going to change to synthetic when we got home but the oil is still clear. Between the pure one filter and the highway driving the oil life is still 88%

 

[bballr4567]

I changed to syn right around the 4500 mark IIRC. As easy of a change it is, no need to keep the dino crap in it.

 

[mnussbaum]

Dang you got some great mileage. I have the I4 awd and we only averaged around 23mpg to and from Arkansas from MI. I had a tail wind both ways but it still did not help much. I had the cruise set at 72 mph.

I used hypermiling techniques. Unless you're on flat ground, cruise control sucks if you want better mileage. Climb a slight grade and the throttle opens to prevent you from losing speed. You're better off holding your foot steady on the pedal, lose some speed, then gain it at the top of the hill. 40 psi in the tires is a good start. Gentle on the throttle, pretend there's a raw egg under your foot. Drive like you don't have brakes--leave lots of room in front of you. Watch the instantaneous mpg gauge and try to keep it over 30.

It's tough to do this all the time but if you challenge yourself for a tank or two you'll be amazed. Some articles:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/cmps_index.php?page=hypermiling
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510

 

[fireman591]

I used hypermiling techniques. Unless you're on flat ground, cruise control sucks if you want better mileage. Climb a slight grade and the throttle opens to prevent you from losing speed. You're better off holding your foot steady on the pedal, lose some speed, then gain it at the top of the hill. 40 psi in the tires is a good start. Gentle on the throttle, pretend there's a raw egg under your foot. Drive like you don't have brakes--leave lots of room in front of you. Watch the instantaneous mpg gauge and try to keep it over 30.

It's tough to do this all the time but if you challenge yourself for a tank or two you'll be amazed. Some articles:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/cmps_index.php?page=hypermiling
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510

Thats great if you are on the road alone. The semi's behind me don't want to keep passing and getting passed

 

[mnussbaum]

Stay in the right lane!!

 

[fireman591]

Dang you got some great mileage. I have the I4 awd and we only averaged around 23mpg to and from Arkansas from MI. I had a tail wind both ways but it still did not help much. I had the cruise set at 72 mph. The car had two adults with one child and the tires were at 40 psi. If these numbers don't improve soon I will have to take it into the dealer. I have 5100 miles on it now. Hell if I wanted V6 gas mileage I would have bought a V6. Now I own a vehicle that sucks the gas and can't tow my boat I am kicking myself in the butt for passing on the Rav4 V6. For some reason Toyota knows how to make engines with power and great gas mileage. The good news is I will be replacing my Saturn Vue V6 this fall and I won't make the same mistake twice. No more GM engines for me!

Took it into the dealer today for the crappy mpg and fuel in my oil. They said it normal for fuel to go in the oil. That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of. For one it can't be safe and two the oil is getting sheared to nothing. Not a happy camper
How did your oil look on your oil changes? was it thin as water and full of fuel?

 

[bballr4567]

Nope, the oil was oil. It wasnt diluted (you can test using a lighter and trying to catch it on fire on the dipstick, if fuel is present itll light right away) and it wasnt thin either. In fact, it just looked like 7k old oil.

 

[gearhead]

Took it into the dealer today for the crappy mpg and fuel in my oil. They said it normal for fuel to go in the oil. That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of. For one it can't be safe and two the oil is getting sheared to nothing. Not a happy camper
How did your oil look on your oil changes? was it thin as water and full of fuel?

I checked our oil this past weekend, not a hint of gasoline smell.
It used to be an issue with our engine and apparently is with a lot of Direct Injected engines.
If you like, I started a thread about it here:

http://www.terrainforum.net/index.php?topic=1460.0

and here's what the dealer did to fix it:

http://www.terrainforum.net/index.php?topic=1460.msg22192#msg22192

 

[mnussbaum]

They said it normal for fuel to go in the oil.

Your dealer is staffed by idiots.