Fuel Mileage

[merle&louise]

Never believe anything that a guy from Mississippi tells you!

[rfoster]

post it Dan, post it.

[Danss]

If you insist. 8.5 mpg on fairly level road towing Chev. trailblazer at approx 68 to 70 mph. I would think I would get 9 possibly without tow. Hilly country reduces milage to about 7 to 7.5. Tuga, you should get excellent milage because no matter where you are you are going downhill when you head home!!!! Houma is real close to the EDGE!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

At 5 mpg, and $4.00 per gallon each mile costs $.80.

At 7 mpg, and $4.00 per gallon each mile costs $.57.

Regardless of the cost it will be a rare owner who spends anywhere near as much for fuel as he is spending for depreciation or lost earnings on the invested capital.

Got tires on your bus? Figure the cost of those per year using six years of life as a basis. Got insurance? Add that in. Air bags, figure their cost of replacement. If you have slides add in the cost of replacing seals on an annual basis. Do you pay for storage when you don't use your bus? Add that in. I'd be willing to guess the fixed expenses of ownership exceed what the average owner pays for fuel annually. If you are making payments pull out the interest and add that to the annual cost. By the time you get done facing reality you will quickly realize it is more reasonable to drive the wheels off the coach and pay the price of fuel than it is to park the bus because fuel is getting expensive.

[Ledo]

Today while changing out a tag wheel seal we found out that the guide pins on the brake rotors have begun to seize up and have not been releasing and sliding on that one wheel. Brake pads are good every where else except for that wheel. Replacing pads and cleaning up pins for smooth movement and hopefully get a little milage from the dragging wheel repair.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Everybody's mileage is going to be influenced by a lot of factors. The speed you drive (or the headwinds you encounter) may likely be the greatest influence, but hills, the weight of the toad, the weight of the coach, the outside air temperature, the AC load, all play a part in mileage.

BTW, don't think if you don't have OTR your air conditioning of the coach is not going to affect your mileage or more appropriately your fuel consumption. For identical AC loads the only factor which will vary the amount of fuel used is the efficiency of the power source which could be the engine driven OTR system, or the inverter powered roof air or the generator powered Cruise air.

[Pete]

Or engine powered dash air.

[TerryM]

Just back from a little summer road trip. H3 weight about 53,000 lbs, Lexus about 4,500 lbs., OTR running entire time, 872 miles (western PA, western NY, Ohio), cruise set at 64, ambient temp between 87 and 97, averaged 8.1 mpg according to data from SilverLeaf. I haven't fueled and checked mileage. Is mpg data from DDEC fairly accurate?

[phorner]

I believe the DDEC information is probably the most accurate as I think it is measuring the actual flow of fuel through the injectors.

If that is, in fact the case, then variables such as generator run time, use of the Webasto system, etc. are taken out of the equation as well as the variability of filling to the exact same "full" mark every time.

My mileage is typically 7.1 to 7.7 MPG, even a couple of 8.0 reading on rare occasions, and I'm comfortable with that number as fairly representing my fuel economy as it very closely predicts the gallons needed at fill up.

[merle&louise]

If you insist. 8.5 mpg on fairly level road towing Chev. trailblazer at approx 68 to 70 mph. I would think I would get 9 possibly without tow. Hilly country reduces milage to about 7 to 7.5. Tuga, you should get excellent milage because no matter where you are you are going downhill when you head home!!!! Houma is real close to the EDGE!

You can't get any closer to the edge without getting your feet wet!