28.5 mpg in a '97 Jeep Cherokee

[mpd8488]

Hey Everyone,

I've tracked my mileage on almost every tank since I bought my 97 Cherokee 5 years ago. I stumbled upon this site last night after I set a personal mpg record (28.5 mpg ) on a 150 mile trip and googled to see if anyone else managed to get similar mileage figures in their Jeep Cherokees. I've had the better flowing exhaust for years, but a couple of months ago I replaced my stock air box with one I made from an Autozone cone filter, a 45 degree PVC bend, and some roof strapping for a heat shield (cost me about 40 bucks total). I was aiming for performance, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the mileage increases. Unfortunately I spent the last two months in snow and/or thick traffic every time I was on the road so my figures weren't usually as informative as they normally are. I finally got a chance to drive in my normal driving conditions and pulled this impressive figure over the weekend. I know that one tank doesn't tell me much, but getting more than 50% better than the EPA rating has me excited.

My horsepower obsessed friends don't seem as thrilled by this as I am, maybe I'll be a bit more at home here

[Daox]

Welcome to the site. 28.5 is very impressive for a Jeep.

[mpd8488]

I know that this one is most likely an outlier, but maybe with some aero mods (I saw an extensive thread on cherokee mods) I may be able to push my highway mileage to something consistently close to that.

I'm also curious to see what I can do for off road mileage. I can literally watch my gas gauge going down when driving in the outer banks

[MaxHedrm]

Yeah, you should find more support / enthusiasm here, than many places. Congrats!

I doubt you'll be able to do a lot off road, but even a little makes a pretty impressive percentage gain I suppose.

[Domman56]

How bout pics of the jeep is it dropped does it have LRR tires or is intake and exhaust all u did to it

[zjrog]

Offroad mileage is something I don't bother tracking. I don't like to sit and idle for long periods of time like some guys do, so I don't usually go in larger groups. But the 28.5 is VERY impressive!!!

[mpd8488]

Originally Posted by Domman56

How bout pics of the jeep is it dropped does it have LRR tires or is intake and exhaust all u did to it

Sorry, don't have a camera. The tires are just run of the mill Dunlop Radial Rovers. It is a stick shift with a 3.07 rear end, so its tough to compare to all the autos out there that were shipped with 3.55 and above gear ratios. That 28 figure has to be an outlier. Mid twenties is pretty normal, but I haven't had to refill again since that tank (I ride a bike most of the time)

[mpd8488]

Originally Posted by zjrog

Offroad mileage is something I don't bother tracking. I don't like to sit and idle for long periods of time like some guys do, so I don't usually go in larger groups. But the 28.5 is VERY impressive!!!

I'm not particularly interested in tracking it because it won't tell me very much due to the huge variances in off road conditions. But it is alarming to only get about an hour of driving on the beach starting with a full tank

[zjrog]

That is probably the 3.07s being a pain for you. You say rear end for the gears. Is your truck a 2WD or 4WD? If 4x4, then drop that thing into 4Lo. Save some wear and tear on that truck...