Mileage tip #122 - move someplace warmer

[Who]

In early August, I'm moving from the Toronto area to San Jose where my winter mileage will be so much better, especially when I can bike all winter without being hardcore/suicidal!

Anyhoo, I have a CUV and rather like it as a family vehicle / hauler. I'm debating right now whether I should take it or sell it. There are no legal restrictions against importing a Cdn spec car to California.

If I sell it, what do I get?

1. Used whatever... save $. Last 4 cars were used and saved $$$$.

2. New SF - can get 7 seater, which is very often wished for now, very dependable, excellent quality, super warranty, big rebates, mileage is bad but not terrible (other family car is 4cyl TSX and is fairly ecomical).

3. GenIII Prius if I fit, but probably very hard to get a good price in the Bay area and lose trailer towing and space for rapidly growing tall 9yo boys. Prius still have very high demand there, while hardly anyone there buys Santa Fes so dealwise #2 maybe be quite a bit cheaper.

4. Any good wagons with tons of legroom? The Jetta sportwagon diesel is very very nice but once I'm comfortable nobody wants to sit behind me and I still wonder about owning a VW once the warranty ends.

I'd greatly prefer something I can use with a 2" hitch receiver.

Any votes for just to keep my current Santa Fe? I really don't like the prospect of trailering it 3500 miles behind a 22' rental truck. I also wonder about its resale there (GLS here is mid level there it is base level) along with potential service/warranty issues because it is a foreign model and the Odo is in those modern units called KMs which confuses service staff.

I'm gonna miss KMs, litres, Celcius, Jr "A", Tim Hortons and cheap groceries, but I'll get way better weather and cheaper booze.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by Who

but I'll get way cheaper booze. [/I]

And at the end of the day, isn't that what life's all about anyway?

[tasdrouille]

Originally Posted by The Atomic Ass

And at the end of the day, isn't that what life's all about anyway?

Oh lord I hope not. Else I live in the worst place in NA!

I'm looking forward to what you'll have to say about Cali, Who. As far as I'm concerned, even though winter is a harsh season here, it just makes us appreciate summer even more.

I wish you the best of luck over there, and I'd probably keep the SF if I were you. Unless you're gonna put a lot of miles driving alone in that thing, it's usually cheaper to make the best of what you already have.

[Big Dave]

Best place in North America for MPG?

The Gulf Coast.
Houston, or maybe New Orleans. Hot & humid low-density air reduces aero drag. Flat terrain. Very little cold weather.

[Bicycle Bob]

Toronto only seems cold because the fashions are from Dallas. Summer is the worst season for bike riding there, IMHO.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Best place in North America for MPG?

Mountains might be good too.

[PaleMelanesian]

Texas seems pretty good for MPG. I'd think California would possibly be better, with a more mild summer.

[wagonman76]

Good tip about living somewhere with nicer weather. Not only can you get better mileage, you have more time to do mods.

We had 2 weeks of nice weather this year and I got good mileage. Now as of Sunday night it's back to the same old 40-50F daytime highs and rain and wind and they said expect this for awhile. Every year more and more it seems like Michigan summer is turning into Seattle.

Right now I'm getting 3-4 mpg less than last week.

Hot & humid low-density air reduces aero drag.

Would hot and DRY air reduce drag even more? Like say if you lived in Arizona?

[Who]

OK... so the ideal hypermiling place is probably on the Altlantic coast in Florida with an inland commute. No hills and a tailwind in the morning AND at night.

tasdrouille, this is summer #50 here for me... I don't do nearly enough in the winter and May and June go way too fast unless it's crappy outside. Initially I wanted to take the SF, maybe even use it to tow a 6x12 cargo trailer.

It is paid for and that's a good reason to hang onto it. That said, its resale here will be way more than there. The extended warranty here would seem wrong there since they have the longer powertrain portion. The new SFs have Aux inputs and the 7 seven seater has a power seat but luckily no sunroof so it should fit even better. There are hardly any SFs in the Bay area for whatever reasons - tons around Ontario and Quebec.

It sucks selling a 2 year old car but I just hate the idea of always having potential issues when services it since it is a foreign model and here the GLS is the mid level trim where in the USA the GLS has a belt version 2.7L and undergeared 4A so black book values would never compute. 38,500 on the Odo looks much higher there than here. ;-)

Also, I'm taking a 22' truck down (too bad Class 4 truck don't have OBDII for ScanGauges hehe). The SF would have to go on a trailer behind it. Bigger truck - shorter trailer combinations can be tricky to back up or even just to see the trailer in behind.