Quote:
Originally Posted by ciderbarrel
MPG is not linear, so that figure is meaningless.
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MPG may not be linear but it is easily measurable whereas drivetrain inefficiencies, tire drag, snow density, headwind speed, air temp over distance and how they affect different vehicles and such are not...
For instance: It was 10C degrees today (Chinook). I used no 4wd. I drove 120kms with the 650lb quad in the box. I'm using 0w30 synthetic oil in the 4.8L v8. The transmission is a 4L60 4 speed auto driving a 3.42 rear end. The winds were from the west, between 15 and 30 km/h. The road was all Hwy at speeds between 100-130km/h headed west to the frozen lake. The Ecometer says that for this tank (240kms so far) I'm averaging 15.1mpg (generally it reads 0.3mpg low). Yesterday it was 3C degrees, same distance but with a different quad in the box, lighter winds. The tires are Nokian Hakkapeliita 8 SUV 265/70-17 studded on steel rims. Warm up time for both trips, to and from, was about 30 seconds from startup to driving.
Now, for this tank, IMO the biggest inefficiencies are the aerodynamic drag caused by the quad relating to vehicle and wind speed.