7 passengers at 29.4 mpg

[Hersbird]

We just did a 200 mile trip and got 29.4 mpg indicated (which is usually really close). Ok it was downhill 1000 ft but the return 200 miles was 28.0 for an overall of 28.7 MPG both ways. I will fill it up tomorrow but we just went 400 miles on a bit less then 3/4 of a tank! And OK, we didn't have 7 passengers, just 5 and a dog, and a bunch of crap including my grandpa's old smoker and an office chair, our luggage, bows and arrows, gold panning, huckleberry picking, and snorkeling gear.

Kept it 60-65, no drafting or being drafted, pretty smooth roads but some heavy rain for 1/2 hr each way that couldn't have helped much with all the standing water on the road. Missoula, MT to Libby, MT and back.

This was our 2011 Chrysler Town and Country with LLR tires at 40 PSI as the only mods. Will double check on the fill-up tomorrow and let you know if I have been lied to too bad.

PS i just figured 7 passengers at 28.7 is as good as an 1st gen Insight with 2 getting 100 mpg. Technically you would need 4 Insights getting 119.4 mpg each to move 7 people 400 miles using the same gas, but technically we didn't have 7...

[RedDevil]

I once got 3.2 l/100 km indicated (73.5 mpg) for the 90 km trip seeing my wife off to the airport, 4 aboard.
If you want to better your per passenger FE, take a four banger Insight

[oldtamiyaphile]

The current 1.6DCi Renault traffic is available as a 8 seater and is rated 45MPG US.

Still a 60 passenger bus probably does better.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile

The current 1.6DCi Renault traffic is available as a 8 seater and is rated 45MPG US.

Still a 60 passenger bus probably does better.

Not here. The closest thing would be a promaster, the rebadged Fiat but they don't get even 30 mpg with the diesel and the gas motor is the same as the one in my van so no way it does better although it does have more room and up to 15 passenger versions.

[Vman455]

That's pretty good for a Chrysler minivan--at my old job, we had a 2010 Caravan as a shop vehicle, and it was easy to get poor mileage out of if driven like a normal person.

Also, fresh huckleberries--I'm jealous. My sister lives in Coeur d'Alene, and I make sure to go huckleberry picking whenever I visit in the summer, but it's been a few years since I've been out that way.

[Hersbird]

Well, not quite as good. By the time I drove down to the gas station it was reading 28.4 average, then it took 14.331 gal and the total mileage was 404.1 for a 28.2 mpg actual. The total city was about 25 miles of the 404.1 as we live on the opposite side of town as the highway. A little over $40 for the whole family to go visit my parents is definitely a record. Last time we ended up in 2 cars but we had 3 big dogs and we hadn't bought the van yet.
Our total on fuelly is 19.8 mpg (EPA is 20 mpg combined) over the 3741 miles we have owned the van but that is 66% city and 34% highway and my wife is the primary driver and she drives easy but not with any type of hypermile tricks.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by Vman455

That's pretty good for a Chrysler minivan--at my old job, we had a 2010 Caravan as a shop vehicle, and it was easy to get poor mileage out of if driven like a normal person.

Also, fresh huckleberries--I'm jealous. My sister lives in Coeur d'Alene, and I make sure to go huckleberry picking whenever I visit in the summer, but it's been a few years since I've been out that way.

Huckleberries were a bust, we only found a handful, they were early this year but we had found a 1/2 gallon a few weeks ago around Missoula. The spot was off the charts beautiful in Libby though and there were a bunch of wild raspberries mixed in so all was worth it. We took my dad's rig up into the mountains about 14 miles in a forest service road. Also fished a few brook trout out of a stream, panned a few flakes of gold, and walked around a high clear lake. I love the Idaho panhandle and that part of Montana which by all rights should be Idaho. CDA (cause I can't spell Coeur d'whatever) is where my mom had been living up until last month so we go there a lot as well. Also a nice area but not as "getting away from it all" like Libby is. CDA has a good balance of jobs and affordable housing while not being Texas LOL! In Missoula we have fair jobs but the worst housing prices in Montana, even worse then the national average along with the highest tax rates in Montana which are then multiplied by the highest housing values for basically double what the rest of the state pays. I'm kind of sick of Missoula but have 14 more years here till I can escape.