been playing with pulsing and coasting...

[olderthanme]

In my 04 Nissan Frontier, crew cab, short bed, with the tall suspension.
Albiet not the best for gas mileage but this quarter of a tank seems to be lasting forever!
I'll get some MPG numbers on the next tank. Seems to to the best between 55-60MPH. Above that drag is just horrible. Which makes sense since aerodynamics start playing in around 60mph... and the truck is a brick...red and all. LOL
I'm guessing that I'm getting around 25-27MPG. I normally get 17.5-21MPG depending on if it is highway or city driving which is the EPA estimate for the vehicle.

Hope to get some real numbers after the next tank!!!
This site is awesome! More green!! (for my wallet...could care less about "other" green. LOL)

[AndrewJ]

Well, congrats on the (maybe) good news.

I hope you can turn out those numbers in the mid 20's. Either way, one green leads to another.

[MetroMPG]

Sounds like you need a ScanGauge - then you don't have to "guess" about how well you're doing!

A note on aerodynamics: drag doesn't "start" at 60 mph. It's a common misconception, though. (Ride a bicycle and you know that aero drag is present - and a significant factor - even at 10 mph.)

As a proportion of fuel burned to move your pickup down the road, @ roughly 30 mph, 50% of your power is spent overcoming aerodynamic losses, and the other 50% is spent on rolling & mechanical losses.

Above that speed, the proportions continue to tilt towards fuel burned strictly overcoming aero losses.

[elhigh]

You're right that drag rises faster than your speed, so keeping it slow and easy is a big step toward improving the mileage in your ride.

25-27, that's pretty good, esp. in a 4x4. Even out of 4-wheeler mode, all that extra driveline and the big chunky tires present a lot of drag to the wind.

If your truck is jacked at all - even factory raised - there's probably a lot of space in those rear wheelwells with nothing in it. Add skirts and close off those big air buckets.