efficient road trip car

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

2012 Chevy Sonic with the 6-speed manual. Quiet inside! Quiet!! And with the Civic VX level tall gearing you'll get insane FE on the freeways anytime you choose, wickedly superior FE without trying much at all, and excellent FE while deploying your radar detector.

US Interstate travel is far from what it used to be in the 1960s as it was being built, and up to "truck deregulation" in 1978. 1966-1979 pretty well covers the good old days of open road and high average speed.

A radar detector would have been useful in running above 55-mph (realistically, 62) after 1974. But increased commercial traffic, suburban sprawl and, now, zombies filling the roads far from cities have pretty well ruined what was once pleasurable.

Anyone who finds themselves on a rural Interstate surrounded by the car zombies has failed elemental driving safety. A gap of 200' or more out front with next to no one bride or behind is ideal.

Those who tailgate (70' or less) are Gods own fools. Wouldn't count on his reported protection of drunks, children and fools, however.

The focus is average speed. From engine-on at trip start, to engine-off at end. For the engine hours recorded, the time enroute divided into trip miles.

Anyone lane changing, braking, passing, etc isn't interested in FE. The point of such isn't in remaining the same fool with a more efficient car. It's in using FE as a marker to reduce overall transportation cost. Other markers are brake and tire life.

But all are secondary to safety.

Do the experiment:
(1) Average speed at the usual high rate.

(2) Then average speed at a set speed that keeps one from constantly mixing with the idiots. Which is everyone these days.

Twenty years ago it was packs here and there. Today it's 99% pack behavior. East of IH35 where most Americans live, 58-62/mph is the province of RVs and some slower trucks. 63-66 is mainly trucks. 67-75 is idiot car drivers.

Many of whom sit in the left lane (with no right of way), and others trying to pass them. Both are in the wrong. Try to understand why that is so.

Running fast one will see a big discrepancy between a high set travel speed and the average speed. Running slower, that gap closes off. Closer the two -- average and set -- better FE markers.

Run a route on the IH using cruise control at above car speeds. Do it again. At sub-63.

Time won't be much different.

Also record acceleration and braking events. Record lane changes. Each is a penalty. You're trying to maintain 71-mph then do it. Passing and all.

You'll find no appreciable difference in actual travel time on sub 300 mile trips. But stress reduction, etc, will make that lower speed even better for driver and vehicle.

Report back.

Numbers do matter. Average mpg over a calendar year is one. Average travel speed is another. (The details on how to trip plan a journey is not covered here; but it will account for substantial gains with a lower set speed).

[roosterk0031]

I was also thinking a Charger V6. Nice style 300+ hp.

2010 Impala is a nice HWY car but not much on style, I drove mine for a week with my commute and got 32 mpg vs 40 with my Cobalt XFE. At 70 mph/110 kph the Impala gets it's 29 mpg rating. Best road trips were 32 mpg as well when held to 55-60 mph.

[seifrob]

Slomower, your post should be kept somewhere on homepage as intro to ecodriving. Hats off!

[rmay635703]

A volt can be had for the same price or less than any of those car selections.

Stylish, good handling, no warm up issues on short drives.

Cheap running if most of your trips are short or very long with no middle ground

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by slowmover

... A radar detector would have been useful in running above 55-mph (realistically, 62) after 1974. But increased commercial traffic, suburban sprawl and, ....

I was just speaking to his stated intention to have and use a radar detector. If it were my road trip, there would be no radar detector.

Originally Posted by rmay635703

A volt can be had for the same price or less than any of those car selections. ...

I like the 2011/12 Volt a lot. But I have been looking and they are always a few thousand more than a comparable condition/age/mileage Sonic here in Southern California. Also, the OP is looking for a road trip car. The Volt primary advantage is greatly reduced if you drive hundreds of miles a day nearly everyday for days or weeks and stop in places where recharging is sometimes impossible.

[pete c]

The vette wouldn't be as horrible as everyone thinks in the snow. A vette is light and already has a pretty good weight distribution, close to 50/50. It likely has posi-traction. Throw a few hundred pounds back aft and some all season tires that aren't too wide and I suspect it would do OK.

Seeing as a 2 seater is acceptable, I would be looking for a 1st gen 5 speed Insight. Reasonably fun to drive, spacious and the best mpg by far.

But, if you want a vette, and I suspect you do, get it. It will get fairly decent mileage, is reliable and a hoot to drive.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by Vman455

I dispute your statement that hybrids are "bad for road trips." Hybrid versions of conventional models are almost always more aerodynamically efficient and get better highway mpg than their non-hybrid counterparts; nickel-metal hydride batteries have also proven over the last two decades to be extremely reliable.

Yep, my '06 Escape Hybrid would get 30MPG at ~72MPH with cruise, my Prius gets 45-50MPG in the same conditions. The highway mileage may not be as big of a jump over a non hybrid as the city mileage, but it's still better.

Don't buy a fast car to drive it slow. It won't happen unless you limit the throttle's travel to the first 25%. Trying to justify a sports car over an economy car because you can theoretically get similar mileage is just silly. Everything about the sports car is more expensive, you might as well forget about fuel economy and just have fun driving it.

[RoadTripRob]

@vman455
The prius road trip looks fun. Good point about the other advantages of hybrids on the highway. For others the hybrids would be good but for me the negatives are too much(more expensive, not good in extreme cold, more things to go wrong). I will look into them more to see if i could make it work.

@redpoint
the spread sheet is really good idea, i will make one and post it. THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT ITS HARD TO GET RELIABLE INFO, one source everyone will say a car gets 25mpg another will ll claim 40, some say quiet road noise another says loud. e.c.t

@hersbird
corvette is stable on the highway vs a yaris which wobbles. On an icy road stability is a must. My friend gave me a new set of amazing new winter tires from his merc that he sold,(free winters for a sports car). After a small amount of research lots of people happily drive corvettes in winter\snow. I will put the corrola 2.4 on my list.

@sask
lol, it is hotter here in summer but with the steep hills and it constantly thaws and melts the first 2 months of "summer" are like a grit rally stage. I will add the passat to my list, i know they are a little harder to work on than equivalent cars from other brands.

@slowmover very good point. on most highways you cant maintain a constant speed due to other road users. I had an 06 chrysler 300 v6, it was ok. not as reliable, fuel efficient, or cheap as i would like. ill put it on my list though. safety is a factor in my decision.

@cali civic
ill add the sonic to my list. looks like a good car but its twice as expensive as the fit.

@rmay
how much for a new battery on the volt when it freezes? complex drivetrain means a high running cost for potentially marginally better fuel economy. I will look into the volt and see if my suspicions are correct.

@petec
The insight 1 looks good, it will be really hard to find a good one now as they are quite old and not many people had them around here to start with.

@vskid
my 911 gets 35mpg highway. hybrids have higher life long running costs than eco non hybrids(e.g bluemotion diesel). You contradict yourself and support it with your opinion. "dont buy a fast car to drive it slow" I can drive as slow as i want thanks.


I have lots of good car ideas. Ill make an excel document.

[ALS]

I been making long drives since 1987 between Pittsburgh and Naples Fl 1170 miles each way. YOU do not want a small car for long trips. Look at something midsize like a Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Nisson Altima, Chevy Malibu, Ford Fusion, a S60 Volvo to name a few options. Just try to keep the engine size 2.5L or less for the best fuel mileage

I use to be in sales and my territory was the state of Pa and western NY and at the time I had a Volvo 242 Turbo five speed. I thought it was a good car for the highway until I replaced it with a 740 Turbo five speed. No comparison between the two cars the 740 was much more comfortable for a long drive.

My daily driver is a 2010 Prius and I've taken a few short 500-600 mile trips in it and regretted it each time. My highway car is a Volvo 960 where I would not think about taking a 23-24 mpg hit on a long drive over the Prius for the sake of comfort. After a 19-20 hour drive in the Volvo I'm still bright eyed and bushy tailed.

[seifrob]

Originally Posted by RoadTripRob

..... THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT ITS HARD TO GET RELIABLE INFO, one source everyone will say a car gets 25mpg another will ll claim 40...

Oh my goodness, not again.


Fuelly.com is not enough for you?
Spritmonitor.de? (admittadly only european cars though)
Even here is top 100 and you can gather enough data to chew.

Its all from people devoted enough to monitor their mileage, that I would consider it as reliable source.