Mom's 1999 Plymouth Voyager results
 

So my mom drives a Plymouth Voyager with a 3.3L V6 engine. I have taken out her middle bench seat since she doesn't drive around too many people at a tim ever since I got my license. Then I also took off her roof rack. She replaced her tires with narrower ones, not for ecomodding but just because that's what the mechanic put on :p.

Long story short, turns out she is a Hypermiler without even trying to change her driving style where I on the other hand try so hard and still she gets the same MPG as me.

Tomorrow we are going on a long trip and I am going to try to drive close to 60 mph, maybe I can see something close to 30 mpg:eek:.

I don't know what the point of me making this thread is though, I guess I just got over excited about her MPG:(.

Good luck. The 3.3 isn't that bad of an engine. Last time I was heading down to LA, its highway MPG was bouncing between 21-30MPG at 65-70. You should be able to pull off 30 MPG if its all flat and you keep it at 60. Cruise control sucks though for some reason it can never find a happy spot

I second that -- on hills, the 3.3 looses speed, downshifts, and revs like mad past the target setpoint (especially above 60 mph).

RH77

Cruise control on any vehicle without truck-like torque seems to do that on hills, no matter what the manufacture. It's all about the foot technique :D

True, and the power band of the 3.3 is all that ground 210 ft-lbs @4k and 180hp @ 5k. Ours putters around at around 2250 or so RPM on the highway so its not making enough power to haul its bulk around.

The best I've been able to get in the 2000-2007 is 18 City/ 25 Highway out of the 3.3L (that's in the short wheel-base with just me in it...) Pile on passengers, cargo, A/C, and highway speeds -- and that dropped like a rock.

Not to blatantly dispute your goal, that sounds tough and perhaps in the ideal speed range of 55-60 MPH most of the time could produce those results as indicated. With the old '88 we had, 25 was the norm with the Mitz 3.0L V-6.

Best FE to ya, but that vehicle is tough to hypermile...

RH77

Yea I know it is a really impossible goal but I just said it as something to look forward to. My mom drives on a 55 mph road and by herself no luggage (way less weight than we will have today) to work everyday so she is probably getting optimum mileage and this trip will most likely drop the MPG, but we will see.

I was just trying to be optimistic. :-P

Go for it,
Don't let the naysayers put you off.
I'm rooting for you.
S.

That's proper goal setting, though. I consistently set my goal for 40 MPG, but I've only achieved in once in mixed driving.

You set it higher than you'll likely achieve, so you really push for it. I get it...

RH77

Over the weekend, my wife's Kia van averaged 23.7mpg at around 65. With the wind behind us, we were getting over 25 with the van loaded to the tilt. Maybe we should have a minivan mileage competition?

I haven't calculated the MPG yet because we haven't filled up again yet but, I have a feeling we will get somwhere near 21 MPG. The whole road here is hills and 65 mph speed limit where the traffic goes 80 mph. So I had to keep up going at least 67-72 most of the way. Then we entered the city area where NOBODY uses a turn signal for changing lanes. It pisses me off because the pop right in front of you and then you have to brake right to avoid hitting them.

I hate Jersey drivers, on offence to those who live here. You probably know what I'm talking about. I should have the MPG for this trip up by Wednesday night.

30 is doable...
 

I have a 2007 Town and Country LX(3.3L). I'm averaging 24.2 in mixed use over the last 4 months. I always use 87 octane. Tires are 44psi(max), no rrof rack, and I feather the pedal like there's an egg between my foot and the pedal.

I commonly get 26.4-27.4mpg on highway trips(I10 FL-AL-MS). On Easter Sunday I took a trip to have Easter dinner with the parents, wife and two kids were in the van. I had to take a state road with a speed limit of 55. Knowing this I reset the OEM trip computer as I left my house, drove 62 miles. When I returned home that afternoon the trip computer said I got 30.3mpg. I really babied the pedal but I did get 30mpg.

i took my 98 caravan down to Roanoke and Bristol a couple weeks ago, over 900 miles got 27.9 mpg by the pump numbers. 3.0L minus the roof rack.

Great goal - tough van to work with though - Father in law had a few - he never tracked the mileage though - he probably hypermiled it without trying.

( btw - i see your Alti is beating my alti in 90 day average - I will have to work on that.)
: )

So, it's really true...we are all closet case mini-van owners! Shamefull!
The best mpg that I got in my wifes 2000 Grand Voyager was 26 mpg avg. (on a 300 miles trip. That's with snow tires, roof rack on, four people in the van, and going around 65 on a 75 mph interstate. I would have gone sloooower, but I was already giving my wife a migrane with all the cars passing us. Yep, roof rack definitly needs to come off. However, to give you some hope. I was able to get 31.5 on our way home from church last week, (22 mile trip) I accomplished that with 45-50mph avg speed, and p&g. Yes, its an automatic, but you can still p&g 'ok' with it. Post your results along with your style, speed, ect.

We had a surprise passenger on the way back home, a nice new dining table they found on sale and just had to bring along the ride. Even with it, I drafted as much as possible (actually took the truck separation on the interstate so I could draft) but not too close of course and again got 26 mpg. Now I know the total trip MPG will be lower but I have yet to calculate it because she hasn't filled up yet, plans on doing it tomorrow though.

P.S.-I claimed 26 mpg because the full tank gave the same 402 miles after a full fill-up before the warning light came on as the last tank. :thumbup:

You should be ahead of me, I have a bigger engine IIRC. :p

my last tank was +28 MPG - and on my way to another +28 MPG tank.
we will have start an "Altima thread" - although i think it is just the 2 of us for now.

I wish I had a 5-speed. Hopefully I can get up to 28-30mpg in the alti over summer.

I rechecked her numbers twice, and well her MPG went up somehow. I'm thinking that it is because of the constant highway and warmer weather and the removal of the roof rack (it was removed for the last -+20 miles on the last tank). Also these numbers are not 100% accurate since I'm working off of what the gallons were on different pumps at different gas stations. I think the main reason that the MPG went up is because I was driving (drafting as much as possible) and did the whole hypermiling thing.

That'll do
 

HyperMiling and drafting will help every time.
Careful with the drafting though, to close can be dangerous and even downright scary. [read my post in Daily Drive] I didn't put it in there but I was genuinely worried just before the breakaway.
PM me with your locale so we can set a meet.
S.

[QUOTE=diesel_john;15972]i took my 98 caravan down to Roanoke and Bristol a couple weeks ago, QUOTE]


My '91 Caravan puked up its brains in Roanoke a few years back. We got all kinds of great help from the folks there - this was the first day of our vacation, and boom! the car was kerflooey only three hours from home, with six states to go. Grr.

I never saw the far side of 25mpg in my Caravan. I'm really impressed you guys are doing it.