Ouch! Friend's Ford F-150 lifetime fuel consumption: 14.7 MPG US = 16 L/100 km

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by WE3ZS

Since 14 MPG was my standard mileage for so long it is the benchmark that I now use to calculate the fuel gallons & dollars saved on each fill ... Both Metro have more than paid for themselves and the Zuk is nibbling away at it's purchase price that was higher

Nice! The right tool for the job.


I've heard a similar story often: "my [insert cheap, efficient car here] paid for itself through using it instead of the truck when practical."


Plus, that strategy keeps the non-work miles & depreciation off the more expensive truck.



Maybe some people only have space for one vehicle, but it seems for "non-work" driving, many truck owners would be well served by keeping an efficient car on hand as a runabout.



My F-150 friend in question only has the truck. I'm not sure what percent of his driving could be done with another car, but I do know that he's not very mechanically inclined when it comes to vehicles, so a cheap, efficient beater (the kind many of us seem to gravitate toward) isn't a practical option for him. However, I do see him riding his bike around once in a while when the weather's nice -- that puts him deep into the minority! We're lucky to live in a small city where that can be a practical means of getting around.

[royanddoreen]

I had a truck for many years as a second car lol! Put about 60,000 on it in 15 yrs and decided that was a waste, Now if I need a truck for a job I find a way.

[redpoint5]

What percentage of people own a truck? Maybe 1 in 4?

If I didn't already own a few trucks (grandpa died last year and had 2), I'd just borrow a friend's and bring it back with a full tank of fuel. Friend is happy to have a full tank, I'm happy not to own an expensive PITA truck.

[Vman455]

Trucks are the next big frontier for FE, in my opinion, or should be. With even full-size passenger cars like the Camry and Accord getting 40+mpg highway today, and truck sales increasing, there's more difference to be made in getting gas trucks up to 30mpg highway/25mpg combined than further improving passenger cars. We'll save more fuel in real numbers.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Vman455

Trucks are the next big frontier for FE, in my opinion, or should be. With even full-size passenger cars like the Camry and Accord getting 40+mpg highway today, and truck sales increasing, there's more difference to be made in getting gas trucks up to 30mpg highway/25mpg combined than further improving passenger cars. We'll save more fuel in real numbers.

I've been arguing that they should have been the first frontier, not the last.

Hybrid technology pays higher dividends the heavier the vehicle is. The worlds first modern hybrid was... the Insight, busting the scales at 1,878 lb (852 kg). The guys on here are always reporting that their Insight with a dead traction battery returns the same fuel economy as when it worked, only it accelerates worse.

So how did we end up pioneering hybrid technology in the vehicles that are most difficult to cram the extra bits into while giving the least return for the effort?

My fear is that we're too ignorant to realize that taking a truck from 15 MPG to 20 MPG saves way more fuel than taking a sedan from 40 MPG than 50 MPG.

[ThermionicScott]

Years ago, I saw a hybrid pickup concept in Wired: gas engine powers the front wheels, electric motor powers the rear, giving some degree of controllable AWD without the weight of a driveshaft from front to back. Made all the sense in the world to me, shame it didn't catch on.

[aerohead]

They're like a Radio Shack Christmas toy.You spend money to purchase it,only to purchase batteries for the life of the toy.
Pay me now,and pay me later.
A commercial dream come true!

[redpoint5]

We're at about the point where batteries can last the life of the vehicle. There are Prius taxis with 300k miles on them and an original battery. It takes a long time to recoup the cost of hybrid, but eventually it is recouped. Trucks would recoup the cost much faster, especially considering maintenance items like brakes would need less attention.

[MetroMPG]

I took this truck around my local eco-driving route that I sometimes use for coaching friends/family/acquaintances.


From a cold start in freezing weather it reported 15 L / 100 km = 15.7 MPG US. Its EPA city rating is 14 MPG / 16.8 L/100 km.


So you can teach an old dog new tricks.


Details: https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...tml#post582678

[Hersbird]

First, I'm not positive the fuel economy meter actually keeps a forever running average but it's a safe bet it does at least keep a few thousand miles average. That shouldn't really effect any of the points made as I bet every 5000 miles that truck drove were similar to any other 5000 mile stretch.

Second, it's not that I have given up on getting good economy I just have figured I don't drive enough to keep my Subaru around to keep miles off my truck. The added cost of insurance and plates was eating up any gas savings, so I sold the Subaru. Then guess what? Driving the Cummins sucks day to day so I need something different there as well, although I was getting about 17 mpg city short trips. Plus that never reaching 200 degrees had to be killing the Cummins. So I just sold it as well. Now I have the pig of all pigs, a 2500 Yukon XL. Well I guess it could be worse as I have the 6.0 not the 8.1. I haven't even ran a tank yet so I don't know the real hit, but I'm guessing it's around 11-13 mpg city. It's especially hard to guess as after the first fillup it puked an 1/8 of a tank onto the ground! At least it stopped there so the leak is somewhere high on the tank. Now I've been working on using up most of the 38 gallon tank so I can drop it and find the leak. 300 miles later and I'm down to 1/4 on the guage (of course it lost 1/8 that first night, thank God it was outside in the dirt not in the garage.) I'm still stoked about the Yukon. It is really the only 4x4 vehicle rated to haul 8 adults and tow a fair sized trailer, I have about a 2800 pound payload. It was only $3900 which I got $2500 for the Subie and $8500 for the Ram and save $500/year in extra insurance and taxes. Now at about 3000 miles per year I still save money going from 25mpg (best case Subie) down to 11 (worst case Yukon). I'm going to miss the towing power of the Cummins but I'm not in any hurry, the 6.0 gas should be just fine. I now also have a ton of money and room to build a camp kitchen/bed platform in back and have a rig that can get up nasty roads to the places I want to camp sometimes without the big trailer my wife likes.