Not Bad

[James Beyer]

Hey all,

10 months ago I bought my 18 crewcab, 6.2L max tow, 94k miles.  

Put on 11,000 miles with a little towing, highway, city, backroads, and 4x4, my Trip 1 shows I have averaged 19.1 mpg.  

To me, that is Not Bad.

Later-

[rav3]

8 minutes ago, James Beyer said:

Hey all,

10 months ago I bought my 18 crewcab, 6.2L max tow, 94k miles.  

Put on 11,000 miles with a little towing, highway, city, backroads, and 4x4, my Trip 1 shows I have averaged 19.1 mpg.  

To me, that is Not Bad.

Later-

Sounds good to me. What grade gas do u use?

[CamGTP]

A little better than me, only a little.

 

Owned mine for 4 years and 23,000 miles, avg is 12.5mpg. That's what 85% city miles and lots of idle time gets you lol.

[James Beyer]

20 hours ago, CamGTP said:

A little better than me, only a little.

 

Owned mine for 4 years and 23,000 miles, avg is 12.5mpg. That's what 85% city miles and lots of idle time gets you lol.

Hey Cam,

City will eat up mpg, 12.5 is the top mpg what my 04 3/4 ton would get.  Later-

[CamGTP]

My winter fuel mileage was like 8-9mpg, I'd waste nearly a gallon a day just idling because I didn't care and would rather be warm-ish when I hoped in the truck for my 3-4 mile drive to work. I drive my beater car now, gets 17 city.

[James Beyer]

Hey rav3, I use 87 octane most the time. When towing I use 92 octane. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by James Beyer
Left out

[mikeyk101]

2 hours ago, James Beyer said:

Hey rav3, I use 87 octane most the time. When towing I use 92 octane. 

Do you find that going with higher octane while towing makes a difference?

[James Beyer]

22 hours ago, mikeyk101 said:

Do you find that going with higher octane while towing makes a difference?

Maybe 1 to 2 mpg better,  but to me not worth the extra cost per gallon of gas.  But it seemed like the truck ran good with higher octane.

[mikeyk101]

2 hours ago, James Beyer said:

Maybe 1 to 2 mpg better,  but to me not worth the extra cost per gallon of gas.  But it seemed like the truck ran good with higher octane.

After you posted about higher octane and towing, I began googling about it. I think it might not be a bad idea to at least use 89 when towing but also found that this might be the reason why I struggled in the Bighorn Mountains last year. Part of it was grabbing a tankful of the "cheap" stuff in Buffalo, WY on the westward part of the trip. (85 octane) and then trying to keep up with the other vehicle I was traveling with while I was towing a 25' toy hauler. Bad mistake. Several days later on return trip by myself, I filled up in Ten Sleep and went with the good stuff, 87 octane. I was more careful about speed and RPM's but still struggled. I think if I had used the really good stuff, I would have been better off. It's not often when I find myself towing through actual mountains but I think I'm better prepared the next time I do. 

[16LT4]

On 12/7/2022 at 12:59 AM, mikeyk101 said:

After you posted about higher octane and towing, I began googling about it. I think it might not be a bad idea to at least use 89 . 

 

The engines can advance timing a bit for more power (which is why E85 makes a bunch more), but individual tests would need to determine the best cost-benefit.  I don't pump 89, I make my own: fill up 67% 87 and 33% 93 (using two separate transactions at the pump), because by me, the price of 89 is skewed closer to 93 than it is to 87.  I've been self-mixing my BMW for 10 years doing this, but in reverse: it wants 91, so I fill with 67% 93 and 33% 87 each time I add gas, and not necessarily from a near-empty tank (the fuel gauge is remarkably linear in its movement such that estimation of gallons needed to fill the tank is within 1 gallon of actual).  Octane above 91 on that car is unnecessary, so the extra couple of minutes it takes to replace and reprogram the pump saves me at least $5 each time I fuel up, a $1-2/minute self-payment.