Quote:
Originally Posted by floydarogers
I've gotten 41-42 mpg in some situations on the road. For my normal driving I mostly average 31-32 mpg. Last week I fueled in Cle Elum (around 2000' elevation), went west to Bellevue (85 miles) at 70-75 mph (that's a 1000' climb to the pass and 3000' down to B-vue) and got 42 mpg. I've gotten 38 mpg coming back to Seattle from Portland - pretty flat.
20-25 sounds about right for a shorter low-speed commute.
Things that radically affect mileage:
1) Never getting above 48 mph - which is when it finally shifts into 6th. You will never get much above 25 if below that.
2) Hills. Snoqualmie Pass and others kill mileage. You can recover that "lost" mileage by going all the way back down.
3) Speeds > 55-60.
4) Headwinds
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5) running both front seat butt warmers I have seen knock down mileage by about 2 mpg. Torque on alternator is a load and little things matter when your getting 42 mpg on the interstate.
6) using Bike rack and 2 bikes loaded at 70 mph reduces mileage to 35 from 40 mpg. The is platform style rack that mounts a little lower on receiver hitch. I can only imagine how bad the effect would be with roof mounted bikes. My guess is this wouldn't impact an X5D as much as it's wider and taller. The bikes do poke out a couple inches port and stbd.