Average highway speed for high MPG drivers?

[dad of jon]

I'm sure I read in the manual that CC isn't recommended in hilly areas, such as Wales?

I rarely use it in wales. Even the M4 in wales is pretty hilly!

And you certainly don't want it on the bit of the A40 heading towards the border with wales a few miles out from monmouth. The road dips out of sight and it feels like you're driving off the side of a cliff. (eek)

I have kinda got used to it but still feel the need to ease off by there.

 

[maxwax]

Let me know how you set the cruise control for 60 MPG, as I've really only ever got it to about 33 MPG.
And the other drivers are just jealous about the 60 MPG you're getting. I know I am.

BC.

Whoooooooooops! 60 MPH

My latest tank is 31.5 MPH and tonight I drove from Denver to Fort Collins in the slow lane at 60 and 65 MPH most of the time. I don't mind the extra time to go slower, most drivers politely drive around me and I get to listen to a few more podcasts.

This is really a big deal for me. While my old Honda could get 32 MPG doing highway trips at 80 MPH, the fact that the CX-5 (bigger and higher) can get the same at all is wonderful.

I'll put mud+snow tires on in a couple weeks and then see what happens to highway travel.

 

[MikeM.]

I'll put mud+snow tires on in a couple weeks and then see what happens to highway travel.

Last winter I used Goodyear Ultragrip Ice WRT. Excellent winter tires that are good for sporty driving and hard cornering in cold and wet conditions. Any MPG hit I take when I mount them up (compared to the OEM Geolanders) appears to be overshadowed by the MPG impact of cold weather starts and the fact that the car is in snowy mountainous conditions most of the time they are mounted. I really can't tell that these tires impact MPG at all (or perhaps any increase in rolling resistance is compensated completely by the fact that my snow tires are mounted on lighter rims).

As a side note, these are the first winter tires I've owned that offer more cornering grip on bare pavement and more steering precision than the OEM tires.

 

[gk26]

Whoooooooooops! 60 MPH

My latest tank is 31.5 MPH and tonight I drove from Denver to Fort Collins in the slow lane at 60 and 65 MPH most of the time. I don't mind the extra time to go slower, most drivers politely drive around me and I get to listen to a few more podcasts.

.

Slow lane as in the right lane or the middle lane?

What podcasts?

 

[dawhoo]

I have the sport, live at sea level and the only highway driving is at sea level. I do 62 in a 70, in the right lane of course. Two great benefits come at that speed on flat roads: I don't have to pass anyone, and I got 38.2 mpg on a little over a half tank. Manually calculated. This was my third fillup. I am just over 1.4K miles now and have averaged 33.7 mpg since I've owned it. Onboard computer average speed (never reset) is 26 mph.

My previous car was the Mazda 3 Skyactiv and I regularly was getting 39-40 mpg in 80% city driving, but never rush hour. On the Mazda 3, I noticed an increase in mpg, after the first oil change and seemed to get better with each change.

I drive to avoid traffic and I put my auto trans in Neutral a lot when approaching traffic lights or heading down bridges, but overall, I drive it the same way I drove the 3. I absolutely am floored with the overall mileage of my CX-5, I was hoping to end up getting 29mpg, but I'm already beating that and it's not even broken in yet. I think it's the tinted windows - hahaha!

 

[Goguinness]

I believe you will use more gas when you slip the trans into neutral when approaching a traffic light. When you totally let up on the throttle, the engine is being turned over by the drive-train, and virtually no fuel is being used. Conversely when slipped into neutral for the same situation, the vehicle will be using fuel to keep the engine turning over. I do put it in neutral for lengthy waits, and lightly apply the emergency brake.

 

[piotrek91]

I did a longer 345mi one way trip this weekend running 91 octane (probably doesn't matter)
On the way north on the 101 (head winds for some of the drive):
Cruising speed 79mph, Door-to-door avg. speed was 74mph and 29.9mpg (29.8 computer 29.9 fill-up)

On the way south on the 5 (some tail wind? and some strong cross winds towards the end):
Cruising speed 84mph, door-to-door avg. speed was 73mph and 32.5mpg (computer calculated, haven't filled up yet, but it's usually within 0.2 mpg)

On the way north I wasted quite a bit of gas trying (for 40 miles!!) to pass a white ford E series van.
This guy would cruise 60mph in the left lane (speed limit 65), but as soon as I got in the right lane to go around him he would accelerate and not let me by (this happened 10+ times)
Once I downshifted into 3rd to speed by him, I put quite a bit of distance between us (his van could not accelerate fast enough to keep up), slowed to my cruising speed of 79.9mph and he proceeded to blow by me probably going 100+ only to slow back down to 60 not long after.
Eventually I got ahead of him for a while, and he did a final "fly-by" and cut in front of me to get off the highway while sticking his head out the window scarring the crap out of my wife and I.

 

[piotrek91]

set the cruise control when possible to 60 MPG on highway trips and just sat back.

I think you should patent this new type of cruise control.

Instead of setting your car to keep a constant speed you could set it to maintain a constant fuel consumption. You could set your MPG to whatever you want (say 35) and the car would drive at the right speed to attain that number (if possible). You would also need to set a minimum and maximum speed (to prevent the car from stopping and instructing you to push it up the hill to attain the requested number) and to prevent the car from going 120 down steep hills.

 

[maxwax]

I've been through 10 tanks now with my 2014 AWD Touring and I'm getting satisfying numbers: https://www.fuelly.com/driver/maxwax/cx5

However, I want better. I think the three strikes against me are:

* Driving at 5000 feet altitude in Colorado. I think I'm losing engine efficiency compared to sea-levelers.

* Driving fast (75-80 MPH) on Colorado's I-25 where the legal limit is 75MPH. I wonder if others are doing 60-70, just enough difference in speed to show some MPG gain.
Thanks!

Last tank was 32.5, my best tank ever. This is a bit of a surprise because on this trip I had to climb mountains:

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid...l=39.068247,-105.817566&spn=1.669651,2.807007

I'll try to summarize this fun trip:

* Start in Buena Vista, Colorado. Fuel up before heading into mountain areas where I won't see a gas station for a day. Stay in 3rd/4th and rev the engine to 4000 RPM to climb the mountains on dry pavement.

* Once up, coast down a fair amount to a lower elevation on the other side of the mountains. I camped at Taylor Park Reservoir for a night.

* Day 2: Drive slow and carefully on the very rocky dirt/gravel/rock road known as Cumberland Pass, reaching an elevation of 12,000 feet. Kind of like city driving in that I kept stopping to take pictures, left the car running and was always going up so little forward momentum.

* From 12k, drive slowly down the other side of the mountain. Reach pavement 10 or so miles later and return to normal driving.

* Spent a lot of time driving on rolling hills at 65MPH. Then did some more climbing up to Leadville at 10,000 feet

* Finally, a long descent towards Denver with lots of coasting. Used cruise control at 65MPH which has been the key for me to get good fuel economy.

I'm going to do a write-up about this trip next week, include some cool pictures and report on how thrilled I am that my car handled the mountains so well.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

I did a longer 345mi one way trip this weekend running 91 octane (probably doesn't matter)
On the way north on the 101 (head winds for some of the drive):
Cruising speed 79mph, Door-to-door avg. speed was 74mph and 29.9mpg (29.8 computer 29.9 fill-up)

On the way south on the 5 (some tail wind? and some strong cross winds towards the end):
Cruising speed 84mph, door-to-door avg. speed was 73mph and 32.5mpg (computer calculated, haven't filled up yet, but it's usually within 0.2 mpg)

On the way north I wasted quite a bit of gas trying (for 40 miles!!) to pass a white ford E series van.
This guy would cruise 60mph in the left lane (speed limit 65), but as soon as I got in the right lane to go around him he would accelerate and not let me by (this happened 10+ times)
Once I downshifted into 3rd to speed by him, I put quite a bit of distance between us (his van could not accelerate fast enough to keep up), slowed to my cruising speed of 79.9mph and he proceeded to blow by me probably going 100+ only to slow back down to 60 not long after.
Eventually I got ahead of him for a while, and he did a final "fly-by" and cut in front of me to get off the highway while sticking his head out the window scarring the crap out of my wife and I.

That happens a lot around here. When I am using CC and pass someone, next thing I know they are passing me, the whole time I have not touched my speed, and then they slow down again. Annoying. That's when I just speed ahead a bit and then put the CC back on.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

I think you should patent this new type of cruise control.

Instead of setting your car to keep a constant speed you could set it to maintain a constant fuel consumption. You could set your MPG to whatever you want (say 35) and the car would drive at the right speed to attain that number (if possible). You would also need to set a minimum and maximum speed (to prevent the car from stopping and instructing you to push it up the hill to attain the requested number) and to prevent the car from going 120 down steep hills.

I can't get past ~110 even down a hill. Transmission won't allow it.

 

[piotrek91]

I can't get past ~110 even down a hill. Transmission won't allow it.

car and driver lists the 2013 touring AWD model top speed at 115 (they say redline limited? maybe in 4th?)
The 6MT is listed at 123 (drag limited)

 

[piotrek91]

back on topic..

A guy from CleanMPG.com is planning to drive a 2014 mazda 3 across the USA while getting 70MPG:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=385078

The same guy got 63.7MPG out of a CX-5 on a 70 mile loop (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43832)
so I think he will succeed despite the less than ideal air temperatures in October.

I can't wait to read about what high MPG techniques he is using and how they apply to the skyactiv manual.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

back on topic..

A guy from CleanMPG.com is planning to drive a 2014 mazda 3 across the USA while getting 70MPG:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=385078

The same guy got 63.7MPG out of a CX-5 on a 70 mile loop (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43832)
so I think he will succeed despite the less than ideal air temperatures in October.

I can't wait to read about what high MPG techniques he is using and how they apply to the skyactiv manual.

Interesting, they were able to put an extra 4 gallons in.

 

[Michael Moore]

You can also check at

http://ecomodder.com/forum/

for more fuel-efficienty tips.

cheers,
Michael