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2200 Mile Road Trip Log

3K views 21 replies 9 participants last post by  knsaber 
#1 ·
Before starting this trek tomorrow, I will be doing the routine check up of tire pressure, fluid levels and emergency supplies.
 
#2 ·
I run 38/37PSI; just back from 1750 miles, Houston to Saint Louis and back for a week. Pulled down 35-36MPG on the freeway and 30MPG around town. Have fun and be safe.
 
#3 ·
Looking forward to numbers like that on my California to Washington road trip!
 
#7 ·
My starting point is CA, but my destination is Seattle.
 
#8 ·
That’s a really nice offer! Unfortunately my route is going to be majority by I-5.
 
#6 ·
I took a road trip from NJ > Kansas City > Chicago > NJ this past winter and the Mazda6 is a champ! I made sure I had every emergency supply I could need in the trunk and never needed any of it.

Do you have an air pump in the trunk?
 
#9 ·
No air pump, but maybe I should invest in one?
 
#13 ·
BTW just completed a couple of trips (two this month; here's the fuelly log. The second included a fair bit of mountain driving.

Mazda 6 Sport MT (Mazda 6) | Fuelly

This car has no problem exceeding 35mpg on the highway at all and reaches into the upper 30s if you're not doing mountains and similar excursions. My usual on road trips where the land is reasonably flat is in the 37-38mpg area.
 
#17 ·
I've also reached those freeway numbers before, but we're usually high-balling across TX and AR on I-30/67 then again on 55 in MO.
 
#14 ·
Stats before making it to Washington
Odometer read 53,070
Avg MPG 26.2 (10 mile commute to work all city driving and I drive with a heavy foot)
 
#18 ·
If you're not getting into the upper 30s on MPG you're really hauling butt -- I normally cruise at ~73-74mph on the highway (assuming a 70mph speed limit.) Note my car is OVTuned; when I bought it originally I noted the ECU tends to come out of "partial Atkinson" mode around ~71mph, which is a REAL problem as that costs you ~2-3mpg immediately when it happens -- therefore one of the adaptations I requested specifically is that the transition be moved up a bit.

It matters as this allows me to run just under 75mph on flat land and NOT lose the better-mpg calibration. If I'm out in the far-west where you have 75 and 80mph speed limits (e.g. west of Dallas, basically, or for that matter north of Flint on I-75 in MI) then I eat the penalty in fuel economy.

On trips where I've been forced into ~60mph operation over full-tank periods of time (e.g. the NE in many cases on turnpikes where they'll actually nail you on clock time from entry to exit -- yes, I got a ticket that way many years ago back when the toll tickets were PAPER) I've managed to break the 40mpg barrier. The other place I've approached or exceeded it is in CO; at higher altitudes many stations sell "Regular" that's 85 (as opposed to 87) octane and the SkyActiv engine burns it just fine without detonation but with a material improvement in fuel economy -- even with the mountain driving component of it present.
 
#19 ·
Update:


Made it on Friday afternoon.

Odometer reading: 55,294
Avg MPG: 30.3
Highest miles driven on one tank: 609
 
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#20 ·
Update:


Made it back Monday at 6:10pm (39 hours of driving omg)

AVG MPG: 31.2
Odometer: 56,546
Highest mileage on one tank: 515 (I was driving much faster this time around)
 
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#21 ·
The 6 is a great touring car

I routinely get above 35 mpg on the highway. The highest I’ve ever gotten was ~41 mpg average on a trip from central Texas to Denver and back. It was winter, so no A/C and winter gas bought in Colorado, the car was lightly loaded (me, my wife and some luggage), and long, straight stretches of interstate and four lane US highways.
 
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