chadhargis wrote:
I think MPG has to do with several factors. Temp, fuel quality, how clean sensors are (related to fuel quality), terrain, driving style, etc.
I got 21mpg my first tank, and 24 second tank. The biggest difference is the second tank was mostly interstate driving at 70+ mph.
Unless you drive at a steady 60-65mph, for nearly the entire tank, I don't see how you'd get anywhere near 30mpg. EPA estimate is 27mpg, and that's always as stretch as they drive around at 55mph or something crazy like that.
It's best to keep in mind that this is a heavy vehicle with the aerodynamics of a brick. It's 4x4 as well, even in 2wd, the transfer case saps some power. Couple that with the fact that diesels don't reach peak efficiency unless they are fully warmed up, so if you do short trips, your mileage will take a hit (my drive to work is only 13 miles each way).
Before buying my CRD, I had a 2002 PT Cruiser. I got about 20mpg with mixed driving. The best I ever got out of it was 26mpg on a 4 hour road trip on the interstate with the cruise set on 70. It was WAY underpowered, sucked gas, and was basically a toad of a car. The CRD gets about the same (or better) fuel mileage as my PT, has more room (so it seems), tows 5000lbs (versus 1000), is 4WD, and is in all areas a much "cooler" car than the PT, which I thought was a little feminine for my tastes, but I bought it cheap, so that's why I drove it.
The best I got was 31 mpg on a highway trip. We were never over 65 mph and had few towns to coast through. I think there was a tailwind andd we were going down in elevation although you couldn't tell. It looked flat but we were loosing 10 feet per miles.