Just towed a Range Rover from Tampa to Tallahassee! MILEAGE

aslostasyou · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:27 am

Ok, I love my CRD.... More and more each day. It was a sad weekend as I sold my last Range Rover Classic. I offered to tow it to Tallahassee FL to where the guy was if he covered my fuel and a little extra. I thought, "Ok here's a chance to see what the little CRD is made of!" Well I'll admit it was a little squirly at first due to my stock suspension but once I got up to speed and hit the cruise control at 70mph I was amazed!

Here's the best part - traveling up I75 and over I10 I was able to average 29MPG! The Range Rover weights about 6500lbs and I had a two wheel tow dolly from Uhaul which probably weights around 600lbs. F'ing amazing! I pulled into a truck stop and guy with a F350 towing a Jeep said "Man, I bet you wish that tow arrangement was the other way around." I said "No, not really I'm getting 29MPG." His jaw dropped and he said he can't even get that much driving with zero load.... Makes me wonder, is it really worth having a big Diesel truck? I mean, 90% of the time your hauling around wasted space and just burning fuel.

I love my CRD...it's like a little semi.

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 11:41 am

Are you sure you don't mean 19mpg?
I consistently get 19-20mpg towing my cars around and they don't weigh as much as your Land Rover.

Uffe · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:22 pm

29 MPG is 2 more than I ever got from my KJ doing the most lame constant speed without being a hazard to all traffic.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:24 pm

thats a lot of weight for the KJ, did you get any pics of it?

cferrell536 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:35 am **Posts:** 11

I towed a loaded 5 x 13 U Haul trailer from Denton,Tx to Pensacola, Fl and only averaged about 18, but 27 without the trailer on the way home.

geordi · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:38 pm

Uhaul trailers are overbuilt, their usual tow dolly weighs in at almost 1000 lbs.

Count me in with the people saying WTF? on the mileage claim. I'm sorry, but I've got to call BS on that. Unless you were hitched to a semi, you were pulling almost the same weight that I was when I was pulling that 6840lb generator - And I got an honest 18mpg at 70mph out of it, maybe a little more b/c I'm running taller highway tires, so the mileage is actually MORE than the odometer claims. According to my GPS, its about 12% higher than the odo.

jdorris · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:25 pm

My best mileage was a couple weeks ago, 30.2, over 150 miles averaging 58 mph, with no trailer. When I pull a trailer (5x8 with a ford courier bed mounted on it maybe 1000#'s) I average about 23-25 going 63 mph, which I am totally happy with. My truck gets about 15 pulling the trailer. And I have done every mpg mod that this board has thought up. So I guess I am saying kudos to that mpg or to the math magician behind it.

dgeist · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:02 pm

I did average 27 on a canoing trip a while back with a large 2-man craft on the roof, but one might say that actually improved the coefficient of drag for the lib

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:26 pm

I towed about 5000lbs from SLC to FTL and got about 12mpg. On a good day with the wind to my back I get 20mpg.

Pablo · **Joined:** Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:06 pm **Posts:** 1201

I can't see 29MPG towing. Mileage tops out at 29MPG not towing, averages 26.

aslostasyou · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:49 pm

I commonly get get 32MPG on the highway here in FL guys. I was surprised as well with the towing. Is it possible that something isn't right with my computer and it's calculating the wrong MPG? I know for a fact that my speed is about 3-4MPH off in comparison to my GPS.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:38 pm

1) put tape over the Evic
2) measure mileage by GPS (okay - this is overkill - you should probably do once just as a datapoint)
3) measure gallons at pump (every time and try to be consistent)

divide #2 by #3

keep track of several tanks to smooth variation.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:25 pm

That's the way I do it...Holla.

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:59 pm

aslostasyou wrote:

I commonly get get 32MPG on the highway here in FL guys. I was surprised as well with the towing. Is it possible that something isn't right with my computer and it's calculating the wrong MPG? I know for a fact that my speed is about 3-4MPH off in comparison to my GPS.

I'm familiar with the Florida roads too... And 32 is not possible, unless you have done some freaky stuff to your KJ.

Year / f37 / converter?

Mods / chips / tire size and pressure?

We all want to get where you are, IF its accurate. I'm gonna take a stab that its not. We already know the EVIC isn't the most accurate device in town. My SGII gets all goofy on MPG readings too, sometimes it will read that I'm getting 30mpg at 55mph, other times it says I'm getting 10mpg at the same 55mph. I don't know why it does that, but usually the CRD feels most zippy when it says I'm getting the 30mpg.

Do we have 'learing' transmissions? Or better yet, is there a way to read the actual values from the MAF sensor? In the VW TDI, if the MAF was failing slowly (like they do) you don't get any error codes, and the car just feels sluggish while your economy drops. Its a real bugger to diagnose, replacement is really the only way to be sure. By unplugging it (like the ORM) you are just locking the computer into 'default' values for airflow that usually aren't adequate for the best economy.

PhoenixCRD · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:16 pm

[quote/]

I'm familiar with the Florida roads too... And 32 is not possible, unless you have done some freaky stuff to your KJ.

[/quote]

32 is possible as I've gotten that and more driving in the high mountains of SW Colorado, hand calculated since I don't have an EVIC. Several times. I could easily see 30+ in Florida.....but doubt that 29 mpg pulling a trailer.

Gary

dgeist · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:19 pm

geordi wrote:

Do we have 'learing' transmissions? Or better yet, is there a way to read the actual values from the MAF sensor? In the VW TDI, if the MAF was failing slowly (like they do) you don't get any error codes, and the car just feels sluggish while your economy drops. Its a real bugger to diagnose, replacement is really the only way to be sure. By unplugging it (like the ORM) you are just locking the computer into 'default' values for airflow that usually aren't adequate for the best economy.

What would you use a reading from the MAF to calculate? Unless you're under high-load, the CRD operates in an oxygen surplus, so MAF is only a reading of how much air you COULD be burning, no?

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:18 pm

dgeist wrote:

geordi wrote:

Do we have 'learing' transmissions? Or better yet, is there a way to read the actual values from the MAF sensor? In the VW TDI, if the MAF was failing slowly (like they do) you don't get any error codes, and the car just feels sluggish while your economy drops. Its a real bugger to diagnose, replacement is really the only way to be sure. By unplugging it (like the ORM) you are just locking the computer into 'default' values for airflow that usually aren't adequate for the best economy.

What would you use a reading from the MAF to calculate? Unless you're under high-load, the CRD operates in an oxygen surplus, so MAF is only a reading of how much air you COULD be burning, no?

I think all this MAF talk is irrelevant, I think the engine management software only uses the MAP. I think the MAF is an ancillary part used only for the EGR function. Evidence of this can be seen from the fact that the older EDC15 did not use the MAF for its engine management.

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:28 pm

dgeist wrote:

What would you use a reading from the MAF to calculate? Unless you're under high-load, the CRD operates in an oxygen surplus, so MAF is only a reading of how much air you COULD be burning, no?

The MAF reads the volume of air and its temperature. So it really reads how much air the engine IS burning...

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:29 pm

Sir Sam wrote:

I think all this MAF talk is irrelevant, I think the engine management software only uses the MAP.

Then why put the MAF in the air stream? Sounds like otherwise it would use the old Speed Density system that Ford used?

UFO · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:35 pm

RTStabler51 wrote:

dgeist wrote:

What would you use a reading from the MAF to calculate? Unless you're under high-load, the CRD operates in an oxygen surplus, so MAF is only a reading of how much air you COULD be burning, no?

The MAF reads the volume of air and its temperature. So it really reads how much air the engine IS burning...

No, it only measures the amount of air into the engine. Air does not burn, fuel does, and fuel varies with load. Since diesels are designed to operate over a wide range of mixtures, all lean, measuring the amount of air passing through the engine is meaningless.

Just towed a Range Rover from Tampa to Tallahassee! MILEAGE

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