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Hoosierdaddy · **Posted:** Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:34 pm

I thought I would share a bit of my experience on this my first long trip with the CRD. We have traveled from N/E Indiana to Macon, GA so far. Conditions were 20 degrees when we left home up to about 60 here, 95% of the 750 miles have been interstate at 75-80 mph, the rest puttin around to antique shops along the way. moderately loaded with luggage for two people for two weeks. Fuel economy was averaging 24 mpg the first 500 miles up to 26 most recently according to the mpg read-out. All stock except for 8" wide ASA rims and 235 70-16 firestone AT tires. I did replace the air filter in Knoxville while the wife was shopping(Firestone brand for $20.00 looked very similar to the fram that I replaced) (forgot to do it before we left home). The old filter was moderately dirty.
This Jeep is not as comfortable as the Grand Cherokee Orvis (V-8) that it replaced (as expected) but has performed very well, had adequate power in the hills, and returned approximately 10 mpg better.
If anybody finds this report of interest I will follow up as we head to Clearwater Beach, FL and return home!!!

Bill.Barg · **Posted:** Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:33 pm

Thanks for the report. I find this info useful in understanding the normal operation of the CRD.

Do you recall if you had a significant tail or head wind?

I have foud this makes a very big difference... maybe due to the 2.5" lift I have.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:03 am

10 mpg more would make the CRD worth it IMO. Pretty good mpg figures for those speeds.

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:07 am

I haven't seen any CRDs running around Fort Wayne, but then again, I only visit.

Uffe · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:43 am

Sounds good to me. I am planning a 3-week holiday in southern France which is 2000kms away (1200 miles) during my summer holiday. We will be going 4 people in the jeep with just highway driving. I am hoping it will turn out proper MPG (or km/l as we euro guys use!) so the trip itself will not ruin us all

I hope to have at least 20MPG hopefully 22 (8km/l or 9km/l). I haven't had long highway runs with the jeep yet, but the shorter ones I've had it turned up around 20MPG-22MPG but I wasn't going more than 75mph. Headwind definatly makes a huge difference as headwind means I get just 21-22MPG at 60mph instead of 25MPG.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:15 am

Uffe.

I get 20 on all short trip city driving. My best tank ever was 25 and half was 65-70 MPH highway. Airing your tires up and driving slower will pay you rewards in more MPG or KmPL :lol:

Joe

dloc_jeep_KJ · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:30 pm

you stoped in knoxville. thats cool i live prety close to there. u should have stoped by Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. beautiful palce and some good shoping also. sorry to jump off topic like that but i dont hear about Northeast TN from other pople to often. the smokies are beautiful and there are tons of wheeling spots

dgeist · **Posted:** Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:46 pm

Joe Romas wrote:

Uffe.

I get 20 on all short trip city driving. My best tank ever was 25 and half was 65-70 MPH highway. Airing your tires up and driving slower will pay you rewards in more MPG or KmPL :lol:

Joe

Slow != efficient in all cases. As reported by others (and it hold true for me) 64 mph seems to be about the sweet spot. That puts you in the second overdrive gear with the RPMs at 1800. 55 mph is ALMOST as good, but not quite since you're burning about the same amount of fuel and not going as far (it's the sweet spot for the first overdrive).

Hoosierdaddy · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:47 pm

As I write this I am sitting in the customer lounge at Dayton-Andrews Jeep in Clearwater , FL . I started experiencing a driveline noise in the last 100 miles. We did make our destination///The Marriot at Sand Key. They recommended this dealership. It took two visits but we finally determined that the rear universal joint is bad. They had to order a whole new drive-shaft from DC , Overnight shipped from Detroit ( No explanation as to why) but they have assured me that the repair will be covered by my 8yr-80000 warranty with only a $100.00 deductable. They did the heater motor recall while it was here on tuesday. They have been very adamant about NOT changing any part until they could determine for sure if it was at fault. So far I am very pleased with their service. They didn't charge me ANYTHING for the first visit when they couldn't locate the problem. (They did of course get the heater motor business from DC on that visit) I'll follow up when I get internet service again.

Dean

Uffe · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:04 pm

dgeist wrote:

Slow != efficient in all cases. As reported by others (and it hold true for me) 64 mph seems to be about the sweet spot. That puts you in the second overdrive gear with the RPMs at 1800. 55 mph is ALMOST as good, but not quite since you're burning about the same amount of fuel and not going as far (it's the sweet spot for the first overdrive).

No. This is not true for me. My best speed is between 70 and 80 kph most definatly. Slow is not inefficient, fast is inefficient and too slow is inefficient. Do you know how fast the air resistance becomes the dominant factor in the overall drag on the car? The energy in the air is calculated from the density of the air and the speed of the air, to the power of THREE. This means when you do faster you have a very very steep air resistance curve against speed at some point.

If the EVIC is any guideline, I can not obtain 8l/100km when doing 1800rpm at 2nd overdrive. I can, however, when I'm doing 1800rpm in 1st overdrive.

I have 4:1 diff ratios, from your data you have 3.55 diff ratio (or a bigger tyre than me). This might do some difference. I think too the VGT/VNT does some difference too, as the same engine develops more torque with a VNT/VGT. I have an 03 CRD which develops 360Nm yours develops 400Nm (before F37).

Still the newer CRDs have reported better fuel economy than the older ones.

Hoosierdaddy · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:04 pm

We made it back home with no additional issues. I can recommend Dayton-Andrews Chrysler-Jeep in Clearwater, FL. It only took them about an hour to change the driveshaft. They were very good about getting me in whenever necessary. It doesn't appear that they are extremely busy at this time and they didn't try to BS me into paying for anything I didn't need. Fuel economy dropped a bit on the way home but I ran at least 80-85 mph for mile after mile. I did learn that the cruise control will not set above 85 mph. I find it remarkable how many passed me while I was running 80 plus. Two 11 hour days resulted in only a minor lower back ache which cleared up soon after getting out and walking a bit. Overall I'm pleased!!!

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