I love talking about Miles per gallon. Since going fast isn't really
an option, I've made hypermiling my new automotive goal/hobby.
I just recently got a best MPG in my Dakota. 22.00762 Miles per
gallon attained in March of this year! My average speed for this tank
was 50.80 miles per hour. This was done on the freeway for 80 miles
with roughly twelve miles being on city streets.
My previous best was 19.9 miles per gallon which I attained back in
February of this year with an average speed of 42.12 miles per hour.
You probably won't believe it after this though... lol
My Dakota is a 1999 model Sport 4x4, off road and towing package, Club
Cab, 5 speed manual, 5.2 liter with 3.55 gears and running the factory
option size of 31x10.50R15 tires.
My truck is modified however. At the time I had a 9 inch round open
element air cleaner with a K&N 9 inch by 2 7/8 inch air filter. A
Hughes engines stage 1 ported and filled beer barrel intake manifold,
a 50mm ported ebay throttle body and a Flowmaster 40 series muffler
keeping the factory exhaust piping and routing.
I also have Amsoil in the transfer case and engine and synthetic
fluids in both of the differentials. Penzoil synchromesh is in the
transmission though I guess it is really the factory equivalent.
I have zero aero modifications and the tailgate stays on the truck and
in the closed position at all times. I do have a large aluminum
diamond plate toolbox in the bed that is always full of roughly 100
pounds of tools and things.
That 19.9 miles per gallon number was with these cheapo Goodyear all
terrain tires on it.
I also run 89 octane due to the fact that it pings with 87 octane
which has to be due to the modifications.
I had tried a superchips tuner at one time but had to return it
because my truck pinged like crazy with just the 87 octane program. I
decided it wasn't worth it if I had to run 91+ octane gas just with
the 87 octane program. A call to Superchips confirmed that this would
be required because of my modifications.
The 22.00762 miles per gallon was achieved with some fresh Falken Ziex
ST/Z tires. Despite being a pretty big tire at 31x10.50R15, they are
a much more street oriented tire than your typical all terrain tire.
I'm guessing that lower rolling resistance helped a lot with that 22
mpg. I also keep 35 psi in my tires.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jun 02 2008 - 00:18:52 EDT