I'm Back!

[Grizzly Adam]

Hey, Y'all ...

Well, I'm back on after an unexpected hiatus. Had to leave unexpectedly last Thursday and travel to the Midwest for the funeral of a friend's mama, who died of terminal cancer (somewhat faster than anticipated).

So here I am:

1,970 miles driven
83 gallons of gas burned
2 bags of Corn Nuts consumed
$430 spent

And a friend supported. Mission accomplished.

Good to be back!

[DropTine]

Welcome back Grizz, sorry to hear about your buddies mama!

Matt

[sumner4991]

Good job Grizz! Glad you have a safe and successful trip.

[Grizzly Adam]

23.73 miles to the gallon...not too shabby for a country boy.

Welcome back, Grizz!

It's called a new (to me, 2003) Toyota Tacoma, Bob! Traded in the Grand Marquis for it. Couldn't get used to driving a car. Been in trucks for 23 years!

Had to stable the big truck. Still got it ... can't sell it! Especially not with 196,000 on it! Matter of fact, I've got three trucks ... one on pasture, one in the stable, and one on the road!

That Toy averages around 24mpg ... I kept records the whole trip, and the two weeks prior to it. That's city, mixed, mountains and flat.

[wabi]

Welcome back Grizz!

I think all pickup trucks get around 20 mpg. I've had 2 Chevy S-10 4 cyl, one with only the basics and the other with all the accessories, and now a Ford Ranger supercab 6 cyl and all got right around 20 mpg. People I talk to with bigger trucks seem to get close to that milage, too.
What I don't understand is the difference in milage from gasoline from different stations. Two Marathon stations here in my hometown. If I run two or three tanks full of gas from one my milage will drop to as low as 16 mpg. From the other it stays very close to 20! I always re-set the trip meter when I fill up, so I keep constant check on it. Yesterday I filled up with only 109 miles driven and it took 5.5 gals. Just talking to a customer this morning and he told me he has the same results from those two stations with his car. 2 mpg difference every time!

[Grizzly Adam]

It's a single cab PreRunner (2WD on off-road chassis), four cylinder, with auto. Couldn't find one in a stick.

A friend of mine has one just like it, and he averages 23-24 with his too.

I gassed up every 200 miles, to provide more figures, and kept careful records for the entire trip, separated into:

Mixed average: 23.8 MPG
Interstate Mountain: 21.5 MPG
Interstate Flat: 25.1 MPG
Interstate Mixed: 24.5 MPG

The PreRunner is a good choice for me. This is flat country, and a high-clearance 2WD will get you most everywhere you need to go ... and the Taco is high ... high and stiff! It can skitter at high speed with the right combo of bumps or waves.

Not the best choice for long-distance trips, but good for local Grizz transport. A little tight, but I can live with it.

Two weeks ago, I and a guy driving a massive Ford F250 with aftermarket wheels pulled up beside one another and got out at the same time.

He was tiny. I am not.

Figures, huh?

[raydaughety]

Welcome home Grizz. I'm sure that your friend was comforted by your presence. Not many folk have friends like you . My new Sierra has AFM (active fuel Management) When you hit cruising speed she drops down to 4cyl and saves quite a bit of fuel. If you didn't know that the truck was equipped with AFM, you'd never know when it dropped down to cyl. I had air bags and an on-board compressor with remote install this week. Like riding on air .

[cdup]

Hey Wabi, I was always told by mech. in the oilfield that you get better gas mileage by using the higher price gas ( even 87 octane) because of the quality and additive they used in it. The cheap gas is fine, but it will file out your plugs and cause bad gas mileage. I don't know if that why for sure, but sounds good.

[widowman]

Only two bags of corn nuts.....

.....lightweight

[Grizzly Adam]

Only two bags of corn nuts.....

.....lightweight

Well ... one was a large bag.

I get about five miles per nut.