Kind of Stupid Question - Highway Range?

[studum]

As the title says, I feel a bit stupid asking this. Leaving for our roadie to NB on Thursday night / Friday morning and just trying to make sure everything is good to go. I can't stand being in my wife's Accent for more than 2 hrs at a time, so I'm taking the truck on the 16ish hr drive. I'm usually the one with the touring car, but this is my first year with the truck as I got it about a week after our return from the trip last year, I really don've have confidence in the econo box going that far. Not that the car won't make it but that I will not enjoy driving it - like at all.

I know I'll be taking a hit with the fuel effeciency by taking the truck, but it has passing power, a better stereo and most importantly cruise control (i.e. no stupid speeding tickets). Overall I think it will be the more comfortable and thus safer choice.

I've never driven the truck all-highway before and I have no idea what kind of range I should be expecting. I have a few of these trips under my belt already and previous vehicles were much more fuel efficient and I would always stop at the Ontario / Quebec border to fill and then again at either Riviere Du Loop or Edmunston to fill up again and that'd get me to my destination (Moncton area).

Can anyone give me a ball park of what to expect range-wise? 400kms? Just trying to figure out where I should be stopping, like before the gas light comes on. Does anyone know the size of the reserve when the light comes on? Again I knew my other cars well, but I've never really tested the truck to see how far it'll go with the light on.

This is the trip when I usually try to challenge myself and see how many kms I can get before I fill up, but I'm not so sure I'll be playing that game with the Fronty lol.

Is anyone around the Montreal area? I'm also trying to find out if the Tunnel has been re-opened or if it's still closed. I've searched for reports but everything I've found is saying that they were hoping to re-open it at the beginning of August.

Edit: Never mind found the actaul name of the tunnel and that it has been re-opened.

[Jayman]

Well, when it comes to gas mileage, you can be sure that everyone will have a different answer!

My truck, I am lucky to get about 350kms to a tank. Now, I'm running 33's, full skids, front and rear bumper, roof rack etc etc. I call it the "Garden Shed with wheels" for a reason, because along with all the armor, I also have a ton of crap in the truck.

All that means lots of weight, and horrible aerodynamics, which results in poor mileage. I would like to assume that you will get better mileage then that, so your 400kms estimate is probably a conservative but accurate guess.

When MY fuel light comes on, I know that I have roughly 75kms before I'm sucking fumes form the tank. I have tested this, and upon the next fill up, I was able to put 73.5 litres in the tank. The tank is only supposed to be 72 litres, but there is room in the filler neck to add a couple of extra litres of you fill it right up to the top, so that explains the extra 1.5 litres. It also shows that I had about 500ml of fuel left. :O

Anyways, I think your 400kms is probably about right. If that's what you average for normal city and highway driving, then you can expect a bit more for only highway, but I wouldn't say more then 50-75kms extra.

[Scotto]

What he said... And:

Wind in your face will be bad for you. If the headwind picks up, snuggle in behind a transport.

I would plan a stop in Kingston. Then probably Trois-Rivieres. Then again in Bathurst or thereabouts.


Scott

[01R50]

Not far.

I do lots of hwy going from one side of Ottawa to the other in the pathy and get around 350km (well maybe 375km if I let the tank go completely dry). And that is running on premium. If I run on regular I get around 310km.

I have the very heavy front/rear bumpers, tire carrier, roof rack, a ton of tools/equipment in the back as well as my fat ass, so I do not get too far on one tank.

Just be sure to bring a jerry can with you (leave it empty) just in case. But unless you are going into the middle of nowhere, there is always a gas station nearby. I just never let my truck go under 1/3 tank to be sure (never know if the zombies will hit!).

[studum]

Thanks guys, was just checking to see if I was in line or not. My normal is in the ballpark of 350kms / 65l Fill up (at the low fuel light) so a 7-10L reserve makes sense. I'll allow for a 40-50km reserve once I see the light, just to be on the safe side.

I'll be having cruise on as much as possible for sure, probably not more than 10 over the limit because I know the truck is brutal at 110km/hr + compared to slower. And drafting the big rigs, within reason, is what I usually do. I'm a little more comfortable with one of them in front of me on the 2 lane highways at night where deer is a possiblility. Realistically our time at rest stops will make a bigger difference than the speed anyways. I've learned not to worry about the speed so much.

I've already removed the roof rack and my back rack / lights and installed a tonneau cover that I got for $20 off kijiji. Figured for $20 it was worth a shot over a 3,500km road trip. Everything other than exhaust is stock, right down to tire size. We'll be travelling light, only our luggage and a couple of coolers for eats and drinks.

Thanks for the itinerary Geoffrey, I'll plan on that but I'll for-go Bathurst and add Edmunston then Fredericton as I'll be sticking to the Trans Canada. That will break up the trip nicely, and not all fill ups will be full tanks so it won't seem to hurt the wallet as bad.

[Fyrtowr]

First off - there is no such thing as a stupid question if it is going to enrich your knowledge!

As Jayman said, there will probably be many different answers but we logged on 4,000 highway km's on our vacation this year for our Circle Tour of Lake Superior. Mind you - that doesn't include the numerous day trips we took. The best mileage we had on a tank of gas was 437 km's which was I-75 straight up through the center of Michigan. Do keep in mind that the constant speed limit was 75 mph and it is relatively flat. I was a little astonished by this cause we had the rooftop rack packed to the hilt and the two bikes on a fairly heavy hitch mount bike rack as well not to mention the inside of the truck was heavily packed as well as it had all our camping gear for 17 days in there.

Conversely, the worst gas mileage we got was something like 320 km's and that was along the northeast short of Lake Superior. It is rather hilly and twisty along that stretch and there was a pretty good wind kicking up off the lake in the open areas and you could definitely feel the wind blowing the truck around.

I'd have to agree with Jayman in regards to how much gas you have left after the gas light comes on. We tried it and we got up to 65km's after the light had come on. I didn't want to chance it anymore as I didn't want any dirt and or debris clogging up the fuel filter as that is what had happened with our other car.

[Miner]

With the Titan I can expect 500 - 600km depending on condition and load, 400km if we are pulling the travel trailer. That is with 86l when the low fuel light comes on, there is still another 20l in the tank at that point. I'm surprised everyone is getting ~400km, I find the truck short as the Volvo and the Van are both capable of 800 - 900km.

I would carry a full jerry can and see how far you can stretch it. I did that once with my F-150 and discovered that I had over a 100km after "E", I never did let it run dry, knowing that made all my long distance driving with it much more confident.

Don't stop in Kingston for fuel, our prices are not competitive. Stop on the reserve in Shannonville or Marrysville, or in Brockville; both generally have the lowest prices in Eastern Ontario.

[Adam]

When I drove to Kingston last week, Brockville was the cheapest place to fill up. I find 108km/h is the sweet spot for highway mileage on mine. But it might be different on yours.

[Nd4SpdSe]

My sweet spot seems to be around 115, just as the cams wake up just above 3000rpms I believe.

[Miner]

3000! For me that would burn the fuel. I can go days without breaking 2200-2500, even while passing and merging onto the 401. At 115 I'm sitting around 1900-2000. The Titan's sweet spot is 105 kph (actually 62.5 mph), and about 115 kph with the trailer (so it can hold overdrive on moderate hills).

[Fyrtowr]

My sweet spot seems to be around 115, just as the cams wake up just above 3000rpms I believe.

115 km/hr = 70 MPH.. coincidence.. I think not! That was the speed at which we got our best fuel economy on vacation. Not sure how many RPM's we were at though. Then again your rig is SC and our is NA.

[Bow_Tied]

I am surprised that any SUV would get better fuel economy above 90km/hr, but I can't argue with results. My GMC was able to pull 19.5MPG according to its computer @118 with the A/C on. But on rural highways can do 21MPG no problem, still testing. Maybe it is a gearing difference.

[studum]

FWIW I know my truck is definitely best right at 80-90km/hr. When I do my side jobs towing, hauling etc I make an effort to take side roads for that reason. General concensus seems that for highway driving 110/115 is the best balance between economy and keeping up with traffic. I guess I'll try both and see how it works out. My boost gauge has been very helpful in getting as much effeciency as I can out of the beast. The lower I can keep the needle, the better fuel economy.

Nd4SpdSe: I know exactly what you're saying with 3,000rpm. It seems you can watch the gas gauge go down above that, at least with the S/C anyways lol.

I've already gotten 400 to one tank once (65L fill with the light on), but that was half in town my normal driving and other a 90km/hr constant trip to Port Dover and back. Truthfully I want to see if I can stretch it to 450 without the light coming on, dare I stretch for 500 before filling? Lol

Last year I got 725km on a 50L fill in my little Volvo wagon. Sometimes I miss that car, the little turbo motor was unexpectedly fun to play with, and very effecient out of boost.

A jerry can isn't a bad idea I suppose, just incase... It was my underlying reason for posting this, to see if I should carry one or not. I guess I'll empty the rest of the old gas into the lawnmower, fill it up with Premium on my first fill and strap her into the back just incase.

Brockville is just over 400km from home so I'll stop there instead of Kingston, thanks for the heads up with the pricing. Every $ helps... I stopped there on the way home last year too, got dinner from Wendy's.


Story Time

Funny story about Brockville... (only continue reading if you're interested in a story).

You remember that massive power outage in 2003 I think? Like when our whole part of the whole world stopped? Ya, that was my first year helping with the driving duties back when my parents would make the trip just so I could visit my friends. We got stuck in Brockville out of gas. We sat in the car at the Petro Canada (at the time) for 2 hrs with a tank on fumes when we realised that the power wasn't coming on and I had to walk around town to find a hotel for the night while my parents waited at the car because we didn't know if it would even re-start as it was so low on gas.

Got checked into a hotel around the corner, no power all night. Told our story to the guys at the counter. Had to swipe the credit card the old-school way. At 8pm they came knocking on our door because they got wind of a corner store just on the edge of town that was pumping gas off of generator power. We figured it was worth a shot.

It was a sketchy 10 minute drive to the store, needle resting on the E pin. Got in line for gas (a good 30 cars long on each st, it was pretty well organised) and the car started sputtering. If you've ever ran out of gas you know what I mean. Shut her down and I got out to push every time the line moved forward, praying that the station wouldn't run out of gas. Finally got to the pump (just shy of 10:00, had to pre-pay and they were only limiting it to $20 worth of gas. Got to talking with the people in line and the family who owned the corner store / gas station, explained what happened and where we were going, why etc. The guy behind us in line told the teller to give us his $20 allowance for gas, he said he still had 3/4 tank anyways - he was local and only filling "just in case". Then the guy at the counter told us to fill it up but do it quietly and not make a big deal out of it, they were very close to empty anyways. Did so, swiped the card the old-school way again - I think it was about $50 at the time but can't remember - dad was paying. He still allowed the guy behind us to put his $20 which we thought was nice. We found out the next morning that aparantly they ran out of fuel at around 10:30, 3 other people from the hotel tried to go after we came back with success but didn't make it in time.

Was able to get well into Quebec where they had power and we didn't have to worry about not being able to fill up. The real ass kicker to the story is that we had stopped not long before for lunch at a place with a gas station. I said at the time that we should fill up while we were there so we wouldn't have to stop again, but Dad said no because we could still go a bit further. Had we filled up when I said to, we would have had enough gas to make it into Quebec where they had power. Stopped 3 times between lunch and Brockville to try and fill up but every single place was out of power. Brockville was where we gave up trying to go further.

[Adam]

That is a cool story. I wish there were more people like that around.

FWIW I can get 550-600 on a tank on the highway but I have an 80L tank. That is with cruise on around the speed limit. I saw 23mpg easy on my trip across the US last summer I find the a/c makes no difference in my highway mileage. In town I get about 400-450.

[studum]

Just a little follow up, got home early this morning. @ 110 km/hr with cruise on, relatively flat roads I got to 450 before the light came on. I think it actually came on at 460km. That was my last fill up on the way there + around town for the week, about 85% highway. Had cruise on @110 or 10 over pretty much the whole way and I didn't even have to worry about going 400kms if I wanted to. Usually stopped between then and filled up just in case anyways though.

After dealing with traffic coming home I had cruise set to 115 / 117 ish wherever I could. The hills in QC were brutal on mileage, wasn't even going to get 400 to that tank, but I was using the pedal and getting by the transports wherever I could on the uphills. I never went until the light would go on at that speed, but it seemed like it would be coming on at about 400-420kms. The Scanguage was showing anywhere from a 1 - 2 l/100km penalty for going that speed, depending on terrain. 120km/hr was pretty stupid, only spent a few minutes there to see what it would do.

Average driving down was 13.2 l/ 100 km, average coming back was 14.6 l/100 km. Average for the whole trip, including booting around town while down there was 13.9 l/100km. Hopefully next year we'll have traded in the Accent for another highway capable vehicle lol.

[buttsy]

I got about 500km on a tank from North Bay to Brockville via 17/417/416/401. And at that I spent over an hour cumulatively stopped idling at construction. Lot of hills across 17 as well. And I was averaging 100km/h when I was moving on 17 and 120km/h on the 417/416/401 [Maybe a touch faster ]

[Vanguard]

I drove back from Minden on the weekend from a full tank and just had my fuel light go off at 450 km this afternoon. I'm supercharged at that and usually guzzle a bit more, but i was surprised at the distance.

I'd say most of us on the board get at least 350-450 on a full tank no?

[Nismojunky]

I can go days without breaking 2200-2500

I cant go down the street with out breaking 6000 lmao