Great mileage

instarx · Post by **instarx** » 25 May 2011, 06:42

Last weekend I took a 600 mile all interstate trip and got surprisingly good mileage on my V70 XC. I like to play with getting good mileage and sometimes add aerodynamic things like a front air dam or a partial grill block, but this time I used nothing and got 30.2 mpg on the 300 mile return part of the trip. I was surprised because this was at 69 mph with the air conditioner running the entire time. I was expecting relatively poor mileage because of the A/C and speed. In fact, I got worse mileage on the way over (28.5) with no air conditioner and sticking to the 60 and 65 mph speed limits. It seems that these cars simply like to cruise at 69 mph and 2,400 rpm. One difference was the fuel on the way back was E10, and the fuel for the trip over was not.

FYI, the best mileage I ever got was 32 with an air dam and no A/C on a 500 mile trip.

Post by **jblackburn** » 25 May 2011, 06:48

Not bad at all! They can get surprisingly good mileage if you are as light-footed with the gas as possible. You even look at it wrong, though, and your mileage will drop.

Does yours still have the AWD system connected?

instarx · Post by **instarx** » 25 May 2011, 07:00

Yes, it's fully functional. One thing I did before the trip was increase the tire pressure to 42 psi, and I'm sure that helped mpg. I set the cruise and 306 miles later I hit the brake on my exit ramp! It is even more impressive when you know it was across the Smokies from Knoxville to Chapel Hill, NC - mountains and rolling hills the entire way.

Post by **jblackburn** » 25 May 2011, 07:22

Changing the tire pressure is cheating

Right around 68 seems to be the sweet spot for gas mileage. The cruise (at least on the '98) is an idiot on rolling hills. It lets off the gas going down, then panics when it starts going uphill again, downshifts, and just wastes gas.

That must have been a nice drive though - both ends are great places and the mountains are beautiful this time of year. I should know

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 25 May 2011, 07:27

I dislike the cruise control on anything but pure flats. It always downshifts when not necessary on a tiny little hill.

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 25 May 2011, 07:47

ecbsykes wrote:I dislike the cruise control on anything but pure flats. It always downshifts when not necessary on a tiny little hill.

Not on a T5.

That's one thing I can't stand in a car though, and a big part of why I dislike driving my wife's Subaru.

I do think the cruise on these cars leaves a LOT to be desired though. On my old Audi S4, I set the cruise, and it held exactly that speed, up hill or down. If you pressed + it went 1mph faster, pressed - it went 1mph slower. On the 850 it's too fast/too slow, and sometimes it feels like the +/- does nothing. Who knows, maybe the switch in my stalk is bad.

Post by **jblackburn** » 25 May 2011, 08:06

Nah, it's just stupid.

Worst feature on the entire car - you really have to hold the button to make it notice you want to increase speed, and then it's hard to get it at exactly the speed you want. I usually just increase with the gas and reset it with the + button.

My '88 Accord had a better cruise control system (and buttons on the steering wheel! gasp!). That thing actually had a surprising amount of highway power for a 98-hp car - I usually didn't even have to downshift out of 5th on hills. And the suspension was a much better match for highway driving than the T5 is. Highway driving on the AWESOME roads around Richmond or Winston-Salem jars your spine.

My parents used to have an 87 Buick - when you wanted to increase speed via the cruise control on that, the pedal would smash itself to the floor and the car would drop 2 gears and shoot off like a rocket

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 25 May 2011, 08:14

Sounds like you need some new suspension! Now that I've gotten mine dialed in, it is a fantastic highway cruiser. It will never get past its nose-heavy design in the tight stuff, but for long sweeping turns, and just cruising down the highway, the ride is perfect.

Post by **jblackburn** » 25 May 2011, 08:25

The "sport pack" and roads filled with patches, uneven pavement and potholes probably doesn't help. Handling is great though!

What kind of struts did you use?

Post by **erikv11** » 25 May 2011, 08:29

The cruise on my car is pretty sensitive to + and - at the button, and seems pretty stable. Granted, I don't drive mountains but I certainly drive hills. So I wonder if you guys are driving cars with small leaks in the vac lines, which slows the response to activating the pump? We know that rubber hoses that look fine can have pinhole leaks that ruin boost ...

A couple years ago the cruise started working only intermittently, probably the elbow went bad under the battery tray, but I just cut out the whole line from near the firewall to the cruise pump and replaced it with a silicone hose.