Fuel economy question

[SmashedGlass]

I'm pre-planning for my move from Colorado to central Florida this fall and have a question about what gas mileage to expect on the trip. I've never been on the highway for a long enough distance to really gauge what my hwy mpg would be (just a trip up to Denver and back, barely any fuel used), but I am averaging 28mpg around town here at 6000ft of elevation. I don't "hyper mile" at all, just usually don't romp the crap out of it to get going unless I really need to get moving, and I do take it out of gear and coast down if I can see that a stop is coming.

 

Any guesses as to what I might reasonably expect at an average speed of 70-75 for the 1800 mile trip?

At the moment I'm conservatively estimating 31mpg...

 

88 GL spfi d/r 4wd

Edited July 25, 2012 by SmashedGlass

[benjamachine]

What're you driving? EA82 with a Hitachi? Depends how much stuff you're carrying. I got about 27-28 in an overloaded '86 GL with a worn out Hitachi carb.

[Suba_GL_87]

60 mph cruise control on 34MPG.

Bend, Oregon To Sac, CA. (480miles)

[l75eya]

I normally get about 480 - 500 miles to a tank of gas in my 5 speed carb'd 87 sedan. That's steady 65-70 mph and on premium gas.

 

On 87 octane (regular here) I just got 420 miles to a tank. My car needs a tune-up.

[idosubaru]

speed, weight, mountain grades, and A/C will all come into play.

 

if you get 28 mpg around town then maybe you will see that 30+ range, sounds like the car is certainly capable of mid 30's on the highway and EA vehicles can do that.

 

if the car has to struggle to keep high speeds with the A/C on and carrying a lot of weight up mountain passes you could get less than what you get around town. i've had that happen on long trips, get worse than what i get in my daily commute. but i was doing 80 mph in the mountains with a lot of weight (1,000+ pounds of people and gear).

 

on long trips (which i do very often) going 60mph can add 5 or 10 hours to a trip over 75 mph...not acceptable in some situations.