suggestions to help beat the gas price crisis.

[LarryJ]

My big truck goes only back and forth to work, probably half the miles I used to drive it. When we needed another car we bought a 4 cyl economy car and use it for the vast majority of our travel.
I have been wringing every mpg out of my trucks for a long time, upgrades to exhaust, properly maintained and tuned, synthetic oil and lubricants. I was doing all this back when gas was $1.00 gal just because it made good sense.
I think the vast majority of people have changed their lifestyle and habits because of the prices.

I am the type of person that hates to waste anything, we recycle at home, dont waste energy and in general dont use thinsg we dont need. Mostly its just because I am frugal, now I can just say I am green

I'm with you and have done everything you mentioned except buying really small economy cars and changing my life style. One thing with the higher gas prices that we have done is to try and "bundle" our shopping making a loop and hitting 4 or 5 places and doing that only once a week. We just keep a short list of what we want/need and then use that on our weekly shopping spree.

Larry

 

[WeCampDisney]

I love how youve got all the facts and comparisons down to a science. You, my friend are are a true SMART SHOPPER!!!

Thanks Rog. My wife calls me obsessive. I admit that i have really spent a lot of time researching RVs, Fort Wilderness and WDW. I am into getting the most bang for my buck. I love efficiency and doller value, but mostly I love family and the Fort. By maximizing my limited cash, we can continue to have great vacations. For example, our 30 ft Trail-Lite 8306S sells for about 19,500 new. I found a 2 year old in perfect condition for only 13,500. Thanks to rvtrader.com.

 

[Mike Whitehead]

I started this thread by disussing how speed and the associated wind resistance really hurts your gas mileage especially with a really tall rv, so slowing down usually makes a big improvment. Next I discussed how we should try to take advantage of the 10 person per campsite rule. Split the cost of gas, site fee,and golf cart rental with anouther couple or family. Now for my third stratagy. Recently, I decided to updrade from my Expedition to a larger tow vehicle. I decided on an Excursion for its size, power, large towing mirrors and the big 44 gal gas tank ( longer range, less fuel stops). I almost decided to get one with a desiel engine, mainly because they get better mileage. But after further review, I realized that they just cost a lot more than the same Ex with the V-10 gas engine. So i found a really nice, one owner, pampered 2000 model with the V-10 and only 79,000 miles. It is perfect and I got it for only $10,000. The comparable desiel models I found were at least $17,000. I can buy a whole lot of gas with the thousands I saved by not buying a newer truck or one with the desiel engine. Also, now I can afford to buy an older 4-cyl car like a 98 Honda Accord for about $3500. I will drive this car daily and only use the Ex when I need to haul or tow stuff. So now i will get great gas milage for 90% of my driving and my nice big roomy tow vehicle will last me for years. I just couldn't be happy driving a gas guzzler on a daily basis, but I will love driving it when I really need it. I think the days of using a truck or large suv for a daily driver are soon to be over for most people. I should have my Honda Accord within a week or two after I sell my old expedition. By the way, it was my daily driver for the last 5 years. I averaged about 13 mpg around town, 16-17 on the highway and 8-9 while towing my tt. I expect to get about 23-25 around town and 34-37 highway with the Honda. Plus this car will save wear and tear on my Ex. The bottom line for me is this: I saved thousands by getting the 2000 Excursion and the cheap used accord will save me a fortune in gas money. These savings will pay for my vacations! I am very happy with my new vehicle choices and now I don't worry about the rising gas prices. Boy, six more months till I fill that 44 gal tank and head to the Fort!

IMO....I feel the V10 is a mistake. You say you save $7000 over the Diesel. My 2000 F350 Dully 4x4 crew cab pulling my 32' Tall body 5ther got 10-12 mpg at 75mph- same type of trailer with the v10 would put it around 7 mpg @ $4.00 a gal the 7k will get eaten up fast. I will not even get into Maint. cost.

I sold the 5ther got a Truck camper. We now get 13.5- 14mpg.

If I want to run around town with my truck and keep my foot out of it I will pull 16-18mpg. You will be lucky to see 10.

I agree will you on the Econ box car. I travel for a living almost 40 weeks a year. Wife works out of the home. so we are lucky. we may spend $300. on fuel on the bad mo.

 

[LONE-STAR]

IMO....I feel the V10 is a mistake. You say you save $7000 over the Diesel. My 2000 F350 Dully 4x4 crew cab pulling my 32' Tall body 5ther got 10-12 mpg at 75mph- same type of trailer with the v10 would put it around 7 mpg @ $4.00 a gal the 7k will get eaten up fast. I will not even get into Maint. cost.

I sold the 5ther got a Truck camper. We now get 13.5- 14mpg.

If I want to run around town with my truck and keep my foot out of it I will pull 16-18mpg. You will be lucky to see 10.

I agree will you on the Econ box car. I travel for a living almost 40 weeks a year. Wife works out of the home. so we are lucky. we may spend $300. on fuel on the bad mo.

I had a 2000 7.3 f-350 4x4 crew cab best it ever got was 14mpg empty and 11mpg pulling my 5er. My 05 6.0 f-350 4x4 crew cab gets 12 mpg empty and 10 mpg at 65 mph pulling my 5er. I like my 05 its a good truck just wish it got better mpg.

 

[WeCampDisney]

IMO....I feel the V10 is a mistake. You say you save $7000 over the Diesel. My 2000 F350 Dully 4x4 crew cab pulling my 32' Tall body 5ther got 10-12 mpg at 75mph- same type of trailer with the v10 would put it around 7 mpg @ $4.00 a gal the 7k will get eaten up fast. I will not even get into Maint. cost.

I sold the 5ther got a Truck camper. We now get 13.5- 14mpg.

If I want to run around town with my truck and keep my foot out of it I will pull 16-18mpg. You will be lucky to see 10.

I agree will you on the Econ box car. I travel for a living almost 40 weeks a year. Wife works out of the home. so we are lucky. we may spend $300. on fuel on the bad mo.

well mike, I respect your opinion, just like I respect the countless other opinions I read about on a Ford board, comparing the v-10 to the 7.3psd. What it all boils down to is we all have to make that decision that makes us happy. Like I said ,I wanted a 7.3 but I couldn't find a nice low mileage one in my budget. For me, the Ex doesn't have to be used very often so the poor gas milage is no big deal. But making payments on a $17,000 truck is a big deal. I am very confident that I made the right choice for ME. Furthermore, the psd would only save me about $175 in fuel costs on my 2000 mile round trip to the Fort. V-10 at 9 mpg, 222gal at $4 a gal= $889. psd at 13 mpg, 154 gals at $4.65 a gal=$715. I just couldn't justify breaking my budget for such a small fuel savings. Now i know all about how the 7.3 psd is legendary for its durability and reliability. If i could have found one for say $12k or $13k I would have bought it. Now it is looking like the Ford V-10 may be the best gas truck engine Ford ever built. Many guys on the Excursion board love their v-10, its tough, reliable and very powerful, it pulls almost as good as a 7.3psd. I won't go any further here on this thread, but like i said, I did my homework for about 2 years comparing gas to desiel. For me, the V-10 is not a mistake, I love it.

 

[Mike Whitehead]

I had a 2000 7.3 f-350 4x4 crew cab best it ever got was 14mpg empty and 11mpg pulling my 5er. My 05 6.0 f-350 4x4 crew cab gets 12 mpg empty and 10 mpg at 65 mph pulling my 5er. I like my 05 its a good truck just wish it got better mpg.

I will drop to 15 it I drag race launch it from the red lights.

 

[Mike Whitehead]

well mike, I respect your opinion, just like I respect the countless other opinions I read about on a Ford board, comparing the v-10 to the 7.3psd. What it all boils down to is we all have to make that decision that makes us happy. Like I said ,I wanted a 7.3 but I couldn't find a nice low mileage one in my budget. For me, the Ex doesn't have to be used very often so the poor gas milage is no big deal. But making payments on a $17,000 truck is a big deal. I am very confident that I made the right choice for ME. Furthermore, the psd would only save me about $175 in fuel costs on my 2000 mile round trip to the Fort. V-10 at 9 mpg, 222gal at $4 a gal= $889. psd at 13 mpg, 154 gals at $4.65 a gal=$715. I just couldn't justify breaking my budget for such a small fuel savings. Now i know all about how the 7.3 psd is legendary for its durability and reliability. If i could have found one for say $12k or $13k I would have bought it. Now it is looking like the Ford V-10 may be the best gas truck engine Ford ever built. Many guys on the Excursion board love their v-10, its tough, reliable and very powerful, it pulls almost as good as a 7.3psd. I won't go any further here on this thread, but like i said, I did my homework for about 2 years comparing gas to desiel. For me, the V-10 is not a mistake, I love it.

Oh dont get me wrong.....You will never hear me say you bought a bad truck. I just think your over time the diesel will have save you more money. both in the tank and in maint.

But I am a smoker through and through (Diesel). I have been working in the truck and Automotive field at a MFG level for the likes of GM, Bosch, and now Navistar. and I love any thing with 4 and 6 wheel's! Not trying to flame ya, just throwing in my $.02

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

As an example of mileage, I topped my truck (the one in my signature) off on the way to work this AM. I drive 25 miles each way on mostly 2 lane roads at 50 MPH, the last 4 or 5 is what I would call City/Suburb stop and go. I may have drove to the store a time or 2 but the vast majority of it was to work and back.
I got about 15 3/4 MPG on that portion of a tank. Not too shabby for a
6400 # truck. I can tell that we are off of winetr fuel since that is about 1 MPG more than the last time I checked it.

 

[LONE-STAR]

But I am a smoker through and through (Diesel)

Same here once you drive a diesel well need I say more. I even have my DW driving a dodge diesel the mpg just blows my ford away. We run her dodge straight piped. (sounds so good) She use to drive a GT mustang then jeep then we got her a 01 dodge diesel and now she has a 05 she loves her truck. I love that she gets over 615 miles to a 35 gal. tank. What I don't like is I only get 480 miles to a 38 gal. tank

 

[disney4dan]

We recently picked up a sligthly used 07 Tundra for towing and I had an opportunity to check out how it will do for all highway driving. I had to get an early start and beat the traffic, but had a chance to put on the cruise control and keep it to the speed limit for the majority of 240 miles (some city driving at the destination, but all highway otherwise).

I was mildly surprised to see 19.5 mpg calculated! Normally getting around 17 to 17.5 during the week. The biggest difference being the normal commute is during traffic time and there is a lot of slowing and speeding up with the flow. Now, I doubt that I can consistently wring the 19.5 mpg out of the truck, but it's making me seriously consider the time of day that I travel even though it's mostly highway travelling.

On that note, I plan to keep the speed around 60 to 65 mph on the way to the Fort in August. Do you think we'd get better mileage by taking secondary roads for a good portion or staying on the major interstates? If I tried to pull the TT on highways around here at 60 to 65 mph, I'd feel like the pace car slowing everyone down and think I'd spend a lot of time switching lanes when near on-ramps.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

We recently picked up a sligthly used 07 Tundra for towing and I had an opportunity to check out how it will do for all highway driving. I had to get an early start and beat the traffic, but had a chance to put on the cruise control and keep it to the speed limit for the majority of 240 miles (some city driving at the destination, but all highway otherwise).

I was mildly surprised to see 19.5 mpg calculated! Normally getting around 17 to 17.5 during the week. The biggest difference being the normal commute is during traffic time and there is a lot of slowing and speeding up with the flow. Now, I doubt that I can consistently wring the 19.5 mpg out of the truck, but it's making me seriously consider the time of day that I travel even though it's mostly highway travelling.

On that note, I plan to keep the speed around 60 to 65 mph on the way to the Fort in August. Do you think we'd get better mileage by taking secondary roads for a good portion or staying on the major interstates? If I tried to pull the TT on highways around here at 60 to 65 mph, I'd feel like the pace car slowing everyone down and think I'd spend a lot of time switching lanes when near on-ramps.

I run right around 60-65 when towing the trailer, thats the "sweet spot" for my setup as far as MPG. I dont feel like I hold anyone up, I have to drive whats safe for me and if that isnt fast enough for some... not much I can do about it. Your point about ramps brings up a problem though. Given that my truck and trailer are over 55 ft combined, I dont have the room to move to the left very often. My experience has shown that when I do, often someone will try to dart around me on the right before I have a chance to safely get back over. This has caused me to only move to the left if there is little or no other traffic. The inconsiderate people coupled with the unattentive has become an issue. With a rig that weighs around 15,000 # and is 55 ft long I dont feel compelled to manuever my setup to make it more convenient for some fool in a 3000 # car that didnt think about merging till he got to the end of the ramp. I have had several people that have run off on the shoulder because they were talking on their phone and waited until they got to the end of a 1/2 mile ramp before they looked over and saw me. It would have required very little effort for them to plan the merge and speed up or slow down to blend in, I however dont have the oppurtunity to move over. Unfortunately I cant drive my truck AND their car both..... Up here in MI the truck speed limit is 55, the cars and passenger vehicles are at 65 or 70, so when I run 65 around here I am usually in synch with the big trucks.

Scott

 

[ntsammy5]

I have to drive whats safe for me and if that isnt fast enough for some... not much I can do about it.

That's a problem on the interstate system unfortunately. There are lots of drivers out there who feel they are entitled to do anything they want to do and the heck with anyone else. A CNN article on mileage commented about their test driver getting run off the road for going 5mph under the limit.

I think that will change though. Truckers are already slowing down a little and as gas gets higher and higher we'll see many more people slowing down. We're diving a long distance over Memorial Day, not hauling anything, and I plan to set cruise right on 65. I'm sure I will get people crawling up my backside a lot of the trip. We'll see.

 

[loveDmouse]

I noticied a lot of people slowing down yesterday when I had to take about an hour trip North. I do wish they would stay in the slow lane though. Yesterday was the slow racing the slower. I have slowed down but no way will I not drive the speed limit like these people were doing. It was very annoying.
According to my instant mpg on my Tahoe I don't really see much difference in going 64 or 55.

Merging on the interestate is awful. If people would get off their cell phone and drive we wouldn't have near the problem that there is. That goes for off the interstates too!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Every vehicle has a sweet spot for mileage, I have seen it over and over, it ISNT 55 MPH. its more likely around 65-70 just like the interstates.
I think its great if people decide to slow down but please stay out of the left lane(s)
I never drive in anything other than the right lane when I am doing less than the speed limit, its just common courtesy and it improves the flow of traffic if everyone stays to the right unless they are passing.

Scott

 

[ram101]

ok, here’s a question for you guys!

Have you ever heard of a product called ethos that is supposed to save the world?? Ok, well, maybe it is supposed to increase your gas mileage and reduce pollution and not save the world but, you know how those ads can be!
I got an e-mail advertisement for it and have never heard of it. So since you guys seem to do a lot of research into this stuff I thought I should ask before I just delete it!
Funny how I got it about the same time I read this thread!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

ok, here’s a question for you guys!

Have you ever heard of a product called ethos that is supposed to save the world?? Ok, well, maybe it is supposed to increase your gas mileage and reduce pollution and not save the world but, you know how those ads can be!
I got an e-mail advertisement for it and have never heard of it. So since you guys seem to do a lot of research into this stuff I thought I should ask before I just delete it!
Funny how I got it about the same time I read this thread!

SNAKE OIL.
If all this stuff is so great why arent the car companies already using it ?
The auto companies have nothing to gain by squashing new technology, assuming it actually worked.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

This "motorcycle" is soooo sweet...(more details at zapworld.com)

ZAP Alias

ALIAS EXPECTED DELIVERY IN 2009
Approximate MSRP: $32,500
Performance
• 0 – 60 mph : 7.7 seconds
• Vmax: 100 mph
• EV range: 100+ miles (160.9 kilometer)
• Vehicle kerb mass: 1612.6 lbs (733 kg)

Safety
ZAP-3 Homologated as a motorcycle with Enhanced safety features
• Seatbelts
• Roll hoop

- CAE will guide the development of structural safety solutions

 

[WeCampDisney]

On that note, I plan to keep the speed around 60 to 65 mph on the way to the Fort in August. Do you think we'd get better mileage by taking secondary roads for a good portion or staying on the major interstates? If I tried to pull the TT on highways around here at 60 to 65 mph, I'd feel like the pace car slowing everyone down and think I'd spend a lot of time switching lanes when near on-ramps.

I tow at 60mph, staying in the right lane. I only switch to left for cars coming up the on ramp if I check my mirrors and see the coast is clear behind me. Most cars speed up on the on ramp easily exceeding my 60 mph so the merge is usually easy. Occasionally, if the idiot doesn't adjust his speed for a smooth merge, and if I can't get over, I might have to hit my brakes to let him in. This is accompanied by a long blast from my horn! On the long trip to WDW, most of our trip is at night when traffic is light and I rarely have this situation, plus maybe all the lights on the rv helps to get their attention. And yes, I always stay on the interstates, the worst thing for fuel consumption while towing is stopping or slowing way down while passing through towns, then having to get back up to speed!

 

[disney4dan]

I run right around 60-65 when towing the trailer, thats the "sweet spot" for my setup as far as MPG. I dont feel like I hold anyone up, I have to drive whats safe for me and if that isnt fast enough for some... not much I can do about it. Your point about ramps brings up a problem though. Given that my truck and trailer are over 55 ft combined, I dont have the room to move to the left very often. My experience has shown that when I do, often someone will try to dart around me on the right before I have a chance to safely get back over. This has caused me to only move to the left if there is little or no other traffic. The inconsiderate people coupled with the unattentive has become an issue. With a rig that weighs around 15,000 # and is 55 ft long I dont feel compelled to manuever my setup to make it more convenient for some fool in a 3000 # car that didnt think about merging till he got to the end of the ramp. I have had several people that have run off on the shoulder because they were talking on their phone and waited until they got to the end of a 1/2 mile ramp before they looked over and saw me. It would have required very little effort for them to plan the merge and speed up or slow down to blend in, I however dont have the oppurtunity to move over. Unfortunately I cant drive my truck AND their car both..... Up here in MI the truck speed limit is 55, the cars and passenger vehicles are at 65 or 70, so when I run 65 around here I am usually in synch with the big trucks.

Scott

That's what I figured, I'll probably stay on the interstate and experiment with the mph to find the best spot for fuel efficiency and let the on-ramp drivers deal with their own problems. Most of our towing last summer was local and on secondary roads, but found that our trip to the beach on a major commuting interstate was a nightmare with people on cell phones or not paying attention.

In some of those areas, there is very little area on the side of the on-ramp (small bridges, under designed roads). I don't think that was a problem on I-81 or I-95 when you get south of Fredricksburg. We had a co-worker who was towing a utility trailer run off the road last fall by a teenager who thought he could beat the traffic by racing down the breakdown lane. Unfortunately, there was an area where the bridge was not wide enough to support the breakdown lane and the kid mis-judged the distance thinking he could sneak in front of our company truck just before the bridge. He nailed the abutment and bounced into our F-350 diesel so hard it forced the truck and trailer full of compressed gas cylinders (our company does stack testing also) into the median strip. Fortunately, there was a semi in the middle lane next to our truck and that driver could see what was coming, and had been trying to make room for our guy to get in the middle lane.

 

[ntsammy5]

Every vehicle has a sweet spot for mileage,

Yeah, Scott you're right. I think mine is about 65-70. I agree with staying in the right hand lane. I hate it when two slow drivers get next to each other and tie up traffic for miles.....