This last holiday weekend, my wife and I were fortunate to add 1,858 miles to the ODO in our long-term Lancer. One family reunion, three states away, in less than three days. My head is still spinning....
We needed to get to Evanston, WY, by 2 o'clock saturday. Leaving friday night, we would pass through Vegas, through the northwest corner of Arizona, across Utah, and into Wyoming. Luckily, for time's sake, my mother's family settled in the first town over the border from Utah, where they made good money selling fireworks and discount liquor.
We were quick and efficient. No dinner stop, no rest areas, no shopping, only a little gambling. Not with nickel slots or poker.....gambling on our Lancer's fuel range.
First thing I noticed when we started our journey was the note Josh Jacquot left on the steering column. "Fuel Gauge Possibly Inaccurate - Trip @ 51 mi." The gauge read "Full", and continued to read "Full" past the first hundred miles. On checking the fuel log, a few times people were able to get more than 300 miles to a tank. OK - that'll be our safety net. Who needs a digital gauge, anyway?
At approximately 7:30 a.m. just outside New Harmony, UT, the Lancer coasted to a stop. At 314 miles, our luck ran out. Well, not really, since we were a half mile from a Texaco. Considering what area we were in, it could have been a really long walk. After purchasing a $5 Blitz gas can, we were able to get back on our way. Total time lost - 45 min.
The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. We made it with an hour and a half to spare. While riding the seats were surprisingly comfy, and the nav did it's job. The 2 liter was pretty gutless on the inclines, but it did average 25.77 MPG for the the total trip. To be on the safe side (since our morning stroll), we didn't go over 200 miles without filling up.
Tomorrow morning, the Lancer has an appointment to get this gremlin checked out. We''l keep you posted.
John Adolph, Video Production Specialist @ 18,817 miles.
desmolicious says:
05:56 PM, 07/ 8/08
I gotta say that these cars are surprisingly uneconomical. I just got back from an 800 mile round trip to San Fran and back and averaged 30mpg in my BMW. The new Chevy Cobalt that I had as a loaner for a few days got 18 in the city, compared to 20 for my 330.
Why do these small cars get such poor gas mileage? Or are BMW's powertrains just dipped in teflon versus the molasses that other mfgs seem to use?
jr1m90 says:
06:20 PM, 07/ 8/08
Show that gauge cluster to the next smug Prius owner you encounter. When they seem shocked, just say something offhand about 'hyper-miling or something like that.'
I'll agree, less than 26 mpg isn't great for a highway trip. My last trip from Allentown to Boson netted me 36 mpg in the 5spd Mazda3i (also with a 2.0). My dad and I averaged 33 mpg in my 2000 Buick Century (3.1 V6 and 4spd auto for pete's sake) going from Allentown to Pittsburgh and back (and over the Appalachians). I've barely gotten the 3 below 26 even driving short trips in the city in January!
7driver says:
06:32 PM, 07/ 8/08
Running out of gas with a known bad gauge and the wife as a passenger? How brave. Or are you leaving out certain details of the event? :-)
clarkma5 says:
06:51 PM, 07/ 8/08
25.77 is really disappointing for such a long highway trip. I would demand my GTI to get at least 29 on that sorta trip, and I'll blow the Lancer's doors off at a red light.
John Adolph says:
07:13 PM, 07/ 8/08
driver - nah...my wife's cool. she wasn't mad...just a litttle worried since we had such a tight schedule. i'm not leaving anything out.
one thing i should comment on is that we weren't exactly "hypermiling" at 55 and drafting a semi.....the revs were up most of the way.
the average MPG seemed a little low, but i'm used to my 2.5L subaru getting about the same.
subytrojan says:
07:36 PM, 07/ 8/08
But your Subaru Impreza Outback Sport has Subaru's symmetrical all-wheel drive, John! :o)
carmizvi says:
09:11 PM, 07/ 8/08
Imagine: it'll only get worse when the 2.4 litre engine comes along next year.
Isn't this supposed to be part of the big Chrysler-Mitsu "world engine" program? Not impressive at all. Maybe they should just buy engines from Honda.
stovt001 says:
10:36 PM, 07/ 8/08
No problems with Cobalt mileage. Going 80 mph, with the AC on, two passengers, and the trunk and back seat loaded with gifts from our second reception, I got 35 mpg average on the 800 mile round trip from Azusa to Sacramento and back.
mustang5507 says:
10:40 PM, 07/ 8/08
Part of the problem is that you have to put the pedal to the floor to get these smaller cars out of their own way. Difference in fuel mileage is definitely more noticeable in the city.
cx7lover says:
12:20 AM, 07/ 9/08
The 2.4L is already out, and it probably could manage better MPG (the 2.4L is like 1mpg lower than the 2.0L) because it wouldn't have to work so hard.
06scooby says:
06:03 AM, 07/ 9/08
wow john that's average for a trip in your suby? you need to use the rest of your gears on the highway! LOL last trip I took in my legacy (same 2.5 boxer) was down to LA and back from Reno (lots of hills) and I averaged 30 mpg (best tank 33mpg) for the whole trip including 2 days in the L.A. area and an 80 mile clip hanging with a WRX at 95 mph. I have to say though 25 is pretty dissapointing for the Lancer.
crowb says:
06:49 AM, 07/ 9/08
Well he did say that he kept the revs up a lot of the time.
Also its got to hurt your gas mileage when you have the passenger window down, blasting bottle rockets at traffic. And John was probably wandering all over the road, because we all know that a quart of Wild Turkey certainly makes driving entertaining to say the least.
I love this country. Where else can you load up on booze and explosives at the same time and it be completely legal?
greenpony says:
08:32 AM, 07/ 9/08
That's a lousy range. Having to fill up with less than 300 miles on the tank would be a dealbreaker for me. I expect to be able to pass 400 miles without running out of gas.
altimadude00 says:
09:59 AM, 07/ 9/08
The 2.4 in my Altima usually gets in the high 20s on the highway and I feel confident approaching 350 miles on a tank. In the city, though, I'm lucky to see 300 for a tank.
moocow1 says:
10:35 AM, 07/ 9/08
You guys are making me very happy to have my Sonata now. I easily get over 30mpg+ even at 75mph on the highway and so far I haven't had a fillup under 420 miles with a LOT of city driving involved. On purely highway, I'd be over 500 miles of range. This is certainly a pretty economical car. I'm surprised the altima isn't over 30 on highway.
stingray454 says:
03:08 PM, 07/ 9/08
All highway? 33 MPG in my '02 Z06. If the tires weren't so damned expensive, and the car wasn't $50k to buy new, you could almost consider it an economy car. I wonder what the mileage would be with small economy tires on it?
speeder31 says:
07:35 PM, 07/ 9/08
On a recent trip to MD, I averaged about 31 (according to my trip computer) in my 325i. Not bad for a late-80's model with a six-cylinder, huh? The five-speed helps a lot, though...
citronc says:
08:21 AM, 07/10/08
My 04 C230K 6 speed got 33mpg on a road trip last week and a few weeks ago I had a commute home (not during rush hour) with a reading of 35.4mpg. Even with my usual commute I still get 27-28mpg on a tank driving in town in the hills, which matches the computers average. My old SRT4 was easily able to get 28-30mpg on the hwy usually (32mpg once but it was across the Florida panhandle) , but the hyperactive gas light would still came on after just 220 or so miles when there was still about 4 gallons in the tank, verified it once accidentally the Lancer way and got to do a total fill.