Finally home after almost a week of vacation with Mom and 3-year old DS! Our Odyssey transported us safely and with surprisingly good fuel economy, too. My previous best tank fuel economy was 28.7 mpg through Iowa and Illinois on the way back from Yellowstone last year. My previous best miles per tank was 501.1 miles the previous day on that same trip last year, from near Cheyenne to the Omaha area. Today, those records were shattered.
I fueled up and topped off at the Cenex in Marshall, MN this morning at 9:15 am. We stopped for lunch near LaCrosse, WI and continued to the oasis Mobil in DeKalb, IL on one tank. That was good for 546.4 miles. After filling up and topping off around 7pm, the receipt showed 18.345 gallons, good for 29.78 miles per gallon. Not too shabby for a nearly 3-year old minivan with a 28mpg highway estimate based on the older (and far more lenient) method! I was too chicken to push it the last 30 or so miles after it was below “E”, even though I knew very well I had well over 1 gallon left. My mom was getting nervous so I figured I better stop lol.
I cruised at about 60 mph for the first 60 miles of the trip without A/C. Then the sun broke through the overcast sky and we went above 80 degrees, so the A/C was on the rest of the way. I basically drove 1-2 mph over the 65 and 70 mph speed limits. I was helped a bit by drafting behind semis for a couple different 15-20 mile long construction areas where the speed limit was 50-55 mph. Judging by the wind turbine generators and farm house weather vanes, a calm to slight tail wind also helped a bit most of the way. Fuel was Cenex 89, their cheapest grade (excluding E85), though they called it “Super”. I doubt I’ll be breaking that record anytime soon!
Perhaps the best part of the trip was the Britax Boulevard CS (in Riviera) box waiting for me in the foyer when I got home a little while ago! I’ll play with the Click & Safe system tomorrow and post a review tomorrow night or this weekend!
I’m sure the Passat will be better, all other things equal. I had an oil change, tire rotation, air filter replacement and general inspection just before the trip. The tires were all inflated to 35psi. I also didn’t drive 75mph+ like I had on previous trips. I’m sure it would be over 30 miles per gallon if I stuck to the speed limits and had the A/C off most of the time. Speed really cuts your mpg above 40-50 mph or so, depending on the vehicle. On this trip, the terrain was quite flat. Even the few hills were so minor that I didn’t waste a lot of energy braking as you do through really hilly areas or mountains.
Combine a lead foot with low tire inflation, automatic climate control, a head wind and some hills and you get a recipe for 20 mpg highway lol! With so many factors involved, it’s no wonder people report such a wide variety of results. We pretty consistently get 26-27 mpg on most tanks, this one was an exception.
Awesome! Our Odyssey hit 3 years old this Spring. We are going to be taking a road trip up to Omaha this Fall. We were planning on taking the VW Passat for gas efficiency, but this blog post has given me hope that we won’t have to compromise the safety and ahem…SPACE of the Odyssey. Sure is nice to stretch out your legs on a roadtrip.
Now all I have to do is talk DH into taking the Ody 😉