Here i am again.Do you see a pattern here My other car is a 98 Mountaineer v-8 with all wheel drive(affectionately know as the gp gas pig) I get 17 suburban driving and 21 highway at60-65mpg. Is there anything I can do to improve mpg. I need all wheel drive as we go to the mtns.often. Every 2 wks (400miles round trip.)My wifes car is rear wheel drive and is worthless.(and so is the merc valuewise.)jimboh55
Jimboh:
You need to do some real navel gazing as to what you really need, can afford, and what the rest of your family needs.
I live near the mountains and spend at least 20 weekends a year there. I DO NOT OWN AN ALL WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLE, OR NEED ONE!!! We own a Toyota Corolla with a ski rack and a Nissan Sentra with a pass-through ski bag installed into the backseat. WE HAVE NEVER BEEN STUCK! Out of the 90 or so members of our hiking/skiing club, no one owns the kind of vehicles you have. There are 4 Subaru Outbacks, 2 Subaru Foresters, one small GM Suv, no pickup trucks, and all other vehicles are front wheel 2 WDs.
My previous car was a Chevrolet Caprice rear wheel drive with positraction. This car never let me down either. We do have a good set of winter tires (Michelin X-ICE) on both our current cars.
Unless you own a remote mountain cabin on a mountain road that does not get plowed, you don’t need AWD or 4WD.
If you do want an AWD and good gas mileage, buy a Suzuki SX4 crossover. It had AWD on demand, and good ground clearance, and gets good gas mileage.
As other will testify, having good winter tires and sharpening your driving ability are the most important factors in getting around in the winter, wherever you are.
" I get 17 suburban driving and 21 highway at 60-65mpg"
Truthfully, this sounds like pretty good mileage for a fairly heavy, AWD vehicle with a V-8 engine.
Have you compared your mileage to the figures posted on the EPA website? I suspect that this is about as good as you are going to be able to achieve on that vehicle, but you should definitely do the routine things like:
*Making sure that your maintenance is up to date
*Increasing your tire pressure slightly (2-3 lbs. over the pressures noted on the driver’s door jamb)
*Taking excess, unnecessary items out of the cargo area to reduce weight
*Taking off SLOWLY from traffic lights
*Not tailgating
*Not racing up to stop lights
*Not using drive-up windows at banks and fast food joints