500 miles this weekend at 80+ MPH

[HGB]

Came back from a Tech session in Tampa last Saturday and drove at 85-90 mph avg,
I was followed by a small import with a young woman driving and glued to my tail with a digital camera hand held... for quite a long time. Maybe I'll be immortalized online. Anyway,I got 37.42 mpg. Perhaps it's my imagination or wishful thinking that when the wheels spin so fast they behave in a gyroscopic manner and make it possible to have a steadier ride. Tell that one to the cops...

[Capt. Jack]

Originally Posted by HGB

Came back from a Tech session in Tampa last Saturday and drove at 85-90 mph avg,
I was followed by a small import with a young woman driving and glued to my tail with a digital camera hand held... for quite a long time. Maybe I'll be immortalized online. Anyway,I got 37.42 mpg. Perhaps it's my imagination or wishful thinking that when the wheels spin so fast they behave in a gyroscopic manner and make it possible to have a steadier ride. Tell that one to the cops...

The smart really is steady at those high speeds. And the governor is right on: it goes to 90mph and stays there. Re: mileage, over 75 mph and the mileage for me is usually around 37mpg. Under 70 (and traveling alone) around 40 or 40+mpg, but draft a truck at around 60-65 mph and your looking at around 50 mpg! Always premium gas of course. Drive smart!

[unicycle]

Originally Posted by Capt. Jack

... but draft a truck at around 60-65 mph and your looking at around 50 mpg!

I've found that driving a warmed-up car on long flats at 50-55 mph, the best I can maintain appears to be 50 mpg (using pulse & glide ... maybe a teeny bit less if not using P&G). Driving 60-65, my best mileage would be hovering in the mid-to-low 40s. Drafting might add 10%, so that gets me up to about 48 mpg. That's close to 50 mpg, but not quite -- and that's with drafting, which isn't the safest idea unless you're pretty far back, in which case maybe add only 5%, putting you at 46 mpg or so.

Now that the warm weather is back and the winds have died down, I'm getting tankfuls back in the 370-400 mile range, averaging just under 45 mpg in the past five weeks or so.