Last week I started a thread in the General Discussion area inquiring about gas availability in the southeast US. All of the input was well appreciated. Thanks again.
I posted this report to that thread, but that thread sort of died off and I thought other folks might like to see the results of our road trip from the Detroit area to the Atlanta area and back.
Started the trip with about 1800 miles on the car. Total trip miles were 1486 on 37 gallons. The trip average was 40.2 MPG.
It worked out great. There was a shortage of gas in Georgia (and southern Tennessee) on I-75 as well as along GA20, US 19 and US 441. Gas was scarce, and anything but Regular was non-existant.
I had to fill up twice with Regular. I noticed no ill effects or significant reduction in MPG. I drove consistently at the posted limit +5. Mostly 70 or 75 on the Interstates. The car seemed quite happy at those speeds. The first Regular fill-up was 7.2 gallons. The second was 4.1 gallons. I felt the need to fill up when I could find gas. Those two fill-ups accounted for 473.2 miles. Those included about 225 miles of interstate highway, and about 250 miles of local/rural highway/mountain driving.
We decided to re-route our return thru the Smoky Mountains. The car was great thru the mountains, even up to Clingman's Dome (highest point in the Smokies @ 6300 ft). Never a lack of power, even with Regular gas. A couple of times I needed 3rd gear. In the hills, although auto mode worked OK, I preferred to use manual to control the shift points in the curving, climbing roads. I might add that I weigh in at 250 and my wife is about (look both ways
) 170ish. Plus our bags and requisite souvenir stuff.
The biggest bother to me was the lack of cruise control. Call me lazy, but I've grown accustomed to it and really did miss it. Area 451 - here I come!
The weather was good except for a few showers and the handling was fine. We were not cramped and found the overall ride to be pretty good. Of course there was the wind buffeting from large vehicles, although for me it was more of an annoyance than a hazard.
BTW, A/C was on most of the time, except in the cool mountain air and the last 100 miles or so back to Michigan.
Fuel fill-up chronology:
1st - Lexington, KY - 321.9 mi from start/8.16 gal Prem/39.45 MPG
2nd - Chattanooga, TN (incl. 10 mile backtrack to find gas) - 291.2 mi/7.2 gal Reg/40.44 MPG
3rd - Dahlonega, GA - 168.5 mi/4.13 gallons Reg/40.8 MPG
4th - London, KY - 304.7 mi/7.59 gal Prem/40.1 MPG
5th - Tipp City, OH - 221.6 mi/5.19 gal Prem.42.6 MPG (maybe not quite full)
6th - End of Journey - 177.8 mi/4.73 gal Prem/37.6 MPG
For the record, local MPG before the trip was 31-33, mostly in town
1976 Rover Mini
2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2007 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec (SOLD)
2009 smart Passion (Gone)
2011 smart Passion
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