mpg to Florida

[Chopper Scott]

For what it's worth..... I was getting 6.5 mpg with my 8-71 and Allison pulling a 16' x 102" trailer last spring. Generally running at 65 mph.

[Highway Yacht]

Since I've only had my current bus for only a short time, I've only been able to check the mileage once, and that was from Roanoke VA to Charlotte NC when I purchased the bus. I averaged a little over 8 MPG but granted it was mostly all down hill, and since it was my first trip, I never got over 55mph.
Also the bus was just an empty shell so no where near as heavy as a seated or converted coach. I'm hoping for 6.5 or better after the conversion.

[DMoedave]

Well i dident do as good as i first thought. My milage was terrible heading up into Pa and the killer hills and headwinds. Then heading south with the wind behind us we started getting some good numbers 10.3 was the best for a good stretch. all said and done including in the rain and headwinds home (do you hear me making excuses) we averaged 8.6 for the whole trip. I was really hoping to do better as we had no toad and i was  keeping it at 60 or 55 even most of the time. Spent 1024. in diesel and that bought us 313.4 gals. Paid 3.35 Christmas day in NJ.(3.39 in NJ last friday) 3.25 in Va way down, 3.19 way back (saw a cheeper place and remembered  it)  3.17 South Carolina dnown, 3.21 return trip, and bought 30 gals in Fla at 3.23 gal but it took some digging to find that. 301 in Wildwood. i bought at truck stops everywhere but Fla.  So for the whole trip it was 8.6 avg and fuel avg out to 3.26 gal.  These were all cash prices btw.

[davido]

We just made a trip to south FL and back hauling five guys and a race car in an enclosed trailer. This also included running the generator a lot, so it's hard to tell for sure. We averaged 5.72 over 2250 miles over the trip. That last tank was kept right around 70 MPH with little to no generator use, so that's probably the best guess at just the driving MPG. Some of the others pushed 75 some of the time and used the generator. When parked the generator ran 12+ hours at the track.

161.8      36.76    $3.239     $119.07    4.40
342.5      69.256    $3.199     $221.55    4.95
379.1      59.18    $3.299     $195.23    6.41
316.5      54.929    $3.299     $181.21    5.76
316.9      51.452    $3.290     $169.28    6.16
385.1      70.753    $3.199     $226.34    5.44
346.8      50.172    $3.099     $155.48    6.91         
            
Miles: 2248.7   
Gallons: 392.502
Avg Cost: $3.232
Total Cost: $1,268.16
MPG: 5.72

All of the miles were based off of the GPS trip-o-meter and the gallons off of the receipts.

[dougyes]

We had the opportunity to drive a MCI J with the Cat C13/Allison 6 speed auto this summer. It was the nicest bus I ever drove. Averaged 6mpg.

[JohnEd]

Dmoe,

Bus?  Engine?  Trans?  hair color?

John

[DMoedave]

Sorry about that. its a brand new 63 year old GMCI 3703-5A-C. 6V71,Allison 654, was mostely brown,rapidly graying.

[luvrbus]

While I got decent fuel mileage I never went on a trip where I did not use 5 mpg rule made you feel good when it turned out for the better  


good luck

[JackConrad]

Like Clifford, I figure 5 MPG, then when I calculate actual MPG, I feel good when it exceeds 5 MPG.  On our 8 month trip last year, we went 6,323.9 miles and used 1,104.9 gallons of fuel for an average of 5.72 MPG. I did find a loose clamp on a fuel line the other day, but not sure how much that affected the MPG. We spent a total of 2,945.46 for fuel which gave us an average cost of $0.46 per mile.
The cheapest fuel we purchased was $2.739 and the most expensive was $3.289.  Jack

[Busted Knuckle]

While I got decent fuel mileage I never went on a trip where I did not use 5 mpg rule made you feel good when it turned out for the better  
good luck

Like Clifford (& Jack) when figuring fuel costs for trips I use 5 mpg as a base. (actually I have my program in the computer set @ 3 city & 5 hwy) with all the local shuttling and idling etc we do avg 5 mpg so I'm usually in decent shape on my figures. (I'd rather spend a little less than planned than go over budget!)
  BK 
PS we have a couple buses that do a little better than that, but for the ease of simplicity I figure all of them @ 5!

[artvonne]

  Its great to see mileage, but without knowing what your pushing,weighing, and cranking it with, or how hard your cranking, it doesnt tell us much.

[JackConrad]

 Its great to see mileage, but without knowing what your pushing,weighing, and cranking it with, or how hard your cranking, it doesnt tell us much.

You arre absolutely correct.  In my case an MC-8 with an 8V71 NA and Allison 740 turning a 3.73 rear gear. Bus weighs approx 36,500 and we tow a Jeep Grand Cherokee (3400#??) traveling throughout the Southeast and Midwest. we try to stay between 60-65 and on non-interstate roads.  Generatator and Proheat are fed from a separate tank.  Jack

[rv_safetyman]

MPG threads are always fun.

I just checked my VMSpc and it shows 7.6 MPG over 60K miles.  I think I might be a little lower since my tank fills seem to be a little more that the VMSpc shows (seems to have occurred when I put the replacement Series 60 in).  Bus is 46K with the service truck.  Was about 3-4K less when we were pulling the Durango.

My VMSpc should be reasonably accurate, since my generator and Aqua-Hot are fueled by a separate tank.

We tend to set the cruise control on 68 MPH.  I am geared so that at 68 MPH the engine is at a bit less than 1500 RPM. 

I tried to play with slower speeds when fuel got so high a couple of years ago.  I did not see a significant difference at 63 MPH.  The 1500 seems to be the sweet spot (agrees with some of the engine curves I have seen).  Series 60 engines do not seem to like to lug as well as the Cat and Cummins from what I can tell.

Living in CO, we do a lot of hill climbing.  The biggest factor seems to be the wind. 

I have been trying to do more two lane driving in the past couple of years.  I really notice a drop in mileage on those roads.  Sometimes over 1 MPG.  It takes a lot of fuel to accelerate that much weight when you have to slow down for all the small towns (or stop for several stop lights).

In my engine conversion series in BCM I present some calculations that, based on an estimated 5.5 MPG with the 6V92, I have saved something like $4K on fuel over the 60K miles.  Of course, Clifford had to point out the the cost of my second engine really wiped that out .

One last observation.  I am pretty sure I saw a decline (perhaps 5%) in MPG as ultra-low sulfur fuel was phased in.  The seems to be in keeping with general thinking.

Jim

[white-eagle]

We have an 8v92T with 740.  we weigh around 39k lbs and i drive 65-70. We got somewhere around 6.2 mpg, mostly Interstate with some traffic lights on some side highways.  from louisville to valdosta.  Haven't filled again yet in florida, but it ain't lookin cheap.
We're in the only warm place in the continental US, Florida Keys.

Oh, i forgot, we're still usin a gallon and a half of oil a day.  if it gets much worse, we'll be lookin for a close place to pull this Reliabilt engine with the silicone gasket.  i've got to call those folks and see what they know.

[Chopper Scott]

BK has it figured out. Anything above 5 mpg is gravy so enjoy it. If you bought such a rig thinking it would save you money then you might need to check on your intake of meds again!!