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Can you beat this?

Probably far less than 1% of police officers consider a posted speed limit to be an actual limit. Nobody gives out tickets for driving 5MPH faster than the posted number.

Thats usually because they have to allow for factory tolerance differences with speedometers not being all calibrated the same not because they're being nice or dont care.
 
Ok, I have a couple of questions for you Reebs... Just for comparision, how big is your gas tank? Mine is 14.5 gallons, but I have a '95 so I think yours has a higher capacity... Second, if you think a Duratec can get 600 miles per tank (with your capacity), how many miles do you think you could get out of a Zetec? I want to see how close I can get to your expectations, and I have a bad wheel bearing too (12k+ miles bad, LOL :rolleyes:)...
 
I usually get 22 MPG with ATX V6 on the Interstate highway driving about 65-70 mph with the A/C on. I got 27 MPG once last year around spring time (no A/C and with windows up) driving with the cruise control at 55 MPH on a state highway. I'm sure there was a tailwind too!

So, I would think that for someone to get an additional 5 MPG driving slower than the normal regular driving would not be impossible.
 
Reebs, I have a couple of questions for you. What is the minimum RPM you will run before downshifting?

The other question has to do with the speed vs RPM you mentioned near the beginning of this thread.

You said that you you tried to maintain 57 mph at 2250 RPM. From what I understand at 2250 RPM you would only be doing 54 mph. To do 57 mph you would need to be doing 2400 rpm. If your numbers are correct your speedo is is off by +5.5%. If this same error carries over to your odometer than on a 550 mile tank you will have an extra 30.25 miles that you did not drive. Just some food for thought, any way you look at it 500+ miles is amazing.
 
Reebs, I have a couple of questions for you. What is the minimum RPM you will run before downshifting?

The other question has to do with the speed vs RPM you mentioned near the beginning of this thread.

You said that you you tried to maintain 57 mph at 2250 RPM. From what I understand at 2250 RPM you would only be doing 54 mph. To do 57 mph you would need to be doing 2400 rpm. If your numbers are correct your speedo is is off by +5.5%. If this same error carries over to your odometer than on a 550 mile tank you will have an extra 30.25 miles that you did not drive. Just some food for thought, any way you look at it 500+ miles is amazing.

Answer 1: I will usually downshift around 1,300 rpms.

As for your second part... I originally just stated what rpms I recalled at such and such a speed, etc... I could have been off by 250rpms at a given speed if I went and actually checked it with that car. I just was recalling the numbers by what I remember SVT's to be at. To get something real accurate, you would need to datalog to a digital rpm tach to pinpoint exact engine revolutions while datalogging corresponding mph input via a GPS or some other very accurate source over a given point in time and then try in many different SVT's to compute the differences in actual speed or actual distance. Of all the SVT's that I've had/driven, I don't think they vary enough to make much of a difference. I've achieved amazing mpg in all of my SVT's I've tried to now and I can get over 500 miles per tank pretty easily in all of them obviously in good mechanical shape. Good food for thought though.

Oh yea! :cool:

392.1 miles, 9.733 gallons, 40.29MPG!

This is going 60 on the highway, 35 in both 30 and 35 zones, and the speed limit in 40, 45, etc zones...

Very nice. I was going to say that you should have no trouble being able to hit 40+ mpg in your car. Try using the extra 5 or so gallons that you had left next time and see how many miles out of the tank you can get while increasing the accuracy of your test. Very nice nonetheless. I bet you can hit 600 miles out of your tank if you even lighten your foot a little more and run the tank down farther.
 
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Very nice. I was going to say that you should have no trouble being able to hit 40+ mpg in your car. Try using the extra 5 or so gallons that you had left next time and see how many miles out of the tank you can get while increasing the accuracy of your test. Very nice nonetheless. I bet you can hit 600 miles out of your tank if you even lighten your foot a little more and run the tank down farther.

IDK, I think I am done with this now that I hit 40MPG... I am just too impatient, LOL... I already screwed this tank... I mean, the 34ish MPG I get when driving like I usually would is still not that bad...
 
501.1 miles :cool:, 13.003 gallons, 38.54 MPG...

Nice. Now use that extra 2 gallons or so in your tank next time and you will easily hit over 550 miles out of the tank. I have been so busy lately that I haven't payed attention to my mpg's as I don't think I'd like to know how much they have dropped since I've been rushing around town.
 
Nice. Now use that extra 2 gallons or so in your tank next time and you will easily hit over 550 miles out of the tank. I have been so busy lately that I haven't payed attention to my mpg's as I don't think I'd like to know how much they have dropped since I've been rushing around town.

Plus who wants to drive slow:shrug:..other than my grandmother

And you reebs......:laugh:

240 to a full tank...miss fire that can't be fixed for the loss:blackeye:
 
This is not in our Contour, but it's still pretty cool -

My husband and I took a day trip a few weeks ago. We drove from our town in southcentral Montana (we filled up there), which is at an elevation of 3737 feet, over the Beartooth Highway, which www.beartoothhighway.com describes as

"One of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. In the surrounding mountains, glaciers are found on the north flank of nearly every mountain peak over 11,500 feet high. The road itself is the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet), and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies."


If anyone ever has the chance to drive on this stretch of road, DO IT!! It's open from Memorial Day to Labor Day - they don't plow other times. It's nothing but hairpins and sweeping curves and thousand-foot drop-offs and exceptionally beautiful mountains, high plains, and glacier lakes. There's always snow at the top. It's positively exhilarating to drive.

We then entered Yellowstone Park through the northeast entrance, visited Mammoth Hot Springs, Old Faithful, and then drove along Yellowstone Lake, and then exited Yellowstone through the east entrance at Cody, Wyoming (elevation 5016 feet), where we filled up. In Yellowstone, there was lots of stop and go traffic (gosh darn buffalo in the road, anyway), and the speed limit is 45.

The trip mileage came in at 310.xx miles, and we put in 10.28 gallons, but the coolest thing was the trip computer on the car saying 30.0 mpg.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to say that we were in a 2006 Mustang GT. It is completely stock except for an SCT cold air intake with a performance tune.

I couldn't believe that with an elevation climb of over 7200 feet in that tank we managed 30 mpg.

Next year when the road opens again we'll take the SVT and see what we can get.
 
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