EPA MPG vs real world MPG clarified
Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 75
Likes: 7
From: Alberta
Hi all. It's been 2 years since my first post. Still running my factory tires LT275/65R18C 113/110S.
Just a hair over 28,800km (18,000miles). The calculations are based upon running 87 Octane "with up to 10% ethanol" (which is what I have been using since purchase), and where I live we have now been using "winter gas" for almost a month.
This is a week of driving typical city stop-and-go conditions, split between 50km/h 60km/h and the occasional 70km/h (31-44mph), average temperature 8C (46F), morning drive -6C (22F),
5 minute remote-start warmup every morning.
Truck computer is claiming 12.9L/100km
- note that I haven't done hard calculations based on my actual fuel stops of fill/distance, that is for some day when I have no house or yard chores
, to go through about a year of receipts.
12.9L = 2.841G CAN = 21.999mpg
12.9L = 3.408G US = 18.339mpg
Pretty good IMHO for a truck
and to paraphrase most of acdii's posts - you get, how you drive -
We are all here because we bought trucks, for whatever purpose/reason. How you drive them, is totally within your control.
As for fuel mileage: "You get what you get, and you don't get upset !"
Have a great weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canuckians !!!
Just a hair over 28,800km (18,000miles). The calculations are based upon running 87 Octane "with up to 10% ethanol" (which is what I have been using since purchase), and where I live we have now been using "winter gas" for almost a month.
This is a week of driving typical city stop-and-go conditions, split between 50km/h 60km/h and the occasional 70km/h (31-44mph), average temperature 8C (46F), morning drive -6C (22F),
5 minute remote-start warmup every morning.
Truck computer is claiming 12.9L/100km
- note that I haven't done hard calculations based on my actual fuel stops of fill/distance, that is for some day when I have no house or yard chores
, to go through about a year of receipts.12.9L = 2.841G CAN = 21.999mpg
12.9L = 3.408G US = 18.339mpg
Pretty good IMHO for a truck
and to paraphrase most of acdii's posts - you get, how you drive -We are all here because we bought trucks, for whatever purpose/reason. How you drive them, is totally within your control.
As for fuel mileage: "You get what you get, and you don't get upset !"
Have a great weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canuckians !!!
Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 75
Likes: 7
From: Alberta
(every item weighs something).What are the driving conditions like where you live ? Is your city/town/village/hamlet
relatively flat or hilly ?My truck is relatively stock - CAT scale Gross Weight 2 weeks after I bought it with only a full tank of fuel: 5,260 lbs.
Tonneau cover (helps cut bed/tailgate wind drag a bit) and floor mats and emergency road kit and small miscellaneous items, add about 135 lbs, so maybe 5,395 Gross plus my 170 lb carcass
Everything counts ...
Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 63
Likes: 7
My 2013 FX 4 3.5L scab with stock 20" wheels and a 1.5" front lift got 15 mpg avg. over 5 years using standard unleaded with 10%. ( epa 16 / 21 ) The new 2019 Platinum FX 4, 3.5L screw, stock 20", is 18.9 mpg avg for the first 750 miles. 21 avg on the last hwy trip. ( epa 17 / 23 )
Last edited by Labsrule; Nov 14, 2019 at 07:59 AM.
Member
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 183
Likes: 42
Fuel mileage by pro truck drivers with the big rigs varies by 25% or more depending entirely on the skill of the driver. Some drivers get 6 mpg while others get 8 mpg and the very best drivers get over 9 mpg. I see pickup truck drivers shooting past me at 85 mph and then taking the next exit and they have saved at most a couple of minutes with the trip and burned 30% more fuel.
My diesel 3/4 ton truck mpg varies from 10 mpg at 65 mph with a 20 mph headwind (effectively 85 mph) and towing a camper to 20 mpg with only the fiberglass cap on the bed and traveling at 65 mph. Around town I get 16 mpg which is why for short trips I take the Prius (45 mpg on regular gas) unless I really need the cargo bed of the truck or to tow a trailer. My fleet mpg is a combination of the 16 mpg truck, a 22 mpg SUV, and the 45 mpg sedan.
Concerned about fuel economy, then slow down as the air drag increase with the square of the speed so at 80 mph there is 4 times as much air drag as at 40 mph. A truck is only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick and when yahoos jack them up the drag coefficient goes up as well in a spectacular manner. Put on very large and very heavy and very inefficient off-road tires and you can put an even bigger dent in the fuel economy of the truck.
EPA numbers indicate relative fuel economy for a vehicle. After that it depends on how the owner operates the truck and what they chose to modify that determines ultimate fuel consumption with each mile driven.
My diesel 3/4 ton truck mpg varies from 10 mpg at 65 mph with a 20 mph headwind (effectively 85 mph) and towing a camper to 20 mpg with only the fiberglass cap on the bed and traveling at 65 mph. Around town I get 16 mpg which is why for short trips I take the Prius (45 mpg on regular gas) unless I really need the cargo bed of the truck or to tow a trailer. My fleet mpg is a combination of the 16 mpg truck, a 22 mpg SUV, and the 45 mpg sedan.
Concerned about fuel economy, then slow down as the air drag increase with the square of the speed so at 80 mph there is 4 times as much air drag as at 40 mph. A truck is only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick and when yahoos jack them up the drag coefficient goes up as well in a spectacular manner. Put on very large and very heavy and very inefficient off-road tires and you can put an even bigger dent in the fuel economy of the truck.
EPA numbers indicate relative fuel economy for a vehicle. After that it depends on how the owner operates the truck and what they chose to modify that determines ultimate fuel consumption with each mile driven.
Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 75
Likes: 7
From: Alberta
Fuel mileage by pro truck drivers with the big rigs varies by 25% or more depending entirely on the skill of the driver. Some drivers get 6 mpg while others get 8 mpg and the very best drivers get over 9 mpg. I see pickup truck drivers shooting past me at 85 mph and then taking the next exit and they have saved at most a couple of minutes with the trip and burned 30% more fuel.
My diesel 3/4 ton truck mpg varies from 10 mpg at 65 mph with a 20 mph headwind (effectively 85 mph) and towing a camper to 20 mpg with only the fiberglass cap on the bed and traveling at 65 mph. Around town I get 16 mpg which is why for short trips I take the Prius (45 mpg on regular gas) unless I really need the cargo bed of the truck or to tow a trailer. My fleet mpg is a combination of the 16 mpg truck, a 22 mpg SUV, and the 45 mpg sedan.
Concerned about fuel economy, then slow down as the air drag increase with the square of the speed so at 80 mph there is 4 times as much air drag as at 40 mph. A truck is only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick and when yahoos jack them up the drag coefficient goes up as well in a spectacular manner. Put on very large and very heavy and very inefficient off-road tires and you can put an even bigger dent in the fuel economy of the truck.
EPA numbers indicate relative fuel economy for a vehicle. After that it depends on how the owner operates the truck and what they chose to modify that determines ultimate fuel consumption with each mile driven.
My diesel 3/4 ton truck mpg varies from 10 mpg at 65 mph with a 20 mph headwind (effectively 85 mph) and towing a camper to 20 mpg with only the fiberglass cap on the bed and traveling at 65 mph. Around town I get 16 mpg which is why for short trips I take the Prius (45 mpg on regular gas) unless I really need the cargo bed of the truck or to tow a trailer. My fleet mpg is a combination of the 16 mpg truck, a 22 mpg SUV, and the 45 mpg sedan.
Concerned about fuel economy, then slow down as the air drag increase with the square of the speed so at 80 mph there is 4 times as much air drag as at 40 mph. A truck is only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick and when yahoos jack them up the drag coefficient goes up as well in a spectacular manner. Put on very large and very heavy and very inefficient off-road tires and you can put an even bigger dent in the fuel economy of the truck.
EPA numbers indicate relative fuel economy for a vehicle. After that it depends on how the owner operates the truck and what they chose to modify that determines ultimate fuel consumption with each mile driven.
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 9
Likes: 2
From: Philadelphia, PA
I got my 2012 FX4 5,0L a few weeks ago and I have been averaging about 16.5 mpg. I put about 1000 miles a week on my truck so it's not a small sample size, it is also split evenly between city and highway mileage. It's all about how heavy your foot is.