After racking up 3000 miles in a 2 1/2 week roadtrip through record high temperatures, I've learned a few things about my TCH:
1. The trunk is NOT too small. Two adults and two kids living out of the TCH for 17 days really pushed the limits of the trunk (and my sanity), but we made it.
2. The seats are supremely comfortable. While I'm sure everybody's shape is different, mine seems to do well in the TCH seats...even after an 800 mile day.
3. My mileage seemed to drop quite a bit after 70
MPH. Our first leg was 70
MPH and returned 41 MPG. Our last leg was 80+
MPH and returned 37
MPH.
4. Crazy heat didn't affect mileage as much as I thought. Early July, we were driving through 113 degree heat and still at 41 MPG.
5. High elevations and slow speeds do wonders for the MPG. We were posting 43 MPG in Yellowstone.
6. My TCH loves LA. I don't know if the car was trying to be cool, if CA has better gas, smoother roads or Paris Hilton had anything to do with it, but our best gas mileage of the entire trip was in LA: 49 MPG. I could not belive it. It didn't last long, and the trip to Las Vegas soon put us back to a tank average of 42.
7. The TCH is NOT an off-road vehicle. I suspect it was the VDIM, but the engine never shut off on a 5 mile section of gravel road, even though we were well under 42
MPH (come on, it was a gravel road!) and the SOC was very good. Overall, the TCH handled very well off road, but it's no General Lee and I'm no Dukes of Hazard.
8. The 'ECO' switch makes a big diffence in mileage. Our's slipped to 38 MPG until I remembered to press that little doodad.
9. TCH windshields and Utah don't get along. Utah wins.
10. We only stopped for gas 5 times on a 3000 mile trip. There were many many more potty breaks.