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Originally Posted by gonavy
I've only found 2 or 3 600+ mile tanks in the DB, though I only scanned the 1st 20ish cars. The record seems to be GreenandBlue, though I think this was an Xcel-assisted tank...absolutely had a large amount of FASing to do this.
49.1mpg, 746 miles, 15.2gal, 80deg, 360min
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Nope - Xcel didn't help me with that tank (although when I loaned him the car, he was able to get some 60mpg segments on his work commute, and he did FAS the car, use all the tricks at his disposal, etc). Pics of that are in the Share section, btw.
I did not post any of his mileage in the DB - that little gold star was purely my efforts - it was important that I made that goal on my own, as I felt it would be an unfair advantage to post his efforts with the car. (I think he got almost 900mi out of the tank when he had the car, btw - the Share pics will show what he did).
For that tank in particular, I drove (alone; I weighed < 200lbs at the time) from Northern IL to a suburb of Cincinnatti, OH and back. Straight back; I did not drive in Cincy at all once I got to my destination, and pooled with other people in another vehicle for my trips in that locale. So that was as close to a pure interstate trip as you can get. Try arguing with the uninitiated that you can't drive your brand-new fuel efficient car around town because you're working on a record tank. Suffice to say, I was looked at a little bit askance at times.
I had to stop a couple of times (not more than 3) each way to use the facilities and stretch my legs, so that time was not 'non-stop'. I also had the benefit of warm weather, trucks to draft when possible, and driving the minimum speed (posted speed limit on Interstate highways in IN is 70mph, w/ a minimum of 65; I drove even slower than that when I could safely do so). However - and this is important - I did not FAS the car, because of the known issues with re-engaging OD on a higher-speed FAS). This is pure DWL / DWB, people.
Also, I filled that tank slightly more full than usual (but not an absolute top-off, because of the charcoal canister potentially being ruined through fuel expansion).
Tires were inflated to 50lbs for that trip, given the interstate conditions (I usually ran at 38 around my locale, for reference). Xcel had them up to about (at least ?) 50 during the week he had the car, as well.
Finally, I knew per the service manual that the Navi unit is calibrated to allow about 20mi after the display reaches '0 mi' for range (it will go to dashes below '0'), and Xcel and I had had the tank down to '0', close to '0', or past '0' several times in the past. So I had trust in the display, if you will. Was near fumes as I got back to my starting point.
Xcel had figured I would break 50-55mpg on a longer highway trip, if I was very careful. Didn't quite do that, but would have, except for some traffic in the Chicago area at the outset (I took a slightly different route home and skipped over that traffic on the return).
Congrats on the 1st 500mi tank. Nice feeling to reach a milestone like that, eh ?
