1meanGT

Thought I would add my 2 cents worth of experience.

98 Mountianeer with 5.0- no add ons- 3.55 rear AWD all the time and well maintained at 113,000 miles. 15-17 MPG except when towing 23 foot camper- then 11 MPG at 65MPH. When temperatures reach 112 degrees- I found out that I can only get about 4-5 MPG.

My friend has a 4.0 and the best he can get is 15 MPG in 2wd mode.


1996 Caravan with a 3.3 163,000 miles 22MPG

1994 1.9L Tracer 42 MPG (manual) and had a cold air kit 203,000 when I sold it.

1991 Mustang vert 5.0 -3.55 auto 19 MPG with the top down too 113,000 miles

All I can say is this: I use MS Money to track all my expenses on my cars. I drive about 48,000 miles in a year with my job. I used the Tracer till it had 203,000 miles on it because it had the best fuel economy. This car right now is the most expensive car I owned per mile and I do all my own repairs. This includes gas, oil, and all parts. The caravan is in 2nd, Mountaineer is in 3rd and the Mustang has been the most reliable.

I have used every type of fuel and have never seen any loss or increase in performance in any of the cars. I even tried to an octane booster when towing up the Big Horns in Wyoming last year and saw no difference from when I pulled in the Rockies a week later.

I did use synthetic oil when towing on vacation and ran 5,200 miles on that oil change. The oil was still golden when I changed it. I was impressed enough that I will do it again when I put my engine to the severe duty.

Off subject- my lawn mower consumes more fuel per HP generated than anything else I own.

As for the person who is able to get 32mpg with their Explorer- I wonder if this is the reported MPG by the mileage computer. Mine said I was getting 70 MPG when I went down the 10% grade for 18 miles in the Big Horns- the reality is the gas gauge still dropped like a rock and I averaged about 11 MPG on the 180 miles between the fill.