jct

i was using cruise control i know some ppl don't care for that... but i like it

Zman

Caravans are absolutely terrible.

Somebody should swap out its seats and put them in the xB though!

SentraSE-R

Cruise control is very efficient. I can barely beat it with my right foot on steady speed driving on flat ground. Hilly roads are another story, as my foot/brain combination lets me trade speed loss for elevation gain on the uphills, and I can easily beat 300 mpg on downhills with a manual. On the flats, for the effort involved, the ~1 mpg I might gain over cruise control isn't worth it.

P&G beats CC on the flats, too, and very decisively, so it's worth the effort. When you find the right combinations, 65 mpg is possible at low speeds, and 50 mpg on highways.

SentraSE-R

Zman, I had to buy a battery for their Grand Caravan. The new battery fixed a problem they had with the automatic door locks not working, or so I thought. Two days later, the door locks weren't working again. I thought the minivan might have a short that was draining the battery, so I Googled the problem. It turns out it's a faulty software problem that isn't covered by warranty, and there's a TSB on it. Basically, Chrysler wants you to pay for them to install their patch for their faulty software problem. So, to save $30 in labor costs, Chrysler has spawned hundreds of dissatisfied customers who have sworn never to buy another of their products, ever again. The temporary fix is to pull a fuse to reset the ECM to default, and the door locks will work again for up to 6 months.

jct

modern day mopars just sucks... mopars from the 70's on back are better then todays cars well with the right car and a slant 6 with a highway gear ratio you can see around high 20's to mid 30's mpgs

SentraSE-R

I filled my tank today. 451.6 miles on 9.617 gal, for 46.96 mpg. The low fuel light went on at about 435 miles, so I'd have been lucky to get 500 miles out of this tank.

Zman

My tank was at about 360 miles at the fuel light. The light came on as soon i started it this morning and the engine cranked over a few times. It was pretty cold out. I hit 400 upon the E, so this isn't too bad of a tank. I just try to save some money here and there. I should have over a gallon left right?


My friend has a Caravan he got for free from family.
Its cool how big it is inside but it gets about 18mpg and he makes a 3 hour drive a couple times a month. Its old and things keep breaking and its way past due to get something else. I recommend an xB of course or possibly a Civic hatch or something.


My left rear door lock doesn't work with the remote door locks and it never has. Funny the dealer didn't tell me about that when I was buying it.

jcXB

Do you have any mods on your box?

SentraSE-R

It's a stock RS 3.0 with no mods other than projector headlights installed by one of the previous owners. The inside "dome" light is LED, but I don't know if it came from the factory like that, or was modded to be that way. Anyway, no performance or eco mods yet.

Zman, you probably had just under a gallon left. The fuel light goes on with 10 gal. used, and 1.9 gals still in the tank. At 36 mpg for the light to go on after 360 miles, you used up another gallon getting to the E mark. That left you with .9 gal. or less in the tank, depending on how full you filled it to start with.

My xB replaces a Chevy Astro van. That beast had the largest cargo capacity of any minivan to my knowledge, 170 cu. ft. It was only rated EPA 15/20 mpg. I could get 21-22 mpg on the highway at 60 mph, but it dropped to 15-17 mpg at 70 mph

Zman

Someone stuck that LED in the dome light, I guess that's one thing you don't have to do now.

I have 413 miles, below the E, and I have to drive 13 miles to school. I think I can make it, every time I fill up I have more left than I expected.

SentraSE-R

Zman,

Thanks for the dome light info. I don't know what came with the stock RS 3.0s or other xBs, since I bought mine used, and have no friends with xBs.

I hope you made the 13 miles okay. It's no fun trying to start a fuel-injected engine that's run dry.

Drove the wife's car ('06 AT Hyundai Elantra) to Las Vegas and back over the weekend. Averaged 41 mpg over 1040 miles in a car with an '08 EPA highway estimated 28 mpg. That's 43% over EPA, just by setting the cruise control to 55 mph. I was amazed how 13 miles of 17 mpg driving in Las Vegas penalized the rest of the tank's mileage for the next 460 miles!

Zman

I'm getting that gumout injector cleaner and stp fuel additive for my next tanks to see if it makes a difference. I'm stuck around 36-37 mpg during winter though.

SentraSE-R

That's still about 20% over EPA combined mileage estimates for xB1s. That's pretty good for Winter driving.

jct

you'll get crappier mpg in the winter anyways due to winter blend fuels

Zman

My mileage never goes below 32 in the coldest months. I hate winter!

SentraSE-R

Pretty warm here today (~70). I drove to my HMO's pharmacy and only got 38 mpg over a 10 mile drive, so I drove out to my country road playground on the way back, and raised the return trip mileage to 59.2 mpg over about 30 miles.

Zman

That's tempting sometimes, but the point is to use less gas, and going less distance almost always helps.

SentraSE-R

My excuses are that I'm practicing technique and skills, and also scouting the marsh for our upcoming Christmas Bird Count, but you're right. I can bring my mileage up to 50 mpg taking that route home without any unnecessary driving, because it drops to sea level with some good coasting. I took a side spur road for 5 miles, and drove it twice, for the unnecessary mileage.

SentraSE-R

Ouch. Winter gas and winter mileage are here. I drove my wife shopping today. Lots of stop and go driving, so I'm only averaging about 43-44 mpg according to my Scangauge. But there's another sign this is going to be an awful tank. I've driven about 85 miles, but the gauge is already down midway between full and 3/4.

jct

well it was bound to happen anyways

tis the season