Include

[DieselFan]

Joe, I commute roughly 90-100 miles a day, driving from Lebanon, TN to Nashville, TN then to Brentwood, TN via I-40W->I-440W->I-65S, where I drop other half off at work, and then on to downtown Nashville via I-65N. The return trip is from downtown Nashville to Brentwood via I-65S, then back up to Nashville I-65N->I-440E and back out to Lebanon via I-40E. By no means the suburbs. BTW, in 2002 Nashville was ranked 28th in the nation for traffic congestion.

----------------Total--Num----Total----Trip--Gal----Cost---------Comp
Date------Brand-Cost---Gall---Miles----Miles-Cost---Mile----MPG--MPG

5/7/2005--BP----$95.91-43.816-69,078.8-919.4-$2.189-$0.1043-21.0-21.2
5/19/2005-BP----$97.07-46.690-70,052.6-973.8-$2.079-$0.0997-20.9-21.2
5/29/2005-BP----$71.24-34.267-70,775.8-723.2-$2.079-$0.0985-21.1-21.4
6/11/2005-BP----$94.13-42.043-71,659.9-884.1-$2.239-$0.1065-21.0-21.1
6/20/2005-BP----$88.24-38.384-72,463.8-803.9-$2.299-$0.1098-20.9-21.0

As you can see, I track my fuel use pretty close and it has been pretty consistant.

The majority of mileage gains you will see come from how you drive. A good instant indicator is your overhead computer. Though mine is a couple tenths optimistic, it's still a good indicator of how I'm doing as I go along.

For example, where I get fuel is at a BP truck stop out on the interstate in the country. After I fuel up and get back on the road, my mileage climbs from 0.0 (sitting at the pump) to 23.0 or 24.0 running at 60 MPH in about five miles. This is where my truck seems happiest because everything else from that point just brings those numbers down. And as soon as I get off the big road onto a secondary to my town (45 MPH limit with four very active traffic lights over a 3 mile distance) the mileage will drop back to 21.0. I try and anticipate red lights to keep it rolling, but it's difficult on this road. I get up the next morning, climb into a stone cold truck, drive three miles through town and three miles back out to the interstate and my mileage will drop to 18.0 or so and climb back up once I get a ways down the interstate. Once I get within 12 miles of the city, I'm getting into heavier traffic. And the closer I get the more stop and go traffic I encounter. So what I do is watch the traffic ahead of me and adjust my speed so that I don't have to play the stop and go game. Keep it rolling, even if it means I've got a gap in front of me and every tin can four-wheeler with broken turn signals thinks they have a God-given right to jump right in front of me.

I've found the big fuel burners are the following in order....

1. Short in-town trips in a cold truck.
2. Driving the truck in winter, burning winterized fuel.
3. Heavy right foot.
4. High speeds.

If I were to drive like I see most drivers of large pickups/SUV's, my mileage would plummet. Most everyone drives over the speed limit and get caught up in the cat and mouse game of stop and go driving. Accelerate hard, brake hard, accelerate hard, brake hard. I guess to each his own, but I won't do it. I'll get close to 100,000 out of this set of tires and at 75,000 miles on the odo, I've still got 2/3 of the material left on my brake pads. And yes, I do tow (about 2,500 lb plus) occasionally and a truck load of family, church kids or scouts.

So yeah, I drive more sedately and yeah, I spend a lot of time in the granny lane doing my 60-65 MPH, but considering that I only save 2 minutes traveling at 75 MPH over 60 MPH in a ten mile stretch, I'll leave a couple minutes earlier, stay at 60 MPH and save fuel and wear and tear on the truck. And the added advantage is that I don't have to worry about running up someone else's backside either if I'm not paying 100% attention. It's the same way I drive an eighteen wheeler and with over 1,000,000 miles of accident free miles, I must be doing something right. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]