Useless Information

[Tonyrodz]

Don't forget the Suburban holds about 13 gallons of fuel more than the Toyota and I think 11 more than the Nissan. That will factor both in weight and range.

I haven't pushed the limits on my 2500 like I did on my Tahoe, but that's the main reason that I went to the 2500. I think that if I were going to run the 2500 closer to it's max and more often, I would probably opt for a 2500HD PU with Duramax. Even with a slightly higher fuel cost, the Duramax would be a bit more efficient under load.

Me and a friend drove across country pulling a 54 ft enclosed trailer with 2 Lambos inside. We drove a Silverado(forget the year) had the Duramax and Allison trans. It didn't even breath hard. That was an awesome setup.

 

[Debonair]

...Run a couple tanks of 91 and watch your mileage go up. Pick Exxon Mobil or Chevron, not Shell or Costco.

I went back a few pages looking for an explanation on this one. Care to point me to some educational reading? My wallet likes Costco 91.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

@swathdiver had me at "my excel towing calculator I made"
Lol

 

[Rocket Man]

@swathdiver had me at "my excel towing calculator I made"
Lol

Ditto. Lmao

 

[swathdiver]

I think that if I were going to run the 2500 closer to it's max and more often, I would probably opt for a 2500HD PU with Duramax.

True but the interior space and acquisition cost are major factors in deciding which way to go. Intheburbs, Bill, runs his 2500 right up to the limit with no problems whatsoever, they are tough trucks.

 

[joab]

One of the interesting things about my truck is that the previous owner never reset the fuel used counter and now it is about to surpass 8,000 gallons. The mileage just rolled past 120,000.

When purchased in May, the lifetime fuel economy average by doing the math was 15.4 mph and now it is 15.04; getting worse with me! Now I reckon those West Virginia hills helped the mileage as well as the cooler weather, I've never seen 18 mpg (an average lasting a tank full of gas) at any time since bringing it home from North Carolina.

Just completed a 1,200 mile trip and it's average fuel economy, fully loaded mind you, sits at 15.6 mpg.

In every other automobile owned, surpassing the mileage on the window sticker was easy, but not so with this truck! Maybe that's because the mileage on the window sticker was blank? LOL Published literature puts it between 14 and 15 city and 19 to 21 highway.

Do they get better mileage above 78 mph? I have a Montana that gets its best mileage at highway speeds that would make the driver well deserving of a ticket!

My 04 Suburban would get 20-22 mpg at 73 mph on flat Florida highways played with cruise for two weeks to find the best mpg commuting to work and that was with 190,000 miles on the 5.3

 

[swathdiver]

I went back a few pages looking for an explanation on this one. Care to point me to some educational reading? My wallet likes Costco 91.

Since I was old enough to drive I've been recording the mileage of every vehicle I've ever driven. In thirty years I've learned that not all gasoline is the same, whether by octane rating and especially brand.

If I want to lose 2 mpg I can always count on Shell gasoline to do so. And that is running their 93 octane. Mobil has surpassed Sunoco and I can get another 1+ mpgs by running Chevron's 93 right now.

The mark of greatest efficiency of a fuel is how many cents per mile does it cost to run. Not how much or little we pay per gallon. Millions of folks are duped into believing that low octane is equal to high octane because their manual and the internet say so. The gasoline companies are happy to take the money of folks too ignorant to use their most efficient fuels.

How many cents a mile does Costco's 91 octane deliver?

I've posted many examples here and on other forums, comparing different fuels and brands and the cents per mile they deliver. My brain is too fried tonight to provide another example.

If you have a Flex Fuel engine, I would reckon that right now, you will save the most money by using it as your cost per mile will be least.

 

[swathdiver]

My 04 Suburban would get 20-22 mpg at 73 mph on flat Florida highways played with cruise for two weeks to find the best mpg commuting to work and that was with 190,000 miles on the 5.3

That's fantastic for those older trucks! That's even great for my generation too. I've found the sweet spot with my older vehicles. With this truck, the cats were getting progressively worse skewing my mileage numbers and the one time I had to play with it afterwards it began raining. Had a long run this evening and her city mileage was in the 13s and ended up at 15.1 mpg running a couple hours or so at 70 mph.

Let me ask you Joab, what gear is in your Suburban and is it a 2WD or 4WD? Welcome aboard btw!

 

[gooffeyguy]

So true that all gas is not created equal.

I've been running E85 from the Mobil station near me at $2.19 gal (hasn't changed price in the almost 3 months I've been getting it) and have been averaging 12-13 mpg with mostly city driving.

About 2 weeks ago I filled up with E85 from a Phillips 66 for $2.09 gal and I only averaged 9-10 mpg on that tank.

Filled back up with the Mobil and so far back up to 12 mpg (have only used 3/4 tank since fill up).

2001 Yukon SLT
2011 Yukon Denali

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Debonair]

So based on personal fuel millage records. I have been getting 12.7 on this beast . Costco is close to my work so its convenient and cheap, $3.69 for 91 right now. Ill give Chevron a few tanks and see how it does. Thank you for sharing.

 

[randeez]

filled up with 93 for the first time in a while last week, seemed like it took forever to run out of gas

back to E85

 

[swathdiver]

Let's do a quick comparison Debonair.

Tom gave us two excellent examples. On one brand he's getting 12.5 mpg and paying $2.19 a gallon. That works out to $.175 cents per gallon.

His other station is $2.09 and gets 9.5 MPG which works out to $.22 cents per mile. A huge difference!

Now you're getting 12.7 mpg for every $3.69 spent which works out to $.29 cents a mile. Man, you even beat me!

My average since October last year has been $.22 cents a mile as was the last tank. When running E85 it drops into the teens, between $.17-19 cents a mile depending on cost.

Gas seems to be very expensive where you live and it's going up for all of us. I cringed paying $3.66 for my last tank of Chevron 93 but didn't have time to drive over to the less expensive station for the test. Life got in the way of the test and that tank will probably end up at $.24 cents a mile as my DIC average is 15.1 mpg on that tank. Lots of idling again.

My daughter's Kia burns $.12 cents a mile and it should go down as she learns to control that right foot!

 

[swathdiver]

So true that all gas is not created equal.

I've been running E85 from the Mobil station near me at $2.19 gal (hasn't changed price in the almost 3 months I've been getting it) and have been averaging 12-13 mpg with mostly city driving.

About 2 weeks ago I filled up with E85 from a Phillips 66 for $2.09 gal and I only averaged 9-10 mpg on that tank.

Filled back up with the Mobil and so far back up to 12 mpg (have only used 3/4 tank since fill up).

2001 Yukon SLT
2011 Yukon Denali

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I wondered about that with E85. I was getting wildly differing alcohol contents but that of course is also affected by my last fill up. However, the Shell and Ractrac stations say that the E85 is not their own brand, it comes from someone else, presumably the same distributor in town. Don't remember what Sunoco's said. For the sake of consistency, I stuck with Racetrac as they were the least expensive at the time and my alcohol content leveled out to 71% and was getting 10.25 mpg on it, all city driving.

I'd run Shell's E85 before but that was prior to setting up my fuel logs for this truck and their price varies wildly; the station is on a highway rest stop. Haven't run Sunoco's E85 yet. I should call that distributor...

One more tank of Chevron to do those highway mileage tests and Autocal data log for BlackBear, or attempt them with this rain, and back on E85.

 

[Debonair]

@swathdiver I understand Your explanation, thank you. I have never looked past price per gallon if even that, typically just filling up at any name brand station or Costco/Safeway since I tore thru gas with my V8 sedans anyways and a couple of cents difference has not been worth the inconvenience of looking and finding better prices. I have had to really baby this beast to get 12.7.

Chevron around here is 3.99 - 4.19 for 91 right now. Ill fill up next week and see how she does millage wise.

 

[swathdiver]

@swathdiver I understand Your explanation, thank you. I have never looked past price per gallon if even that, typically just filling up at any name brand station or Costco/Safeway since I tore thru gas with my V8 sedans anyways and a couple of cents difference has not been worth the inconvenience of looking and finding better prices. I have had to really baby this beast to get 12.7.

Chevron around here is 3.99 - 4.19 for 91 right now. Ill fill up next week and see how she does millage wise.

It is a few cents a gallon. $.03 cents a gallon over 300 miles is $9.00! That's enough for a Mocha Lotta Crappy coffee at Starbucks. After a year, that's a really nice dinner for two with the wife.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

@swathdiver I understand Your explanation, thank you. I have never looked past price per gallon if even that, typically just filling up at any name brand station or Costco/Safeway since I tore thru gas with my V8 sedans anyways and a couple of cents difference has not been worth the inconvenience of looking and finding better prices. I have had to really baby this beast to get 12.7.

Chevron around here is 3.99 - 4.19 for 91 right now. Ill fill up next week and see how she does millage wise.

Your baby will thank you.

 

[Jason_S]

True but the interior space and acquisition cost are major factors in deciding which way to go. Intheburbs, Bill, runs his 2500 right up to the limit with no problems whatsoever, they are tough trucks.

That would be why I went with the Burb and not a truck. The extra weight of the Burb also results in it having a noticeably better ride over the 2500 PUs, even if it pulled the TR down from 10K to 9300. We've had considerably more than 10K on the back of a 2500HD, 6.0 Vortec, here at work for short moves around the site. The truck handled it well enough, but we eventually bought a 3500.

I drove an '07 F-350 6.0L SRW for a while, and it never seemed to care what was behind it. I've considered a diesel Excursion, but people run them into the ground and then want top dollar for them.

 

[Jason_S]

Running Exxon's 10% 87 all winter long had me averaging around 12mpg, but stupid cold temps had me close to 10 a few tanks. Warmer weather brings me up to 14mpg on the same fuel and Exxon 91 in warmer weather gets me 15. Straight highway miles will bring me well into the 20's, but I rarely get to do that.

 

[swathdiver]

Running Exxon's 10% 87 all winter long had me averaging around 12mpg, but stupid cold temps had me close to 10 a few tanks. Warmer weather brings me up to 14mpg on the same fuel and Exxon 91 in warmer weather gets me 15. Straight highway miles will bring me well into the 20's, but I rarely get to do that.

I've never seen even 19 mpg with 93 octane in my 1500! I'm jealous! Frustrated with the prices at the time and lack of good ones, I settled on a nice 1500. One more tank of gasoline and then I'm going back to E85, the motor loves it as does my wallet!

 

[Jason_S]

The biggest boost to my MPG, was acknowledging that I will get there when I get there, and driving accordingly. Sure I can drive 80, hell I still do on occasion, especially when in Houston, but it doesn't mean that i have to.