Fuel economy at 80-85 mph

[Maverick Lite]

Just did around 60 miles in Hybrid XL averaging between 60 and 70 and got 42 mpg

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[Charlie Daubitz]

For everyone answering the question, THANK YOU. It's a valid question. There are a lot of 80 MPH roads in Texas.

 

[Bosfordjd]

I drive TX to FL, FL to NY, TX to NY etc multiple times a year. Traffic on I-20, I-10, I-95, I-81, I-87, and all the metro area bypasses regularly travel at 80+mph. My drive last weekend averaged 72mph from Dallas to Jacksonville FL. That's with 4 Fuel stops, hotel, grabbing dinner, and 1 rest stop outside the fuel stops, and some traffic backups getting out of Dallas.

80-85 mph traffic is the norm, and five oh won't even blink if you're not 15+ over most the time. They only have to wait a few minutes to get a juicier ticket guaranteed.

OP is asking the real questions, real world mileage in real world use cases. I can't even remember the last highway I was on that went 55-65 outside of extreme rush hour traffic.

 

[Ricstar]

I made a short post about this already but to expand a little.
I am in Texas.

1. trip to Big Spring 80-85 250 mile round trip 95% Highway I got 28 MPG

2. My normal driving day is 40% Highway, 40% Rural, 20% in town and at 2000 miles I average 38 MPG right at the projected.

3. The low milage on the road trip got my wondering so I did a little experiment. There is a 5 mile stretch of the county road in front of my place that is pretty straight and level with just a few turns.
I did this round trip at 80, 70 and 60 3 times each with the results of

80 28.2 mpg
70 33.1 mpg
60 37.4 mpg

I am a Realtor and when I am showing homes in town I can get 50+ mpg

The hybrid is built for city driving not lots of highway.

Do I wish I got better on the highway? Yes
But 28 mpg at 80-85 sure beats my Tundra's 17 mpg.

 

[TerryWalker]

If your driving that fast, then you don't need to worry about MPG - You need to worry about life insurance.

And a town that uses the local interstate as a speed trap for income.....

 

[johndeerefarmer]

This weekend from LA to Bakersfield to Kettleman driving 80-90. 27 MPG average.

Thanks! That beats my trucks by 7-8 mpg

 

[mamboman777]

Just say a news story last night, crash in Texas on a 2 LANE ROAD! with a 75mph limit, multiple casualties. More than likely both going even more, kind of like hitting a stopped vehicle at 160mph. I've seen videos of vehicles crashing at 80 or more, they just explode! engine over here, back half down the street, seats laying in the road. Why do we have to drive like our hair is on fire?

Yeah... There's other problems there.... If it's the same one I'm seeing in the news, the driver was 13.

That said, I drive the speed limit in the right lane. In addition to the gas savings, Driving has become much more enjoyable since I realized that people are only in your way if you are trying to go faster than they are. RH lane, cruise control, audiobook/podcast.

 

[JASmith]

For everyone answering the question, THANK YOU. It's a valid question. There are a lot of 80 MPH roads in Texas.

80mph LIMIT, lol! You can drive 60mph all day on a 85mph speed limit highway in Texas, just move right if not passing. After all, its not as if unlimited parts of the autobahn you are forced to take your sports car up to its 200mph max speed or the polizei will pull you over for being a schlepender schlowpoke dummkopf.

If regular high-speed cruising is your thing, IMO look at aerodynamic sedans. Their teardrop shapes and road hugging ground clearance pay dividends at high-speed efficiency and you'll get less wind noise.

 

[B_kiz]

I commute 64 miles round trip to work all highway averaging like 75 to 85 mph. That's most of the driving I do in my truck. Right now it says my average miles per gallon is 22.7 and that's with consciously using eco mode everyday.. I do have slightly bigger tires

 

[Guv]

anytime you get into boost, the mpg starts to nose dive. wind resistance at speed. That and the speed limiter are why we can't go 160!

Correct, because the engine goes into fuel enrichment to keep the turbo cool.

 

[LIL’ Buddy]

Thanks
The trip is 660 miles from Texas, to NM then CO. Usually takes me about 10:30 driving time. We usually drive the speed limit and/or up to 5 over. Which means quite a bit at 80-85. Slower going through part of Texas and have to slow down for every small town.
My 17 F150 ecoboost 3.5 gets 17.5 to 19 doing this trip depending upon the wind. The 2020 F350 beats it and usually gets 19-21 but I try to save that truck just for towing and now diesel is $1 more than unleaded.

I hope that with the Maverick I can beat both of my trucks. I may have to consider the hybrid FWD is mileage is my concern.

Thanks again

@johndeerefarmer —

I have the 2.0 EB AWD 4K Tow XLT/Lux I drive back b forth to work everyday to Illinois from Indiana 72mph-85mph with average of 79mph. I have now been averaging 29.5 to 31mpg using eco drive mode, no auto/start stop, I usually try to keep it at or below 75mph as it’s at or below 2k rpm. I let it coast and I only accelerate on downhills or flat surfaces and can get it up to 36-38mpg but that’s a bit of work….. so keeping a cozy cabin and driving experience, I keep cruise set at 72-75mph and I’m hitting 30mpg without trying! I’m super happy with that! Powerful truck, comfy, good looking truck, and it gets better gas mileage than my 2016 Kia Soul 2.0 GDI 4cyl with less than 156hp. Best I ever got was 28mpg hwy!!! So.. yep!

 

[dmoyes1950]

We've only made one highway drive with our 2.0 AWD FX4 XLT - from our home in SE Mesa to Wickenburg, AZ and back -- 210 miles total. We averaged 68 mph moving speed overall, which meant we were driving 80 mph or a bit better at least some of the time. When on cruise, it was set at 77 mph. Our trip meter showed 32 mpg upon our return home. Drive mode was normal. Pirelli Scorpion tires were at 36 psi. Two adults, no cargo. That's better mileage than I get around the neighborhood, which has generally been around 23--25 mpg.

 

[Droid82]

From Texas, speed limits are just that, limits. You can comfortably cruise at 60mph all day on the highway, just don't hang in the left lanes.

Heck, we have Mexican convoys daily that consist of a barely road-worthy beater flat towing another even worse beater to Mexico, and they go particularly slow around 55mph usually. People just drive around.

They are in Georgia too

 

[ywstn]

About 3 weeks ago drove from west Texas to Houston. Found that running about 75-80 with Cruze on got about 27MPGs in our Lariat hybrid. Got a little better without the Cruze on

 

[Charlie Daubitz]

Anyone done a milage test with the tailgate down?

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