Quote:
Originally Posted by JABCAT
Interestingly, I seem to get a lower mpg avg on my trip from Dallas to Austin. My trip down Monday night had more variable speed as I drove through a couple storms. Zero traffic because it was Midnight - 3:30 am. My avg was 26 mpg.
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Water on the road can add drag and increase fuel consumption. Added: Forgot to mention that wind can affect gas mileage. On the way home from CA in my M-B cargo van for most of the trip I was driving into a pretty good head wind. Gas mileage was down. Then I had the benefit of a tail wind and gas mileage went up a bit.
Also, with cars with instantaneous fuel consumption available I have observed -- at least with my German cars -- they seem to really deliver good gas mileage at a higher speed than one would expect.
My Boxster and especially my 996 Turbo really liked 80mph or a bit higher vs. 65mph. Sure wind resistance at higher speed is real but it just seemed the engines were in their sweet spot at a bit higher speed and engine RPMs and fuel mileage was good.
My Boxster had a variable intake runner length feature that kicked in at around 3K RPMs which could have accounted for the better than expected gas mileage at higher speed and higher engine RPMs.
But the Turbo didn't have that intake feature.
It would not surprise me if the M2 behaved the same. One of these days I'll get a chance to spend some time on the open road and away from the hilly terrain.