Historical Fuel Economy Competitions

3930dave · Nov 9, 2016

Bird said:
My Dad owned a Mobil service station 1956 to 1964, so of course I kept up with the Mobil Economy Runs and the results back then. But now I've forgotten what year (1958 maybe?) that Chrysler got into trouble for cheating. All the cars were bought from local dealers instead of being furnished by the manufacturers, and the dealers didn't know when a car was being bought for that purpose, and no one knew exactly when the cars would be bought. So, for some period of time, without telling anyone, including the dealers, Chrysler put a light weight motor oil in the manual transmissions and differentials instead of the customary 90 weight gear oil, expecting one those cars would be selected for the Mobil Economy Run. That came to light when owners starting having transmission and differential problems with those cars.

As for current vehicles, my 2015 Ford F150 Super Crew with the 2.7L engine has averaged 20.794 MPG since I've had it, but Monday I had to make a little 406 mile trip, keeping it at the speed limit (mostly 70 and 75 MPH) and got 22.336 MPG (didn't have to use the A/C on that trip like I do most of the time).

That is a neat bit of history Bird, thanks. Was your truck mileage hand calculated, or from the onboard computer ?

Rgds, D.

oldballs · Nov 9, 2016

Boy am I outdated. I find it hard to believe that Bird's F150 Super Crew with just a 2.7 L engine can even go up a hill. But Bird is a well respected TBN'er , so it must be so.
Cheers,
Mike

Copperhead · Nov 10, 2016

Bird said:
My Dad owned a Mobil service station 1956 to 1964, so of course I kept up with the Mobil Economy Runs and the results back then. But now I've forgotten what year (1958 maybe?) that Chrysler got into trouble for cheating. All the cars were bought from local dealers instead of being furnished by the manufacturers, and the dealers didn't know when a car was being bought for that purpose, and no one knew exactly when the cars would be bought. So, for some period of time, without telling anyone, including the dealers, Chrysler put a light weight motor oil in the manual transmissions and differentials instead of the customary 90 weight gear oil, expecting one those cars would be selected for the Mobil Economy Run. That came to light when owners starting having transmission and differential problems with those cars.

As for current vehicles, my 2015 Ford F150 Super Crew with the 2.7L engine has averaged 20.794 MPG since I've had it, but Monday I had to make a little 406 mile trip, keeping it at the speed limit (mostly 70 and 75 MPH) and got 22.336 MPG (didn't have to use the A/C on that trip like I do most of the time).

Since that was before EPA and CAFE, and no government mandates for fuel economy, not sure why Chrysler would have even gone to such lengths to achieve better numbers.

I have consistently gotten 17-18 on road trips with a Siverado 2500 and 6.0L gas engine. 4.10 diffs. Your 2.7L F150 numbers make my point exactly... the OEM's are not even trying. A boosted engine moving a substantially lighter vehicle, they should have been able to get those into 30 mpg range by now.

3930dave · Nov 10, 2016

Copperhead said:
Since that was before EPA and CAFE, and no government mandates for fuel economy, not sure why Chrysler would have even gone to such lengths to achieve better numbers.

I have consistently gotten 17-18 on road trips with a Siverado 2500 and 6.0L gas engine. 4.10 diffs. Your 2.7L F150 numbers make my point exactly... the OEM's are not even trying. A boosted engine moving a substantially lighter vehicle, they should have been able to get those into 30 mpg range by now.

I don't entirely fault the manufacturers.

As you well know Cu, we could have saved countless barrels of oil just by putting 2 speed rear ends into pickup trucks years ago.

Since that option requires a teeny tiny bit of driver skill, no major OEM tried that here.

You and I are on the same page Cu, but it's worth noting that Bird's first # was total consumption, not just highway. Even an F150 is a lot of weight for a personal vehicle (Ok, maybe not in Texas

) in StopGo city driving.

Rgds, D.