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Over the Long Haul: Economy vs. Performance

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    Over the Long Haul: Economy vs. Performance

    A couple years ago I was driving from the Scottish Borders to South Wales - 600 miles or so. Since I left late and wanted to get to my destination before it was very dark, I drove most of the way at 90 - illegal but so few cops, who cares? When I arrived I wasn’t worth nothin’ - completely whipped from the tension of driving at that speed.

    It got me thinking about how I travel. I bought my ‘89 Colony Park because I can carry four dogs and five people - or six dogs and two people - to sheepdog trials. A six or seven hour roadtrip is nothing, 12 or 13 hours isn’t unusual and next fall I plan to go to Sturgis Sd, a distance of 1625 miles - about 25 hours.

    How to get there fastest?

    Police tolerance for speeding varies - what goes in South Dakota would get you jailed in Virginia. Though there are police avoidance strategies (radar detector, drafting behind speeding local cars, etc) these strategies increase tension and wear you down. Road work slows everybody and, unless you are anxious to spend a few pleasant hours behind bars, probably you’d better not travel faster than five miles an hour over the posted speed, and/or, no faster than the fast traffic. On my last trip west we rarely got above 85 and through Illinois it was hours at 62mph.

    My Colony Park can do 90 without breathing hard.

    I have found that the fastest way between two points is to maximize comfort and economy. If you’re comfortable - and the Colony Park is - you don’t tire so quickly and economy over the long haul will get you there faster than enhanced performance.

    My sixteen year old niece wanted to go sheepdogging with me and my codriver, Shay. “OK,” I said. “But you have to understand that we don’t stop between gas stops. If you need to pee in between, you’d better have a cup.”

    Gas stops take between 15 minutes and 30 (when we let the dogs out.)

    The numbers: my car can get 336 miles from a tank of gas. Since I don’t want to drain it on unknown roads, say 300.

    If I put high performance heads on it, suppose I’d get 18 mpg, or 288 a tank - 250 for practical purposes.

    So, between here and Sturgis, with a faster car (speed I couldn’t use) I’d do one (probably two) extra gas stops with the more powerful engine and would get to Sturgis half an hour to an hour behind the less powerful wagon.
    Donald McCaig

    #2
    Interesting observation...

    But with higher performance, that doesnt always mean you will get worse gas mileage...ive seen people do an HO swap in their cars, and get BETTER gas mileage!

    It all depends on how fast you go, your gas mileage is affected accordingly...
    1983 Grand Marquis 2Dr Sedan "Mercules"
    Tremec TKO conversion, hydraulic clutch, HURST equipped!

    Comment


      #3
      more power equals less work to get that weight going, hence the increase in mileage.
      Save a seal, club a liberal.

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        #4
        Mileage is a result of efficiency. E6 heads suck for efficiency. They may have gotten marginally better mileage at a sustained laboratory speed than E7 heads, but in the real world, you would get comparable mileage or even better with the E7 heads. When you step up to a GT-40P head, you increase efficiency and increase mileage as a result with no other changes. You also now have a measurable performance increase.
        The same thing goes for gears. When Mustangs went from a standard gear size of 2.73's and stepped to 3.27's, there was no loss in real world mileage. With the extreme overdirve ratio of the AOD transmissions, there is no significant drop in mileage in running a 3.55 gear. Just look at the Performance Handling Package CV/GM cars with their 3.55's when it was available.

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          #5
          this is some good shit!

          1981 Mercury Marquis Brougham 2-Door 302/ 5-speed -special blend (GMGT)
          1987 Lincoln Mark VII 5-speed (Errand runner)
          1989 Mercury Grand Marquis (Base Runner)
          2007 Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited (Hustlyn)
          2011 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (Down with O.P.P)

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