We departed Abbotsford Friday night, and drove to Smithers more or less non-stop, save for an hour rest along the way when the fog was thick. The real challenge with the automatic transmission is keeping the engine RPM low enough to avoid the heavy consumption, especially uphill. Feathering the accelerator took some work, but I was able to keep the kickdown to a minimum, and stayed at 5.7 for most segments. I even managed a 5.4 between Cache Creek and Williams Lake.

The Scangauge no doubt made all the difference between getting 5.7 versus what likely would have been 6.7 L/100 km. One really important trick when traffic allows, is to allow the vehicle to slow down a bit up the hills, while maintaining as steady an engine load as possible. Essentially, if you’re looking at the Scangauge, you’re wanting to see the instantaneous fuel consumption stay pretty constant. If I were trying to maintain speed, the Scanguage would show 15 L/100, but in letting the car slow down a bit, it would stay around 9 L/100 - a significant difference.

Here is a screen shot of the Scangauge taken between Prince George and Vanderhoof. (Notice the ‘Add-a-gauge’ called TRP, which is the fuel economy for the current trip. Below that is LHK (litres per 100 km), which is the instantaneous fuel economy. I prefer to have both of these on the display at any given time.)

We filled the car in Vanderhoof Saturday morning, after driving 818 kms on one tank:

August 9, AM
Abbotsford to Vanderhoof
Fuel economy: 5.75 L/100 km / 49 mpg imperial / 41 mpg US
distance travelled: 818 kms
fuel consumed: 47.051 litres
maximum speed: 110 kmh
average speed: 77 kmh
Fuel cost for trip: $66.06

With a goal of beating the NRCAN number by 10%, I was ‘close enough’. Just shy of 100 ‘passenger’ mpg. Headwinds after Vanderhoof have the next tank starting off at roughly 6.0 L/100 km, so I may have some trouble keeping 5.7 as an average. We’ll be in Prince Rupert by Wednesday, where I will fill again and have the next report.