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First Road Trip
I left on my first road trip in my 2024 HEV. I drove from my home in Tucson to Bend, Oregon, to pick up my teardrop camper, chosen carefully to pair with the Sportage.
When I left I had 888 miles on the car, and my accumulated MPG was 45. I found than three factors affected my fuel economy.
The first was speed. Not surprisingly, it seems to achieve its peak fuel efficiency around 50 MPH on level ground. In my first backroads jaunts in the first few weeks, I my accumulated MPG was 46. As soon as I got on I-10 the other day, I could tell that 70 MPH would drop me down one or two MPG.
The second factor was the hills. Even when I was going 55-60 on some mountain roads it dropped me down by a similar factor to the increased speeds.
The third and most impactful factor was the addition of the trailer. My teardrop has a curb weight of 950 pounds, and my Sportage handled it effortlessly. It seemed to lag a bit in ECO mode, but I switched to Smart mode and it seemed better. And the first time I came to a stop sign, I noticed the need for a bit more time to stop. But the trailer had a negligible effect on driving - you might forget you're hauling a trailer until you look on the rearview and see nothing but the front of your trailer. Plenty of power for a light trailer. I generally drove 60 or 65, and on the hilly terrain through Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, and the hills never bogged down the cruise control, but it would downshift and kick up the gas engine RPMs up to 3.5, the highest I've seen it.
Of course I lost my beautiful fuel economy stats. The first day home I had some hills and ended up getting around 28 MPG. The next day I had more hills and it dropped to around 25 MPG. for a while. Then from Tonopah to Las Vegas I was descending, and was getting 31-32. From there to Tucson It was hanging in around 30-31.
One day I went through a rain squall. The automatic wipers did a better job than I could have done. Then the next day it wiped for no reason a couple times. The auto headlights seem to wait a bit too long to come on, but generally speaking I enjoyed the car's management of temperature, headlights, and wipers.
I'm a little bit awed by how well my plan played out. To be able to tow even a minimalist camper and still get 30 MPG is pretty close to my wildest dream
When I left I had 888 miles on the car, and my accumulated MPG was 45. I found than three factors affected my fuel economy.
The first was speed. Not surprisingly, it seems to achieve its peak fuel efficiency around 50 MPH on level ground. In my first backroads jaunts in the first few weeks, I my accumulated MPG was 46. As soon as I got on I-10 the other day, I could tell that 70 MPH would drop me down one or two MPG.
The second factor was the hills. Even when I was going 55-60 on some mountain roads it dropped me down by a similar factor to the increased speeds.
The third and most impactful factor was the addition of the trailer. My teardrop has a curb weight of 950 pounds, and my Sportage handled it effortlessly. It seemed to lag a bit in ECO mode, but I switched to Smart mode and it seemed better. And the first time I came to a stop sign, I noticed the need for a bit more time to stop. But the trailer had a negligible effect on driving - you might forget you're hauling a trailer until you look on the rearview and see nothing but the front of your trailer. Plenty of power for a light trailer. I generally drove 60 or 65, and on the hilly terrain through Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, and the hills never bogged down the cruise control, but it would downshift and kick up the gas engine RPMs up to 3.5, the highest I've seen it.
Of course I lost my beautiful fuel economy stats. The first day home I had some hills and ended up getting around 28 MPG. The next day I had more hills and it dropped to around 25 MPG. for a while. Then from Tonopah to Las Vegas I was descending, and was getting 31-32. From there to Tucson It was hanging in around 30-31.
One day I went through a rain squall. The automatic wipers did a better job than I could have done. Then the next day it wiped for no reason a couple times. The auto headlights seem to wait a bit too long to come on, but generally speaking I enjoyed the car's management of temperature, headlights, and wipers.
I'm a little bit awed by how well my plan played out. To be able to tow even a minimalist camper and still get 30 MPG is pretty close to my wildest dream
Replies
The camper is the 5 X 8 'typical' from Bend Teardrop. I always see people say they have no affiliation with a vendor when they recommend them. I had no affiliation with Bend Teardrop until I bought a teardrop from them the other day. But I was looking to keep the weight down, and I like their approach of a low base price and sort of a la carte menu of options. I got a solar panel with an inverter and shore power, extra battery and a refrigerator and shore water roof rack mounts, gear box and spare tire on the tongue, and a few things that don't come to mind right now, and my total tab was about 15 1/2 K.
Pretty cheap, until you consider what it doesn't have. I looked at a 6-7 year old TAB that had a microwave,a two burner stove, heating and cooling. Mine has one of that, but the price of the used TAB was the same as the Bend Teardrop base model, and the Bend was much lighter. I'll be able to customize my cooking model as I go, and the money I saved by starting with a no-frills approach will be better used for customizations as I identify the need for them.
Pretty cheap, until you consider what it doesn't have. I looked at a 6-7 year old TAB that had a microwave,a two burner stove, heating and cooling. Mine has one of that, but the price of the used TAB was the same as the Bend Teardrop base model, and the Bend was much lighter. I'll be able to customize my cooking model as I go, and the money I saved by starting with a no-frills approach will be better used for customizations as I identify the need for them.