15 mpg for a normal road trip

[VegasGuy]

With the occasional question about, "what kind of mileage do you get in your H2," I thought an actual road trip report might be of interest to a few. I filled the tank up Friday morning, reset the fuel economy gauge and drove from Vegas to Salt Lake City. The wind was calm all day but the outside temperature soon reached 109. Upon arrival in Salt Lake City the gauge registered 14.8 mpg. You can describe most of the trip as a slight uphill climb. The highest peak is 6600 feet. Speed most of the way was held at 65 mph due to the extreme heat.

Sunday morning I returned to Vegas. I did not reset the the fuel economy gauge. Early on I caught a dead-on head-wind blowing 15-20 mph with strong gusts. (Why does the wind always blow hard in the wrong direction?) The temperature reached 116. Again, because of the heat speed was held at 65. During the initial part of the trip the gauge quickly crept up to 15.3 mpg so things were looking promising, but the strong winds quickly knocked that figure back down to 15.1. The final average both wayjs at the end of the trip was 15.0 mpg upon reaching home in Vegas. If the wind had not blown so hard and the fact the return trip is downhill I think the average mpg would have been in the high 15's. With cooler temps and no wind 16+ mpg is reasonable. But that's life.

Engine coolant was a steady 200 and the transmission was slightly under 200. Everything on my H2 is stock, including the tires. All-in-all, especially considering the 100+ temps, I'd say a stock H2 can get better mileage than most people think.

Next weekend the wife and I are leaving for a three week 4000+ mile driving trip. This was a test run. It ought to be a great time.