My rational is: my jeep is paid off for even though it gets 16mpg...if i bought a new cruze, i'd be paying 300/month+ and gas....cheaper to keep my paid off vehicle w/crappy gas mileage. Can't have it all though..i tried...its the 75% rule....my vehcile has to:

be good in the snow-check
good on gas-nope
be able to tow-check
haul 4+ adults/roomy interior-check
...if your car fills 75% off this category, its the best your going to get. I was thinking sti wagon, but they can't tow for *****...always comes back to the 75% rule...lol.

my sierra gets 17ish with just exhaust, hopefully doing e-fans and a tune this summer and hope to be getting around 20 too...

if you honestly plan on towing, you shouldn't downsize. the increased wear and tear on the small truck by towing with it will offset all the money you save by its gas mileage when you aren't towing anything.

you will use MORE gas when actually towing, you will kill the trans and kill the brakes and it just won't be as easy and nice to drive...

I don't really plan on towing much or long of a distance so I think a smaller truck would be fine. At this point I think I'll just keep the truck and get a tune. What route did you plan going with efans? Just gonna use f body fans?

My plan is f body fans with the black bear harness and tune.

a tonneau cover would help on the highway too

I was going to say this, but it's been debunked via drag testing. There's a benefit but you have to drive for a long time.

Is it worth it? Yes, if you can satisfy your requirements. My DD has been an '06 4 cyl ranger automatic, it's rated to tow about 2300# since it has 4.10 gears, and gets 27 MPG highway, have seen a best of 32 MPG 100% highway. Only way to get good MPG in a compact is with a 4 cyl truck, the V6 trucks may be lucky to get 20 mpg. I still have a old full-size that I use strictly for truck stuff/hauling, put maybe 1000 miles on it per year, have about $3000 into it including the $800 I paid for it.

Only way to be better off in the end is by selling current truck and buying something cheaper, in the end making money off the deal. You may be better off in the end just sticking with what you know, though. But it's definitely possible to come out ahead by doing the research. Buying new definitely won't get you there.

Yea, i agree. I never intended to buy new. My plan was to sell/trade my current truck for a smaller one without having to spend any cash. I'm probably just going to get a tune and do e-fans and see what I can get out of it.

+1 for the tune, im in love with my black bear tune, it just makes it harder to stay out of the throttle

Anybody suggest a Colorado with the 5.3 in it? 300hp 4x4 in a small truck that can tow 3500lbs, IIRC they get 16/21. Only downside is they are still fairly new(didn't start producing them until the 08 model year) so the prices are still up there

I have a 03 with the 5.3... I do 100 miles a day round trip... Pull down 19

....


Mods? Stock?

Just holes cut in the airbox. Only mods are HIDs and denali wheels.

you can likely squeeze out the MPG you are looking for. one trick I use to get MPG's up is to use the cruise control A LOT. and try to keep it under 65

I use cruise all the time. Slower speeds will definitely help. I'm seeing ~16.5 mpg @75mph. I've got a lot of driving to do this summer so hopefully after 2 or 3 weeks of trying different things I will reach my goal of 2-3 mpg improvement.

Drop it down to 65 and move all the way over to the right. It sucks but you will def see an improvement in MPG.

I thought varying the throttle with light accelerating to coasting pulled better mpg's than cruise holding at pretty consistent rpm?

Could always do some weight reduction to help mpgs too.

Trucks are aerodynamic as bricks. Slow down mileage will improve. at highway speeds weight, electeic fans are less of an impact as aerodynamics

The truck has 2 subwoofers in it with a box and some tools. Besides taking out the subs, I don't really know what I could do for weight reduction.

I disagree with the slowing down argument. My Silverado sits a little higher than stock with larger tires and I get my best mpg on the highway at 70-75 mph. I've tuned it for the larger tires so I know it's accurate. The stock clutch fan is said to rob at least 1-1.5 mpg and I have the Nelson harness and the LT1 fans but haven't had a chance to install them yet. I have the Diablosport tuner ($275 shipped) and that helped pick up some mpg but I'm usually driving 50 mph and under in my 10 minute drive to work with several traffic lights so I'll never get decent mpg around town. But on the highway you should be able to pull down 20 mpg with a few tricks. I cut back the EGR tube that goes into the TB/intake to allow better airflow and my truck had a CAI when I got it. Headers would probably help but might not be worth the added cost. In the end, I've done the calculations like Scott showed and it wasn't even worth the cost for me to get a moped/scooter/small motorcylce to justify any type of gas savings.

On a side note, have you checked your rear calipers? Mine were no longer floating like they should so I had to get rebuilt calipers for the rear. And the rear parking brake setup is known to drag so that could be causing some loss of mpg. I would definitely get the rear up in the air and check the calipers (unbolt them to verify both sides are moving in and out) and pull the rotors to check the parking brake assembly, I had to rebuild mine because it was all shot.

I am suprised no one has suggested dropping the tailgate or removing it....

:bertstare:

i just bought a 8cyl dakota because i needed it to tow my cars.i used to have a V8 dakota but then i sold it for a 6cyl(BIG MISTAKE).although the V8 will not get great gas miledge,it will tow my cars without a problem.where as the V6 was starving.so i would say stay with your truck because you will be sorry in the long run.

I saw a story, maybe mythbusters, I don't remember, that proved that theory incorrect.

And you call yourself a drag racer

Yes, Mythbusters showed that the tailgate and tonneau don't make a difference. Basically, there is a pocket of air that gets trapped in the bed that acts the same as a tonneau preventing the outside air from getting running into the tailgate.