it's a simple question, answer or step the hell on.

 

so i guess your tank is a 16 like mine

 

What?
To quote Justin @ Lucky8, "What you said makes no sense. It's like saying Chewbacca lived on Endor."

 

There is no BS going on, when my truck was completely stock, i.e. all season tires, no roof rack or winch bumper etc. I got 24mpg on a 700 mile trip, set the cruise at 65mph, stay in the right lane, windows up and good gas of the proper grade.
Using cheap gas or the wrong grade of gas will lower your MPG.
So will not using the cruise or having the windows down.
Carrying a huge tool box full of spares and fluids adds weight which reduces MPG.
I have also found that removing the air dam on the OEM bumper lowers your MPG too.
Adding the SD rack I went from high 14's to low 15's for daily driving to high 13's and low 14's.
Removing the front bumper and driving for a week I could almost watch the fuel gauge move as I drove.
Added the ARB winch bumper and now I am right at 13mpg as a daily driver, that is mixed city/highway.
Unfortunately in the winter around here all gas stations use at least 10% ethanol in their fuel, even the ones that normally do not add it are required to add it for the winter to prevent gas line freezing.
Ethanol reduces MPG.
And if you read the "rated" MPG on the window sticker and then read the fine print you will see that it says "your results will vary", meaning how YOU drive will effect your MPG.

 

thats nuts, how cold does it get there?
straight gas freezes at anywhere between -97 and -50F

 

Its not the gas that freezes, its the water in the gas tank that freezes and then clogs your fuel system.
You get water in your gas tank from condensation, the alcohol in the ethanol attracts water and then it carries it to the engine to be burned.
It can get well below zero here at night.
It is also very humid here during the summer which also adds to the water in the tank issue.

I know a guy who runs a small water craft repair shop, whenever they come in in the spring not starting the first thing he does is drain the fuel, always has water in it.
He then puts that gas into gallon jugs and lets it settle for a few days (water is heavier than gas and settles to the bottom) he then freezes the jugs in his deep freezer and after a day or 2 the gas is good and it gets poured into his truck.
He then of course charges the person for new gas for their SeeDoo and cleaning the carb's etc..

 

24mpg? Ok.

 

Believe it or not, 700 miles miles, by myself in the truck, cruise set at 65, 24 mpg.
Repeated the trip 2 weeks later with the wife and kids in the truck and got 22mpg.
Again cruise set at 65, windows up, it all adds up.
Dont need to get there first, just need to get there.

 

I bought a 97 Discovery Saturday at an auction in Seattle, WA. It has 136,000 miles on it. I filled it up at the first gas station after leaving the auction. I drove it home over US 2 (stevens Pass). I refueled it yesterday with 219 miles on the trip odometer. I had got 15.9 MPG.

Del Boyce
Royal City, WA
1997 Discovery 1

 

My last road trip this past weekend was to the in-laws house ~90 miles away. The highway between here and there ranges from 65-35 MPH as it passes through several towns on the way. The highway has many hills, and several long and steep enough that they have a "slower vehicle move to right" lane. I drove with no cruise, A/C on, and driver's window cracked whenever I was smoking (30% of trip?). I was alone in the vehicle.

I filled with 92 octane on the way out of town, and hit the same station to refill when I returned. The trip meter read 191.6 miles, and it took 10.383 gallons to refill which computes to 18.453MPG.

If the highway was flat, and I didn't have to slow down while passing through towns, and I left the window raised (quit smoking), I think I could easily get 20-22MPG