We put about 2400 miles on the van on our first road trip last week, averaging 12.7 hand calculated mpg driving from Portland to LA and back. We weren't light on the throttle, averaging close to 70 on I-5 through much of Oregon, then 70-80 from Redding to LA. We had some LA city driving from Anaheim to Santa Monica and Universal City on two days, plus a day drive to San Diego. The van was lightly loaded with six people, luggage, a few coolers, road food and some odds and ends. I was really surprised how much room there is behind the 3rd row bench when you factor in under-seat storage. We took out the middle row bench to give our teenage boys plenty of leg room and packed the coolers and dry food behind the first bench for easy access.
I will say it's damn nice to have a vehicle with room for everyone and all our stuff that can hold freeway speeds in overdrive climbing the Siskyou Summit and Grapevine like it's nothing. I don't think I'd trade the 4.10 gears. This beast isn't my DD, and I'd rather have a more responsive van than an extra 1-3 mpg for the times I do use it.
I did have a small hiccup I need to address. I think I need to replace the IAC motor and clean the throttle body. A couple times before we left, I noticed upon cold start the van would stumble just for a second, then catch itself and have a stable idle. Then, for two days during the middle of our stay in LA, it wouldn't start when cold unless I gave it a little gas. After 30 seconds to a minute, it would hold an idle just fine. The problem went away, but I had the cold start stumble again today. I'll also check the vacuum lines, elbows, etc to be sure they're in good shape. Am I missing any of the usual suspects with this issue?
