What kind of G-Wagen will $15-20k buy?

[4D55 Performance]

Yeah it's pretty common to see 18-19 with mixed driving. On this occasion I got 18.7 mpg. I did about 20 miles of off-roading. Then went up and over beautiful Wolf Creek Pass which about 10,000ft in elevation. I had to wait in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour because we caught the traffic getting out of the dog herding contest or something like that. After getting though the traffic jam I was able to drive the last 60 miles on the highway trouble free. All of this driving was done with a full load of 8 backpacks, 5 adults and the A/C was on full blast.

I have seen a few tanks over 20 mpg when I do all highway driving. I have been very impressed with how well the G500 performs.

 

[RBA]

18.7?? Are you coasting downhill the entire time??? Wow, I'm impressed. I've never gotten anything close to that. 15mpg driving 55mph, MAYBE...

 

[mk216v]

18.7?? Are you coasting downhill the entire time??? Wow, I'm impressed. I've never gotten anything close to that. 15mpg driving 55mph, MAYBE...

Agreed. 4D55, I think you're the only one on the forums getting that MPG. All of my thread searches previously on ClubG and P3 have shown a best of 15mpg.
How many miles do you have on your G? And what is your secret?

 

[4D55 Performance]

Agreed. 4D55, I think you're the only one on the forums getting that MPG. All of my thread searches previously on ClubG and P3 have shown a best of 15mpg.
How many miles do you have on your G? And what is your secret?

I don't know if I have any secrets, I am not much for hyper-mileing or driving with the A/C off. I consider myself an average driver. I have 107K miles on my wagon. I bought it with 102K so I have put a lot of miles on it over the past month. It came with Michelin Latitude tires which have a low rolling resistance, but I have plans to eventually get some Hutchinson beadlocks and 32" off-road tires. Other factors that may slightly influence MPG are altitude. The elevation here is around 4000ft. I only use premium fuel, but I think most owners are using premium in the g500's. I don't have a roof rack on the vehicle, but that will change, because I want to mount my huge Mombossa roof top tent on top of my G500.

 

[mk216v]

I don't know if I have any secrets, I am not much for hyper-mileing or driving with the A/C off. I consider myself an average driver. I have 107K miles on my wagon. I bought it with 102K so I have put a lot of miles on it over the past month. It came with Michelin Latitude tires which have a low rolling resistance, but I have plans to eventually get some Hutchinson beadlocks and 32" off-road tires. Other factors that may slightly influence MPG are altitude. The elevation here is around 4000ft. I only use premium fuel, but I think most owners are using premium in the g500's. I don't have a roof rack on the vehicle, but that will change, because I want to mount my huge Mombossa roof top tent on top of my G500.

Ok, your tires help, especially if you've filled them with helium.
With the Hutchinson's and RTT/rack you'll be down to the 15's with the rest of us. :ylsmoke:
Tell me more about altitude...

 

[hoser]

I don't know about g-wagens but all the cars I've owned with trip computers have posted MPG as optimistic by 1-2 mpg. I don't mean to be a naysayer but I'd like to know if your results are the same after 1) checking speedo calibration and 2) manually calculating MPG's via mileage traveled divided by measured gallons pumped. I'm guessing there are options on the G trip computer that could throw the calculated MPG's off. Might've been misprogrammed by mistake.

 

[mk216v]

I don't know about g-wagens but all the cars I've owned with trip computers have posted MPG as optimistic by 1-2 mpg. I don't mean to be a naysayer but I'd like to know if your results are the same after 1) checking speedo calibration and 2) manually calculating MPG's via mileage traveled divided by measured gallons pumped. I'm guessing there are options on the G trip computer that could throw the calculated MPG's off. Might've been misprogrammed by mistake.

My speedo is calibrated the closest it can in the transfer case module for my 33's, but my speedo is still about 2-4mpg slow at 55mpg(compared to my DeLorme GPS program).
I agree on #2.

4D55, how's your speedo-GPS calibration?
And MPG calibrated manually w/ calculator?
Wondering if the settings in your TC module were skewed the other way previously(for larger tires and now you have smaller tires).

 

[4D55 Performance]

My speedo is calibrated the closest it can in the transfer case module for my 33's, but my speedo is still about 2-4mpg slow at 55mpg(compared to my DeLorme GPS program).
I agree on #2.

4D55, how's your speedo-GPS calibration?
And MPG calibrated manually w/ calculator?
Wondering if the settings in your TC module were skewed the other way previously(for larger tires and now you have smaller tires).

I have checked the speedo several different ways and it is spot on. I flew out to KC and drove it home which is about 1200 miles. The mileage was off about 1/2% which is pretty good. I think it's a combination of driving style, altitude, tires and lubricants. When I picked it up I noticed the previous owner never reset the trip odometer. He averaged 13.5 mpg over the past 37K miles. I have been averaging over 17 mpg with the same vehicle. Altitude does effect mpg more than you would realize. At 4000 ft in elevation there is 12% less wind resistance when driving down the road and that is only compounded when you drive a vehicle with a terrible drag coefficient. With out getting into it to much, it does help.

 

[hoser]

Well, thanks, that explains it.