Two things. First, I got the EPA rating from the link when you register with the garage. I'm just going with that.
Second, the xB is great around town and at lower speed on highway. In my experience FE drops way off at 70 or above. It's also easy to overwork the engine. I've been driving with a ScanGaugeII ever since I bought the car. I've had fun watching my FE, just not quite so enthusiastic.
The xB is a big change from my last vehicle--a F250SD Diesel that I drove daily and drag raced in a Diesel series in Washington and British Columbia. I had burned biodiesel in it for several years but, even when biodiesel was cheaper than petrodiesel, it was taking me to the poor house.
Now I'm thinking grille opening covers and Gurney flaps. Got to keep busy at 65. Of course, aero tricks on an xB are like painting lipstick on a pig. It tooks better, but it's still a pig.
The xB driven smartly just proves how much fuel most other drivers are really wasting. It's a brick with wheels and it can still get better fuel economy on the highway than most. With a drag coefficient of just 0.35, it still beats the average pickup by a long shot however and isn't that far off the typical passenger car.
Wow... how the heck do they manage 0.35 on what is basically a box on wheels? (And the more rounded current model comes in at 0.32!)
I would ask why my VW Cabrio has such a lousy number by comparison at 0.37, but as that's about the same as a Ferrari F50 I guess I'm not gonna complain.
Rick
P.S. Of course CdA might tell the rest of the story...
My car has a Cd of 0.37 (although the CdA is more important in reality). So, it shows how an older 1987 design is less aerodynamic than a modern SUV (I think it is an SUV?).
Congratulations on the economy - very impressive
__________________ Team GasMisers5 - #1 for first three rounds of the original GS Fuel Economy Challenge
Miles displaced by e-bike since 1 Jan 2008: 62.6 (0 kWh used)
Hypomiler
Nice numbers on your xB - wish I could get the wife to hypermile hers. Even driving it like it's a nascar race around town she still pulls 30-31 every tank. Driving it back from Dallas a few feeks ago on secondary highways I managed 37 for a tank.
They are more rounded than they look, esp. if you look from above down on them. I can really feel how much less drag and rolling resistance the xB has compared to my 4runner, it coats so much better.
Linear Mode
