We started off our venture in Seattle and made our way down to Moab using I-82/84 through Oregon, Idaho and Utah. I was very pleased with the versatility of this car and it's gas mileage. My only gripe, which has been mentioned several times on the forums, would be the 6th gear. In areas where the speed limits were 80 MPH, my tachometer would be hanging around 4000RPM or so. I averaged 31 MPG during the entire trip.


The nose mask and Lamin-X did a great job of protecting the front end.




Onto the photos!



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How is your mpg without the rooftop thingy at those speeds? I've always heard they impact a cars mpg.

I hate to bring it up but....my CVT is usually around 2300-2400 rpm at 70 mph. Though against a really nasty headwind it was around 3000 rpm at 70 mph last week.

 

My CVT does remarkably well with mpg when pushing 70 mph. I have to agree that putting anything on the roof is going to adversely affect mpg. Here is a link relating to that issue:

Tests show bike racks can ruin your mileage

 

31MPG is pretty good at those speeds with that box on the roof!

The big drag producer isn't so much the box as the gap between it and the roof. It creates a lot of turbulence which increases the effective frontal area.

 

Surprisingly the only time that the box was noticeably affecting the driving characteristics was when I would be driving behind semi trailers and areas of high cross winds.

My daily commute consists of city roads and freeways. Without the cargo box I average right around 36 MPG.