6-8 MPG!? What tires and gears are you running? My dad's '85 with a carb'd 460 gets better mileage than that!

 

Jeez, my 351w averages 7-9 with 3.55 gears and no O/D on stock tires. But I've got my T-Bird for a Daily Driver now that it's not snowing anymore.

 

Its got 32's with stock 3.55 gearing

 

Well I guess I approach things differently, I love my Ford truck, but would never consider driving it as a daily driver as it just the wrong tool for that job as it is a tool for truck required things, hauling and towing loads, not moving one person to work. Even though I am fat... it still does not take a truck to haul me!

What I save in fuel more than pays for a cheap used economy / commuter car. Even with insurance at another $300 a year (or what, one a half fill ups on the truck?) it comes out cheaper.

As I said, I do approach things differently, to me cars and trucks are mere tools to get a job done, not that they do not have to fit well, just as a Snap-on poly screwdriver fits my palm best, a full size Ford trucks fits me best, BUT just like I would not use a stubby Snap-on screwdriver to fit a recessed screw, I would not use a Full size truck as a commuter. Both are cases of the wrong tool for the job to me.

Besides, I figure that I can find better places to spend my money here in America than shipping it overseas to buy crude oil from places that really do not care for us all that much......

David

 

I have spent most of my adult life in construction and I feel the same way dmanlyr does. I have mostly retired now, but have kept this one truck because I have a use for it now and then and it still is the right tool for many jobs. My daily driver is one of the Hondas we own. Our 2007 Civic pulls down 40 mpg cruising at a steady 65 miles per hour. It is a no brainer for me, especially when I just need to haul myself around.

 

I figure I never bought it for the gas mileage anyways so I'll just keep plugging along. I have 4 vehicles on my insurance with my 18 year old son and my 16 year old daughter so buying and adding another car to the insurance is a no go. The Old Green Ford is just going to have to keep hauling me around. I guess to coin a phrase from an old movie "Damn the torpedos FULL speed ahead".

 

I hear that! It takes me 5 minutes to pull out of my driveway, drive to work and back into my parking spot.

 

I get about 12 to 15 mpg but she is not my DD. My wife and I work at the same company and drive our 02 Taurus as a DD. 24 mpg in town and 30 mpg on the road. It is the best of both world and both are FORDS !

 

The Centurion gets great gas mileage, as long as I keep taking stuff apart. It's still not on the road yet, the '92 SHO has been doing DD duty for the past year and a half. 20s in town, around 30 highway, loads of fun to drive, it's paid for, and cheap insurance.

 

For a DD I purchased a 99 Saturn SL, manual tranny, steering and crank windows. Pegs excellent hwy mpg and solid town mpg as well. Got it for a under $2K 5 years ago, adds $14 per month on my insurance so it is a nominal cost. Worth it to me.

Also, not to sound to hippy-dippy but since my current job site is 4 miles from my house and now that the weather has broke for the long term I have been using a bicycle as a DD. Lame, I know...but I went through a vehicle free phase in my early 20s and an old habit can die hard. Relatively free transportation and I live in a very rural rolling countryside with no cars for most of the trip so I enjoy the ride. Leave my PSD at the site and pack a light bag for the day and I am good to go.

-Craig

 

I hear that too! We always have three and sometimes four vehicles in our driveway including my longbed.

My F150 is for occasional use only. It is a tool I sometimes need and a toy. I almost cry when I need to pump 40 gallons of gas at over $4.50. Have you tried parking and turning around in small parking structures with narrow lanes and spaces? When I visit my allergy doctor it takes several minutes to park and FIVE! minutes to pull out of a space. In those spaces I can only open the door a foot wide and have difficulty getting out (I am 5'8" and weigh 150lbs) and then the worry about dings others will put on my almost perfect truck. Then there is the joy of driving in very heavy 1-2mph traffic! How about having to get out of your truck to fold the mirror back to park next to a pillar?

Who needs that headache? I now use the truck one day a week. If I am extrodinarily careful in city driving I can get 17mpg. In my Fusion hybrid if I am careful I get almost 40mpg in the city.

The truck is a once a week 20 mile per week tool and toy.

 

I get a average of 15 mpg, sometimes 16 mpg; On the low octane fuel. Which is currently $3.67 a gallon.

 

I wished my 351 got over 12 regularly. I drive 35-40 miles a day. On way home from work it's stop and go. But on hyway at 65 - 70 it barely gets 14. It has no sweet spot. 355 gears e4od and stock height tire.

I know all about parking land yahts. I own big everything. I have 3 four door longbeds and 2 extended cab longbeds.
My 90 is in great shape. I worry others will wack it so I park away and it's long enough I just take two spaces front to back so my pushbar doesn't stick in the road.
I can't fit in half the parking garages because my airhorns are too high. Oh well.

 

I'm getting about 15-16mpg on my 97 F250HD with the 5.8l 351w and E4OD... of course, I did a few things to get her there. K&N Intake 63 series aircharger, shorty headers, dual glasspack exhaust, new plugs, wires, distributor cap & rotor, smog pump delete, and plenty of seafoam and injector cleaning to keep the gunk out of the engine. My tires are 26575R16... is that unusually good mileage?

 

I just drove from Denver to Minneapolis in my 96' F150, 4x4 shortbox, 5.8 w/ E4OD and 3.55 gears. K&N drop in filter, stock size tires. I couldn't hardly believe it, but on one 200 mile leg I got 20mpg. Overall I averaged 18mpg. 68-69mph with the cruise on the flat sections, and no cruise through the steeper hills.

But to answer the OP's question, I bike to work or take the bus when its convenient to. Saves me from driving much at all these days.