Markuson
SILVER Star
Good point. He did say he goes a while between fill ups. So must be short drives.
Aux Tank Experience?
- Thread starter TeCKis300
- Start date
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Good point. He did say he goes a while between fill ups. So must be short drives.
Yep, that's pretty much it. Keep in mind with #2 we're basically in the city, so there's a stop sign or traffic light every few hundred yards. It makes my parents suburban neighborhood seem like driving on the highway.
I've never tried to tow in the depths of winter, but I typically find in the summer we get 9-10mpg in the city and 6-7 in the winter. When I've tracked mileage when towing from our nearby parking space to the highway, which is more like "light city" or "heavy suburban" driving (25-35mph and traffic lights we seem to hit every 1/4 mile) in the summer I still get about 9mpg... maybe a bit more if I'm really light on the throttle. So in the hypothetical example of strapping an additional 6000# around town, I don't think the weight would make a huge difference... maybe 1mpg?
New gears are definitely on my list, if not for any mileage improvement (which would be nice) they would make towing the mountains more pleasant and improve off-road crawl speed. I've been holding out until the Toyota VSA runs out, which is still another 13k miles. Also if I'm going to regear might as well add e-lockers while they're in there... at which point it starts to get expensive. Either I'll just give in and do it early, or will wait and do them spring 2020.
And I thought my 12 mpg in the city was horrific...
Yep. Pretty much every trip is <1 mile.
- Home to the kids elementary school is <3/4 mile. 4 stop lights (which you hit) or 11 stop signs... choose your route. Drive there, turn truck off, 5-10 minutes later restart and drive home. Repeat 2-3x per day
- Grocery store is 3 blocks away... 2 stop signs plus a loop around the parking lot. Almost easier to walk if you only need a few items
- If my wife drives to the YMCA it's similarly 2/3 of a mile (9 stop signs)
- The coffee shop she typically works at is walkable but sometimes she goes to the one in the downtown area, again about 2/3 of a mile away.
- Last weekend we did take a "long" drive almost 4 miles (each way) to a theater in the next town over.
We have one vehicle and put 12-13k miles a year on it. About 5k of that has been our trip out west, we've typically taken a 1500 mile drive to the east coast once per year to visit family, about once a month we do 100 miles round trip out to my parents place and back, and then 7-8 local camping trips each season which are 250-400 miles round trip. The remaining 3000-4000 miles is the local city driving like this. I changed my oil at 85,100 miles on October 19th, and we're at 87,600 now.
Ah, yes, Evanston. I grew up on Sheridan Place. Some years back, I was working on a consulting gig in Rolling Meadows and drove to my Dad’s house in Evanston for dinner. 17 stoplights — it was brutal.
- Thread starter
- #146
If you ever choose to add a second car to your stable, an EV would work wonders in this type of use. Even the smallest cheapest one as range is not a concern. Not that you need an efficient car as there's so little miles traveled, but the wear and tear on a gasser in this use is not ideal. An EV absolutely shines being instant-on without any warm-up, instant torque for in city stop and go, and never having to go out of the way to fuel. A Leaf or I3 could be had for pennies in the used market.
fireball
SILVER Star
That’s exactly what I was thinking when I read that post. He needs a commuter car!
Chicago is now ChIraq. Roads are torn up worse than Baghdad. North side is not as bad as south side (~600 murders a year). The only car I like driving in the urban jungle is a land cruiser. I personally witnessed a gang knife fight on north side (near evanston) a few years ago.
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Yeah I've considered a Leaf as a second car, actually for the same reasons. My daughter just turned 13 so when she learns to drive in a ~3 years I intend on finding a small beater that she can learn on, rather than Truckasaurus. About the only thing stopping me from a 2-3 year old Leaf (which can be had for <$10k with 10-20k miles on them) is that I'd like to force my kids to learn on a 5 or 6 speed manual transmission like I did, which kinda rules out an EV.
supercarrera
Club Esprit de Four
Or better yet get a bicycle for when the weather is good enough for riding since those distances are so short. Save fuel money, good for the environment, stay healthy.
Land Cruisers are right at home in the worse third world countries. You should be fine with your Land Cruiser in it's natural environment
Yeah she walks the kids to school in the spring and fall, to the grocery store when feasible (one or two bags of stuff), etc and my commute is a mix of walking and the commuter train. But biking in the snow sucks and nobody is walking anywhere this week with morning temps around -20F and a windchill closer to -50F. I don't know how the Alaska guys do it.
I had heard that the North Side has gone downhill. When I was in high school, we used to go to Howard St. for pizza and beer on Friday and Saturday nights, but I guess that is a bad neighborhood these days.
Growing up in Evanston, my rule in a Chicago was to drive east to Lake Shore Drive and then turn left. I rarely ventured south of State Street, let alone south of the Loop.
At the time, Comiskey Park was across the Dan Ryan Expressway from Robert Taylor Homes. No way I would attend a White Sox game back in the day.
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love my 24gal, drove from Hou to Ft Stockton without stopping (~500mi). stopped there and refilled before turning south towards big bend territory. Now i need to sort out where to put my spare. that trip i had it in the boot w the dog bed up top (not ideal). i just got the gamiviti rack installed so i might "throw" it up top if i can find a good carrier to strap it down up there. i'm not ready to do the bumpers and suspension upgrades yet (mostly my wallet).
anyone have a good idea for a spare 33" ko2s 'carrier'. i'm envisioning a slip on or zippable bag made w 1000D Cordura or something sturdy and some burly handles for moving it around. prolly doesnt exist but maybe someone knows something close
anyone have a good idea for a spare 33" ko2s 'carrier'. i'm envisioning a slip on or zippable bag made w 1000D Cordura or something sturdy and some burly handles for moving it around. prolly doesnt exist but maybe someone knows something close
A good boating canvas shop might be able to make something up for you.
Have you looked at a hitch mounted tire carrier ? Like a Wilco Off road? I have one on my Porsche and I like it .
A tire on the roof is good for a second spare.
No such thing as "throwing" a 70 lb tire on the roof. Mac's Tie Downs has a good spare tire tie down strap.
haha yeah i was kidding about the throwing part... sarcasm is tough when the only hint at it is quotes ha
orangefj45
Supporting Vendor
We just finished installing “our” ( Valley Hybrids ) HD Bottom LRA 24-gallon aux tank into Cole’s 200.
Plenty of clearance; lots more than the factory spare tire. Tucks in there very well.
This cruiser has a Trail Tailor rear bumper. No clearance or interferrsnce issues. Bumper did not have to be removed for tank install.
Here are a couple of pics.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Cruiser Brothers
Markuson
SILVER Star
Nice!!
I see that you up-armored the bottom just as nicely you did on mine. Beautiful work!
My challenge for Cole now is to see if he can manage to actually whack the tank on something. —That thing is SO well tucked that despite massive bashing on everything else...I’ve yet to see anything touch my LRA! Amazing!
I shall keep trying...
Congrats, @indycole
orangefj45
Supporting Vendor
I do believe Mark just called you out Cole!
Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Cruiser Brothers
Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Cruiser Brothers
