Lexophile

Hi All I got back last night from my trip through Europe to the Mediterranean Sea and back to my home in the North of England. I am really stoked by the stats.

Distance driven; 2744 miles.

Average MPG; 27.1.

Average speed; 47MPH (This includes battling through UK traffic jams at 10MPH for four hours)
Total petrol used 101.25 (Imperial) gallons (121.596 US)

Longest drive on a tankful of petrol: 510 miles
highest average MPG on a tank 31MPG (Imp)
Highest altitude reached: 1200 meters over the Pyrenees
Most awesome sight: the Millau Bridge (the worlds highest)

Lexmex

What brand of gasoline and octane were you using for the most part?

airtime

Wow, now that's a drive How was those long drive on your body, any discomforts?

Lexophile

Hello friends!
For the most part I used 95 octane petrol, using various brands but, I did put a whole bottle of Redline in an almost empty tank and drove it 20 miles before filling up for the start of the trip. The end of the longest drive was getting a bit tiring. it was dark and I had country roads to contend with, I am 62 and reasonably fit but I was feeling a wee bit of an ache, surprisingly, in my wrists and right elbow from resting it, sometimes on the window and sometimes on the arm rest, (don't forget we have right hand drive vehicles and the rest of Europe are the same as the US.) The car behaved impeccably and I didn't hang around. had it not been for the traffic jams in Britain, I guess my average speed would have been in the low 60's. the fastest I went on the trip was 130 mph but that was on a stretch of dead straight, empty motorway very early one sunday morning and only for 5 or six minutes.

DanozLS430

iTrader: (1)

Wow! 2744 miles! That's amazing to get out 27mpg's. Great info for us who want to squeeze out and improve our MPG's. The highest octane we get in Hawaii is 92. My highest record for MPG's was averaging 29mph on a tank of gas with 21.5mpg and driven Miles on that particular tank fill. This is with being very light on the gas pedal, using cruise control and riding the car in neutral when going downhill on a long strip of maybe 1-2 miles. I put it back into gear when the road starts to incline a little. The island is too small to get into the higher speeds for a long time without slowing down.

DanozLS430...

wanderer99

I think this converts out to 22.566 MPG (US gallons) using your figures of 2744 Miles drives and 121.596 gallons.

I'd say you did very well through Europe, especially if your overall speed was 47 MPH. It's probably those 4hrs in the UK gridlock that killed you overall, otherwise your MPG would probably be higher still.

Did you have the laser\radar cruise on at all?

Lexophile

Hi Wanderer99,
I didn't use the lase/radar cruise on for the simple reason that my vehicle doesn't have it! But had I done so the MPG might have been a bit higher, mind you, I am happy enough with the figures, I could have improved them but I hate being overtaken, So I kept to the national speed limits (or 5 to 10mph over) wherever I could. (81 MPH in France and 70mph in the UK) except for the burst to 130+ for a few joyous minutes. I am not altogether sure that the MPG is different! How many litres does the car hold? I am sure its the same for all countries. Are we sure the readout is for US gallons there and UK gallons here?

Lexophile

This is the Millau Viaduct, France, the highest bridge in the world, it is higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris and saves a 40 mile trip down to the bottom of the gorge and back up. I thought it might be scary driving over it as I suffer from vertigo (but am good in planes) but it was awesome! so I went over the highest bridge and the oldest in the world The Pont du Gard; 1,920 years old in the same trip!

wanderer99

Awesome pictures! The road looks so smooth it makes me want to drive there. I sometimes forget what a really smooth road looks like living in the NorthWest US area.

I'm not sure how it all calculates out - globally - as I guess we have multiple standards: US MPG, UK MPG and Litres per 100 kms. So I'm going to step back on this and just let this webpage do all the calculation work.

The US 2005 LS430 specifications say 22.2 Gallons for the fuel tank. I've personally filled my vehicle with 21.5 US Gallons at the gas station, so this is definitely correct here. Given the 1.200xxx conversion ratio from US to UK Gallons I'm going to guess the UK cars have 26.66 Gallon fuel tanks.

airtime

Lexo, you have to post more pictures. They are indeed very nice.

Gojirra99

Very nice, I vote for more pics too

Lexophile

Hi Guys I just checked my handbook and the capacity on my 01 430 is 22.2 imperial gallons. and for those who requested more pics of the trip! heres one of the oldest and ceratinly the best kept Roman bridge. Its an acquaduct used to carry spring water to a village 16 miles away from the spring head to the right of the picture. it was started in AD 42 and finished 40 or so years later. it crosses the River Gardonne in southern France,

Lexophile

Another awesome place was Chartres in Northern France, it has this Cathedral which is almost 1000 years old and this pic was taken from my hotel bedroom.

Lexophile

And then there was the bullfight in the town in the South where we stayed, this involved having the bull chase these guys while they tried to ****** a tassle from its horns. AS you can see, the bull was really trying to kill these guys.

Lexophile

Some of the lads were really skilfull not to mention brave to the point of stupidity.