766 km trip through Algonquin park - 8.8L/100km

[Psyke]

Just got back from my trip to Dorset (Huntsville) and for 766km going through Algonquin park with the all the steep elevation changes, I managed 8.8L/100km total. It was 8.2L/km going there, and 9.4L/km coming back. I think the difference was that on the way there, I used the ACC sparingly (actually, it was off for 3/4's of the ride and then for quick a quick 5 minutes every so often at the end of the journey), and on the way back, it was on all the way. I also maintained a speed of around 90-95km/h for most of the ride (most of the trip, the posted limit was 80, except for the 417, which is 100, where I still maintained about 98km/h). If it weren't for all the steep grades, I probably could have done better over all.

Funny thing is that the EVIC showed 8.4L/100km going there, and 8.0L/100km coming back (the evic was reset each way when I filled up for gas). So while it seems I was able to drive more conservatively on the way back, the AC kills the gains, not surprisingly, but then again, the Evic doesn't take the AC load into consideration...kinda odd..

On the flip side, my GPS showed 9.3L/100Km both there and back; it was programmed with epa's estimates of 9.4L/100Km Highway, and 13.8 City. the GPS bases it's calculation on these estimates along with current speed, how fast you took to get to that speed, distance travelled, and elevation travel.

I'm starting to think that the Evic is programmed with Chrysler's own 12.6L/100km city/7.8L/100Km highway as base, and modifies it depending on predetermined accelerator use, rather than having a sensor that tracks fuel flow vs distance travelled, which you would figure would be pretty easy as it has to deliver a specific amount of fuel to each cylinder, so it's already making the calculation. EPA's calc seems dead on vs my GPS, and the return trip, if they did their tests with ACC always on, which would be more realistic to expect.

thoughts?

One other note. I did actually use Cruise control for most of the trip there, and found one nice surprise; switching from Drive to Manual shift, including actual manually shifting, did not take the DJ out of cruise mode. This came in extremely handy for hills in that I just left in cruise, would down shift when hitting a hill, and then go back into OD when I hit the peak. Made for very easy management of the hills.

Cheers!

Steph S.