Yeah, it's not really "efficiency" - maybe a poor choice of words on my part. What I'm getting at, hopefully, is that I'd expect the mean average MPH to end up being about equal for all four drivetrain combos. I mean, traffic is traffic, we all (as an average) drive in the same stuff sooner or later regardless of vehicle type, right?
So, if the avergae speed of each category finallly averages out to, say, 35 MPH, then we rank 'em by what kind of MPG they get - which is reflective of City/Highway mix, in a general sense, would you agree? Respective to each other, and things being as equal as they can be at that point. Going by MPG alone, well, I don't buy it, because then the person driving cross-country at 65 on cruise control in an Auto-GT whips up on a Manual-V6 driving in the Bronx. Have to factor average speed in, somehow.
Then, in each drivetrain category, you could look at someone who is close to your own average MPH (meaning City/Highway mix) and see how well you are doing in comparison to them in roughly similar conditions.
Maybe "Leadfoot Index" is a better choice than "efficiency"?? Fr'instance if HazMat and ultraclyde both have the same
average speed of 27 MPH per tank, meaning their driving conditions are likely similar, but HazMat is getting 20 MPG and ultraclyde is getting 16 MPG, then ultracyde knows he can get wayyy better (if he wants to) and Haz knows he's doing pretty good. And if they cared to, they could talk shift points, etc, and go from there, that's all.
I'm hoping once we get a fair number of responses in the categories (maybe 10 each, hopefully, the stick-GT's are showing a good baseline right off the bat) then maybe it'll be more clear......or, hey, if there's a better formula to use I'm all for it. Learnin' as we go, here.....
Trying to ascertain the peak operating efficiency speed/RPM of each vehicle is a GREAT idea but a bit more beyond what the numbers collected here can accomplish - I absolutely agree that'd be a cool project also. And actually, with the IUP, it'd be easy if someone had the chance, and a long long flat road trip. Just set the cruise to 50, reset the MPG counter, check it 20 or 30 miles later.......then bump the cruise to 60, reset the MPG meter again, check it 20 or 30 miles later again......lather, rinse repeat, y'think?
ford4v429 said:
I think we need a better yardstick...right now 10 mpg @ 10mph =100% efficiency?