Road Trip Analysis

[Adventure Ranger]

This is a long post, but I thought some would appreciate the info. I'll provide some info on a long road trip, the mods to the truck that would effect weight and aerodynamics, as well as the load, route and weather conditions. I kept notes along the way, and my wife thought I was a little nuts at times.

Back Story:
Wife and I love the outdoors and spend a lot of time Hiking, Kayaking, Biking, and I even go rock Climbing and do a few Mountaineering objectives each year. We needed a better vehicle for our mountain trips, so I ordered myself a New Ranger this year. Living in the Canadian Prairies, we have a 9 hour drive to get to the Rockies, and do a number of trips through out the year.

Truck & Mods:
2020 Ranger Lariate Crew Cab FX4 Sport w/Tow package. Truck has all the electronic gizmo's on it.
I replaced the factory Hankook's with Toyo open Country AT2-AW tires, P265/70R17.(need AW or W tires for the mountainf from Oct1 - April 30 annually) Installed a BDS 2.5" front end lift/levelling kit and aligned steering and headlights. FOX 2.0 shocks on rear. Truck has spray in Linex box liner, I had it undercoated and installed factory style running boards/steps. AVS2 hood deflector, Gatorbak mud flaps and a Retrax XR box cover. for this trip I also had a Kayak rack mounted on the cover. I checked on all the weights and figure I increased the truck weight by roughly 120 Kg's(265Lb).

The Load:
We had 4x 17" winter tires in the bed(taking to our son),life vests, paddles, hiking gear(packs,poles,boots,etc). 2 coolers with food, 2 clothing bags, drinks a tandem Kayak mounted on a rack over cab and box. Add the wife and I, Calculated out at around 320Kg (705Lb) cargo. This load stayed constant over 9 of the 10 day trip.

The Trip:
As mentioned we live in the prairies in a small town, elevation is 577m(1893ft) above sea level. We drove through Edmonton 645m(2116ft) to Jasper Alberta. 1060m(3477ft)
From there we travelled down the Columbia Ice Fields 2068m(6785ft) to Lake Louise 1600m(5249ft)
Left there and drove through Rogers Pass 1330m(4363ft) down to Revelstoke BC 480m(1574ft)
We also took the Meadows in the Sky Parkway up Mt.Revelstoke to 1939m(6360ft)
Finally we left Revelstoke and made our way back home.
Ambient temps were from 0c (32f) in the mornings, to late afternoon highs around 15c(59f)
We kept the Auto Temp Control between 20-23c (68-73f) The AC was never run, other than for defrost on a couple of misty mornings.

Roads, Speed & Wind:
Day 1,2 & 10 were highway drive days on 2 lane divided highway, mostly flat, I drove at 120Kms/hr (75mph)
In the mountains single lane was typically around 105kms (65mph). In the National Parks the speed is enforced at 90 kms (56 Mph) All up and down twisty mountain roads with the elevation gains and drops as noted above.
Wind was light on day 1 heading NW and gaining altitude slowly. Day 2 saw us going right into a 70km(45Mph) wind.
Wind in the mountains was from zero to light most of the time, with sporadic gusts blasting through the valleys. It came from all directions as we wound our way through the mountains. Wind can change direction numerous times a minute as you wind up a mountain road. On day 10 we drove 12 hours from Revelstoke, gained lots of elevation for 4 hours, then slowly descended over the next 8 hours. We did manage to have a 30km (19mph) wind that was always behind us, or from the sides at some angle, but never were we driving into the wind.

Mileage:
We drove 3733.3 Kms (2319.7miles) from our driveway and back.
Added from the fuel receipts, we burned 351.47 Liters ( 92.85 USG ) (77.31 IG)
I always ran 91 Octane fuel from good sources.
Calculated out at 10.62 Liters/ 100 kms fuel economy average for trip. (24.98 USMPG) ( 30 IMPG )
Truck showed average fuel economy as 10.9 L/100 km. a difference of only 0.28L/100km.
Fuel costs were from 1.109 - 1.499 per Liter. Average cost of 1.257 / L
(That’s $4.776 per US Gallon in Cdn$
Or $3.564 per US Gallon in US$)

Observations:
Auto Headlights & High beams are awesome, almost intuitive. It was nice driving through storms in the mountains and had the lights come on as required themselves. The high beams in the pitch black cut in and out just as I would have done.
Auto Temp control worked flawlessly keeping us confy inside.
Speed compensating Volume worked good, only had stereo at 5-7 for the whole trip.
Wind and Road noise were minimal, my tires "sing" a bit but I was aware of that when I bought them. Its a compromise for the AW tires.
Adaptive Cruise- Once I got used to the distance settings, I was able to make good use of it. On 2 lane I kept it a 1 bar and could pull out to pass as required. On single lane 2 bar spacing kept me back enough I felt comfortable, but close enough I could pass when there was space. In the mountain twisties and in the dark, I set at 3-4 bars and that worked well to keep me paced with traffic and not get too wild in the corners. DRAW BACK- went through a snow squal and cruise cut out with the warning about front sensor blocked (iced up) It would be nice if the regular cruise would just work without the adaptive feature at that point. I had to go in and change the settings to get cruise back.
Auto Stop/Start was enabled the whole trip and worked without any issues. We didn't Idle the truck much due to anti-idling laws in the Rockies & Parks.
4X4 - I got to use 4H a couple of times on Logging and Fire Service Roads, dry and wet. Truck holds its line well, steers as directed and responded very well to throttle and brake inputs. I pushed it pretty hard at times(even had my son question me) but never did I feel the truck was on the brink.
Off road gauges were fun to watch. Highest paved inclination was 8degrees, most bank was 5 degrees. On gravel/dirt we were up to 12 deg incline and 8deg bank. Had to use 4x4 over 10Deg incline on gravel as the rears would spin out at that point.

Annoyances:
The double honk when getting out with the keys in my pocket - that has to go ! Disturbing the quiet early mornings doesn't win you any friends.
Not able to use the NAV while moving sucks. Why have NAV when we have to bring up directions on our phone anyway? Pulling over on a highway just to type in a location doesn't make any sense.

Overall:
I am very impressed with my Ranger. To get 25 USMPG on a trip like that through the mountains was well beyond my expectations! It was extremely comfortable, even after a 12 hour drive we were no worse for the wear.

Sorry for the long post - hope you found some use in the information.

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[GregM]

This is a long post, but I thought some would appreciate the info. I'll provide some info on a long road trip, the mods to the truck that would effect weight and aerodynamics, as well as the load, route and weather conditions. I kept notes along the way, and my wife thought I was a little nuts at times.

Back Story:
Wife and I love the outdoors and spend a lot of time Hiking, Kayaking, Biking, and I even go rock Climbing and do a few Mountaineering objectives each year. We needed a better vehicle for our mountain trips, so I ordered myself a New Ranger this year. Living in the Canadian Prairies, we have a 9 hour drive to get to the Rockies, and do a number of trips through out the year.

Truck & Mods:
2020 Ranger Lariate Crew Cab FX4 Sport w/Tow package. Truck has all the electronic gizmo's on it.
I replaced the factory Hankook's with Toyo open Country AT2-AW tires, P265/70R17.(need AW or W tires for the mountainf from Oct1 - April 30 annually) Installed a BDS 2.5" front end lift/levelling kit and aligned steering and headlights. FOX 2.0 shocks on rear. Truck has spray in Linex box liner, I had it undercoated and installed factory style running boards/steps. AVS2 hood deflector, Gatorbak mud flaps and a Retrax XR box cover. for this trip I also had a Kayak rack mounted on the cover. I checked on all the weights and figure I increased the truck weight by roughly 120 Kg's(265Lb).

The Load:
We had 4x 17" winter tires in the bed(taking to our son),life vests, paddles, hiking gear(packs,poles,boots,etc). 2 coolers with food, 2 clothing bags, drinks a tandem Kayak mounted on a rack over cab and box. Add the wife and I, Calculated out at around 320Kg (705Lb) cargo. This load stayed constant over 9 of the 10 day trip.

The Trip:
As mentioned we live in the prairies in a small town, elevation is 577m(1893ft) above sea level. We drove through Edmonton 645m(2116ft) to Jasper Alberta. 1060m(3477ft)
From there we travelled down the Columbia Ice Fields 2068m(6785ft) to Lake Louise 1600m(5249ft)
Left there and drove through Rogers Pass 1330m(4363ft) down to Revelstoke BC 480m(1574ft)
We also took the Meadows in the Sky Parkway up Mt.Revelstoke to 1939m(6360ft)
Finally we left Revelstoke and made our way back home.
Ambient temps were from 0c (32f) in the mornings, to late afternoon highs around 15c(59f)
We kept the Auto Temp Control between 20-23c (68-73f) The AC was never run, other than for defrost on a couple of misty mornings.

Roads, Speed & Wind:
Day 1,2 & 10 were highway drive days on 2 lane divided highway, mostly flat, I drove at 120Kms/hr (75mph)
In the mountains single lane was typically around 105kms (65mph). In the National Parks the speed is enforced at 90 kms (56 Mph) All up and down twisty mountain roads with the elevation gains and drops as noted above.
Wind was light on day 1 heading NW and gaining altitude slowly. Day 2 saw us going right into a 70km(45Mph) wind.
Wind in the mountains was from zero to light most of the time, with sporadic gusts blasting through the valleys. It came from all directions as we wound our way through the mountains. Wind can change direction numerous times a minute as you wind up a mountain road. On day 10 we drove 12 hours from Revelstoke, gained lots of elevation for 4 hours, then slowly descended over the next 8 hours. We did manage to have a 30km (19mph) wind that was always behind us, or from the sides at some angle, but never were we driving into the wind.

Mileage:
We drove 3733.3 Kms (2319.7miles) from our driveway and back.
Added from the fuel receipts, we burned 351.47 Liters ( 92.85 USG ) (77.31 IG)
I always ran 91 Octane fuel from good sources.
Calculated out at 10.62 Liters/ 100 kms fuel economy average for trip. (24.98 USMPG) ( 30 IMPG )
Truck showed average fuel economy as 10.9 L/100 km. a difference of only 0.28L/100km.

Observations:
Auto Headlights & High beams are awesome, almost intuitive. It was nice driving through storms in the mountains and had the lights come on as required themselves. The high beams in the pitch black cut in and out just as I would have done.
Auto Temp control worked flawlessly keeping us confy inside.
Speed compensating Volume worked good, only had stereo at 5-7 for the whole trip.
Wind and Road noise were minimal, my tires "sing" a bit but I was aware of that when I bought them. Its a compromise for the AW tires.
Adaptive Cruise- Once I got used to the distance settings, I was able to make good use of it. On 2 lane I kept it a 1 bar and could pull out to pass as required. On single lane 2 bar spacing kept me back enough I felt comfortable, but close enough I could pass when there was space. In the mountain twisties and in the dark, I set at 3-4 bars and that worked well to keep me paced with traffic and not get too wild in the corners. DRAW BACK- went through a snow squal and cruise cut out with the warning about front sensor blocked (iced up) It would be nice if the regular cruise would just work without the adaptive feature at that point. I had to go in and change the settings to get cruise back.
Auto Stop/Start was enabled the whole trip and worked without any issues. We didn't Idle the truck much due to anti-idling laws in the Rockies & Parks.
4X4 - I got to use 4H a couple of times on Logging and Fire Service Roads, dry and wet. Truck holds its line well, steers as directed and responded very well to throttle and brake inputs. I pushed it pretty hard at times(even had my son question me) but never did I feel the truck was on the brink.
Off road gauges were fun to watch. Highest paved inclination was 8degrees, most bank was 5 degrees. On gravel/dirt we were up to 12 deg incline and 8deg bank. Had to use 4x4 over 10Deg incline on gravel as the rears would spin out at that point.

Annoyances:
The double honk when getting out with the keys in my pocket - that has to go ! Disturbing the quiet early mornings doesn't win you any friends.
Not able to use the NAV while moving sucks. Why have NAV when we have to bring up directions on our phone anyway? Pulling over on a highway just to type in a location doesn't make any sense.

Overall:
I am very impressed with my Ranger. To get 25 USMPG on a trip like that through the mountains was well beyond my expectations! It was extremely comfortable, even after a 12 hour drive we were no worse for the wear.

Sorry for the long post - hope you found some use in the information.

Enjoyed reading your post. But really like your choice of colors for some odd reason.
Sounds like you also learned a lot of the functionality of these Beasts.

 

[wanted33]

Great post Mike. I wouldn't have thought the mpgs would have been that good with the trip you described.

BTW, my wife has gotten used to my craziness. She wouldn't have even blinked while I was keeping all those details.

 

[Clump]

Not able to use the NAV while moving sucks. Why have NAV when we have to bring up directions on our phone anyway? Pulling over on a highway just to type in a location doesn't make any sense.

You can use voice commands for NAV while moving. They work pretty good.

 

[Adventure Ranger]

You can use voice commands for NAV while moving. They work pretty good.

Good to know - I'll try that out. THANKS !

 

[gfitzge2]

Annoyances:
The double honk when getting out with the keys in my pocket - that has to go ! Disturbing the quiet early mornings doesn't win you any friends.
Not able to use the NAV while moving sucks. Why have NAV when we have to bring up directions on our phone anyway? Pulling over on a highway just to type in a location doesn't make any sense.

Overall:
I am very impressed with my Ranger. To get 25 USMPG on a trip like that through the mountains was well beyond my expectations! It was extremely comfortable, even after a 12 hour drive we were no worse for the wear.

Mike,
Thanks for the post. Very informative, a good read. I agree on the double horn honk, you can kill it with forscan, along with changing the panic button on the key fob to a double press to prevent accidental alarms. They can also make you pretty unpopular with your neighbors.

As Clump said you can use voice commands and they work OK, but can be a little frustrating when it doesn't understand you. Ford could use some improvement on that. You also might consider playing with Car play so you can just put your google maps from your phone on the trucks screen. It works pretty good.
Most of us wouldn't keep that much of a detailed account of our trips but I enjoyed reading about yours.?

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