First ski trip with JGC diesel
 

went pretty well...

The MPG figures:
-------------------

680 miles highway roundtrip to Stowe, averaged a real 27.7 (pump matches computer on this car). Drove 8-10 mph slower than I would say the 535i. There are some real grades on Vermont I-91 and I-89 though. It's also on 265-width blizzaks, not the most mpg friendly tires.

About 270 miles in and around town for five days, lots of idling and warming up several times a day clearing snow, one trip to Burlington, two trips to Smuggler's Notch. Also grades. Averaged 22.7.

Trip overall 950 miles, averaged 26.1.

Range is outstanding. Considering the tank is 24.2 gallons indicated (and likely closer to 25) with reserve, the full tank highway range is about 670 miles (with hills, cold temperatures and blizzaks). Using 75 to 80% of that, gives you 500 to 540 miles. :)

We could have easily done the trip with exactly one refueling. That said, I'm too paranoid with even a quarter tank full with the level of snowstorm, so I bought twice, once 18+ gallons and once 6 gallons. We started with a full tank and still have a half tank left (which should last me a month or so).

Snow: we got 31" at the base and 40" on the mountain over three days of continuous snowfall. Other than brushing the car off a few times, barely noticed it. Many cars were stuck in lots.

sounds like an incredible trip. Congrats on both the Jeep performance and the weather performance.

Driving notes...

Not that much to report. The air suspension is hard to upgrade but has many positives. A very serene highway ride, ability to jack up over snow piles...

Seats are comfortable and the leather is good quality. So are the headlights, wipers (better than VAG) and many secondary things. A great trip car at this trim level.

Still not a fan of wiper stalk on turn signals, the e-brake (that I never use and that doesn't work) and that the seat heater, cooler, steering heater are soft touch menu choices rather than buttons.

Blizzaks (especially low speed rated ones like this) get a bit vague on highway steering, that's one of the reasons to keep the speeds low. It sits more naturally at 70mph rather than 80mph for a german sedan with sports suspension, e.g.

Google says fuel capacity is 24.6 gallons. :dunno:

Your MPG figures sound fantastic. A huge tank is really nice thing to have, especially when paired with decent efficiency. What's not so great about it is running the tank down when fuel is expensive and running into limits set by the service station owner. Filling the Armada's 28 gallon tank during some of the 2007-2010 price spikes was often a multi-step process.

Thanks, it's quite the machine for it. It does do a donut or two, just takes effort with the lazy throttle, and the damned blizzaks are so sticky. Not sure if the stability off really means off or not, it just has so much grip.

https://scontent.fewr1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...5f&oe=5B2FA758

nice!

does VT still do that thing where they only plow one lane of the highway so that the passing lane is basically like automotive snowboarding while trying to pass slower cars?

and good snow too, this year in March.