I'm planning a road trip with my son next week in the Insight. I also want to make a personal long distance mpg record. The rough plan is to head from Pocatello, ID, through Boise via I86 and into Oregon. From there I am thinking about dropping down to highway 26 and following it all the way to the Portland area.
From Portland I plan cutting down to Tillamook, OR then following the coastal highway 101 down into California and the Redwood Forest.
On the trip back I'm considering cutting back through Crater Lake in Oregon then coming home, but not sure of the exact route. Any suggestions?
If you can, avoid interstates at all costs. The higher speeds will kill your MPG. go very slow up the mountains when possible (like 30 MPH max). Be sure to plan lots of extra time to go slower. On our trip to Oregon we didn't have much time and had to go fast, killed my MPG's.
Stop by the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinville OR (near Portland) and see the Spruce Goose (Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum). Pictures do not do it justice.
If you can take the time to hike some of the coastal trails in Oregon, do it by all means. Its very scenic. Take a wind-breaker or a light jacket as it can be very windy there.
I'm planning a road trip with my son next week in the Insight. I also want to make a personal long distance mpg record. The rough plan is to head from Pocatello, ID, through Boise via I86 and into Oregon. From there I am thinking about dropping down to highway 26 and following it all the way to the Portland area.
From Portland I plan cutting down to Tillamook, OR then following the coastal highway 101 down into California and the Redwood Forest.
On the trip back I'm considering cutting back through Crater Lake in Oregon then coming home, but not sure of the exact route. Any suggestions?
That is nice, i like it. I was in that aria in '01. It's beautiful the north west anywhere you go. Redwoods, Giant Sequoias in Cali are must. Highway #1 from Seattle down to L.A. is great. That aviation museum the guy before me told you about is something. The only better museum that that is non to others is one in Pensacola FL. I did that trip in '01 with toyota tercel '89. I took all the seats besides the drivers for obvious reasons made me a bad inside the car and drove 7000 miles for 3 weeks. I used only $500 it was great. My MPG back than was 45mpg. Good luck guys and post some pictures and info of your car.
Just as a friendly tip, make sure to check your tires for proper inflation before you leave. I don't know what you keep them at, but if you keep them at the factory 40psi it definitely wouldn't hurt to bump them up to 45-50 or more for all the highway driving you'll be doing.
I forgot to check mine before my last long trip, and ended up driving 15 hours with my tires at 35psi. Still got 78mpg, but I was pretty mad at myself.
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Red 2000 MT with 190,000 miles. 77 Lmpg.
We will be going to the Evergreen Aviation museum as well as the Tillamook Air Museum.
On the car, I already run my tires in the high 40's and try to hypermile and take advantage of battery capacity when possible. The extra battery capacity comes in handy when on mountain roads. Empty the batteries going up to avoid a mpg penalty and recharge going down. Last fall I took my son to Yellowstone and for the round trip I managed 80mpg including using the highway at 65 mph. In the park we did better due to all the mountains and being able to take advantage of fuel cut / recharging along with the reduced park speed limit.
The trip will be just over 1800 miles and my goal is 80 - 85 mpg, maybe higher if possible. My previous long trip was about 1200 miles @75mpg with mima, but minus the extra battery pack.
Well, we got home last night and the results are in.
The coast is beautiful, as is most of the Oregon interior. The highways however were spotty on maintenance and need some work.
Mileage:
Total trip: 2050 miles in 6 days
Total mpg: 70 mpg, disappointed I didn't make the goal. I'm sure it was a combination of short hills and rough roads.
The first leg, Pocatello to Portland, 700 miles, the cars computer reported 72.5 mpg, calculated was 76.9. This is the most it has been off for a positive number.
Once we hit the coast the numbers went way down as did the road quality, plus elevation fluctuations of 0 - 200 yards the entire trip.
The leg from Crescent City to Boise Id saw the largest elevation fluctuations ranging from sea level to nearly 7000 feet at Crater Lake.
The trip computer reported 66mpg, calculated was 68.5mpg.
I haven't calculated the remaining leg from Boise to Pocatello, but the trip computer is only showing 62mpg which is weird, because I got 80mpg from Pocatello to Boise. The Interstate coming back was much rougher and needs work.
The absolute best place we stumbled on was a camp ground / RV park outside of Coos Bay, Or. We ended up getting a camp site 50 feet off the beach. The beach was beautiful and also had a lot of sandstone formations with many tidal pools. Some people from California told us that was the best beach they knew of on the whole coast. Funny how finding stuff like this is totally random.
On mileage and hills. The Insight loves long climbs and descents, not so much short climbs with equally short descents. Road quality also plays a major role. Average speed throughout the entire trip other than the Pocatello to Boise stretch was 55 - 60 mph. But the mileage netted was closer to what I would get at 70 - 75 mph on a good flat road.
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Summer road trip, July 5th - 10th
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