I get way more smiles per gallon than I should...but now I need better miles per gallon. My Jeep is my DD, and I recently got a new job. I used to drive 100 miles a week round trip to work, now it's close to 100 miles a day. What are some ideas to improve MPGs?

I was thinking about buying a set of the smallest all terrain tires I could find( treadwright has some 235/80R17 for $80 a tire).

I don't really wanna ditch the spare because of the long commute.

Any other ideas?

 

All Terrains have more rolling resistance than all seasons do. Not sure there's really much you can do besides lessen your weight, keep your tires inflated properly, and keep your windows up

 

The 235/80-17 is still a tall tire to push around. The best MPG I got was when I was running 265/70-17's in a street pattern but I've recently moved to a second set of tires to combat the gas mileage. 35's for wheeling and stock Sahara wheels/ tires for daily driving.

I think your best mileage (gas and tire wear) would come from something like what the JL offers- I think it's a 245/70-17 Michelin LTX M/S. If you could find a set of sport take off's for cheap then you'd be set.

 

I would add that speed plays a large role. You will see higher mpg at 60mph compared to 70mph. I forget the exact relationship, but I think it is exponential. So, all season tires, minimize weight, minimize speed, windows up, RPMs down. I have plotted MPG for every fill up over 100,000 miles. I average about 17. Highest ever was about 22 which was 100% Highway. I only got above 20 a handful of times over 6 years.

 

IMO, there is nothing you can do that is going to make up for that difference in your commute. My commute used to be 20 miles/day, and that increased to 60 miles/day 4.5 years ago. At first I didn't think much of it, till I noticed the miles really adding up. Once I realized I was putting 15k miles/yr on just driving to work, my head started spinning. Even if you could get better fuel economy, the miles pile up on the clock so fast.

My solution was to buy a commuter car cheap commuter car. I really didn't care what it was as long as it saved my jeep ('06 Jetta 2.5 for $2800). I recently bought a salvage title 2010 Ford Fusion for my twin 15-year olds to learn how to drive on. I've been driving that as my commuter lately. I paid $3500 for it, and honestly, I really like it. It looks and drives great. I know the idea of another vehicle isn't everyone's plan, but think about the depreciation aspect of miles on the jeep, along with wear and tear items and maintenance. Break even on something like that was pretty short for me, but I get 13.5mpg with my build.

 

I average 17.5mpg, but with some hypermileing techniques I've got it close to 20mpg. I know that all season tires have less rolling resistant, but I figured a set or small a/t's would look less dumb than a set of small all seasons. I've also looked at a cheap commuter car too, but to get something reliable enough to do nearly 500 miles a week I feel wouldn't be worth the cost at this point. But I've been looking. I also should have added, this is going to be shorter term as we plan on moving closer to my new job eventually.

 

It's not about how dumb it looks, it's about the MPG. I don't mind when someone passes me up because I know what I've got and what it'll do on the weekend. The plus side of your situation- you should be able to sell the street tires and recoup some of the initial cost. People always want a set of street tires to get them through just another month.

Trail on the left and street on the right. Point and laugh but it suits my needs and allows me to save money to buy upgrades.

 

 

Take a look at the mountaineer data from consumer reports. Compare the 55, 65, and 75 on a percentage basis. 55 to 65 drop by 11% while 65 to 75 drops by 16%.

 

I'm going to set cruise at 60 mph the rest of the week and report back.