my dads old dakota (03 QC 4x4 w/ the v6) did not change mpgs when he put a tonneau on it, he got 17 on the highway consistently, now he probably drives 75-80 on the highway so yes you should be able to do better, although with his new truck he JUST (in the last week or two) put a tonneau cover on it and his mpgs when from about 19 commuting to work to 20.x(just under 21 really), the only change was adding the tonneau cover, (btw he is now driving an 09 dak QC v8 4x4 trx4 ect ect)



and just so you know anyone with the overhead computers, i have yet to see one that is accurate on estimated MPGS, mine (02 durango) is off anywhere from .1-3 my dads (09 dak) is off about .1-2, my moms BMW is off even more .5-3+, and my sisters beetle is off too, never accurate, now in refrence to chevy, my roommate last year drives an S-10 and he never got the same MPGs as the built in computer told him he was, not sure how much it was off, but it was off and not consistently, bc that was his biggest complaint about it

 

Where to begin. *sighs*


Tonneau covers ARE better. I will not try to force one on you, but for gas mileage they are better than an open bed.

You are stupid, I can not prove my point to you and I will not try any further. Actually, I lied, yes I will.

Here is a link to the bed cover, it is expensive, but so are LEER covers. The bonus is you get better gas mileage. The man making it is hoping Ford will buy his idea and try to get all new trucks to have one or at least make them an option.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...d-cap-583.html

He has noted 20mpg to 24mpg increase traveling at 70mph. He has numerous threads on that site, with Cd test to prove it. The guy has done his homework.

All I can say to you sir, is you should know your facts, or at least read some on aerodynamics. You are ignorant, yet you feel the need to say that I am wrong.

 

I drive a stock 2001 Quad Cab, Auto, 4.7 and never get below 17 mpg and normally I am in the 18-19 range touching 20 mpg once. 65% highway driving. Cruising at 70 mph I am pulling a little over 2,000 rpms. On the 20 mpg run, I tried to keep everything under 2000 rpm. ie. pulling away from lights etc. That was no fun but I did pull a 20 once.

 

Madison, I'm not saying you are going to lose 5 mpg by using a tonneau, but you're not going to gain anything either. I know you will lose some, might not be much, but some. I suppose it could all depend on the length of the bed as well. A lot of trucks don't have 8' beds like they used. Now most are 6.5' or less for 4 door trucks. Even if you WERE to gain 1 mpg, a tonneau is several hundred dollars. When do you start to making you're money back on something that gains you 1 mpg? That would be even if they did help you gain mpg.

I've got nothing against tonneaus, they serve a very practical purpose, but don't buy one and say its to save gas. Buy it because you need to cover things up in the bed. Don't buy one thinking you are going to save gas. Because you're not.

And I'm sorry, but your hippie eco cover thing is not going to catch on. Its hideous. And I know that, it doesn't matter in terms of saving gas, but people are not going to use. They want to be able to use there truck as a truck. And once again, how much are they?? How long will it be before you make your money back.

Nobody ever thinks about the money they invest, never to see a return.

It's the same thing with these stupid people who go and by an electic car. They think they're doing the world a huge favor by not using gas. Instead they go home every night and plug it into the wall and use the electricity from a COAL powerplant. Then 10 years later all these cars need new batteries, but oh wait you can not recycle the old ones. Wow good thing you bought an electric car. Not to mention the amount of pollution used to produce the cars in the first place.

Nobody ever thinks things all the way though and is why this country is in such a mess, because of people like Madison who can't wrap thier small brains around anything that should be common sense.



Ok, I think I'm done with my rant. Sorry for those who had to read through the whole thing. Some people just make me nuts.

 

Once again, you are wrong. I am not going to type a paragraph to tell you that. You are about electric cars too, but you are too ignorant on the subject to realize the fallacies in your statement.

 

actually on electric cars he is pretty accurate, the batteries do need to be replaced (i think its every 5 years, not 10 but im not 100% sure, i know that the hybrid batteries are 5 years) and he is also correct that most of this countries electric power comes from COAL power plants(http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electri...a/epat1p1.html, just look at the totals, the first section where coal has the highest megawatt hours), which actually produce more pollution than running a car on gasoline, electric cars also do not have the range that everyone wants or needs from them


http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c02c.html
http://www.mrsharkey.com/charging2.htm (battery life of electric cars)

 

He is right about a few things. I do know that most power comes from coal, but it is also more effiecent energy. Most of the power where I live is nuclear and hydroelectric. I will buy/build an electric car with SLA batteries so that I can recycle them.

Thinking that your (no hate because I own one) V8 car is "more environmentally friendly" is dumb.

 

You are wrong. You are the one that stated that a cover could increase fuel millage by 4 MPG. As i stated if that was the case i think every truck driver would have one. I have been driving trucks for about 10 years now every thing from a 2002 chevy 2500 4x4 (8.1L) To a Reg cab 01 318 dakota. If you had a long bed regular cab truck i might see a cover helping a little bit. I would go as far to say maybe up to 1 MPG but the same could be said by removing the tail gate which is where most longer bed trucks will see some drag at higher speeds (like on interstates). For us shorter bed trucks like the crew cab dakota we dont have very long beds and are cabs create a large wind screen in front of the bed.

So let me brake this down a little bit. If you are sitting in the bed of a full size truck with a 6 foot bed and you sit close to the cab you dont fill any wind right? Even if you sit in the center about half way back you dont fill any wind right? So the only place you might catch some big wind is near the very back of the truck near the tail gate (once again we are talking about a longer bed truck).

Also if you look at that data how does lowering the tail gate get better fuel millage then removing the tail gate by almost 1 MPG
Removed Tailgate 0.447 3.47% 15.65
Lowered Tailgate 0.414 -4.17% 16.42
That by its self looks a little strange to me. Like the data might not be so correct.

And then:
Tonneau Cover 0.381 -11.81% 17.18
New Cap Design 0.302 -30.09% 19
How does this cap improve almost 2 MPG over a cover which blocks air from going down into the bed. Sounds like some one is trying to pitch a sale just like when company's try to claim cold air intakes give you up to 25 Horse power and then you see 7-13 on the dyno

So you can call me ignorant all you want and look at your little "data" all day long. In the real world how you drive will have more of a impact on your fuel millage then if you buy a little cover for the bed of your truck. And for most people that use the bed of there truck a cover just gets in the way any way.

The only thing i can see that might help lower some drag on the truck is going to a net or lowering the tail gate when the bed is not being used i think it will only help if you drive on the high way at higher speeds for long distances and even then i think it will only be a few miles per tank not a few miles per gallon.

 

CBR, did you see the bed cap I posted? It's not your everyday run of the mill bed cap.

 

not necessarily a v8 powered car/truck, but a small car w/ a 4 cyl engine maybe, but my point was that using an electric car is just moving the pollution from wherever you are driving to the point of electricity production, not decreasing the overall pollution, now if everyone switched to electric cars, it might make a difference, but the few people that could (and actually would) use them will not make a difference in air pollution.

and if you know how nuclear reactors work they use a water supply (usually a river, or bay) to cool the reactor which will cause the temperature of the water in that ecosystem, which will cause damage to the system, so nuclear energy, while much better for the air in the environment, it is not so much good for the ecosystem of the river or bay where the water for cooling the reactor comes from.