Ok, well I have been driving my R/T almost every way you can. Fast and screw the MPG, and slower and trying to get the best numbers.

In all my messing around, I noticed one thing about the car, and hopefully this makes sense.

When traveling at 50 MPH, the car sits about right at 2,000 RPM, it does not matter if you are letting the CVT sit in Drive, or have the Auto-stick set to "6th gear".

But drop below 50, lets say drop it down to 45, and while in Drive the car still sits at 2,000 RPM, but put it into 6th and it will drop down to about 1,700-1,800.

Go down to 40, and you can get it to sit just a bit over 1,500 in 6th while Drive would put you just under 2,000.

Now I know the CVT is supposed to keep you at the best MPG vs. Power band, but isnt running the engine at the same RPM through somewhat broad speed range mean you are getting worse mileage at lower speeds?

I had the car at 31.6 MPG Average driving down a long road we have here in Michigan called Hines Drive. You drive about 20 miles and encounter only two traffic lights. Its a huge interconnect between Dearborn right near Ford Motor WHQ and most of Suburbia. So I let the car sit at 45 all the way through it. That is when I noticed this difference in RPM's.

It is hard to get exact averages and do tests when driving through here because one fault of Hines is that people get on it and either drive 50, or they drive 30. You are lucky to get the road to yourself to keep it at a certain speed and do anything real scientific. I was just lucky enough to get it for the trip trying to keep it at the lowest RPM.

I know lower RPM's at higher speeds put a bit more stress on the engine, and dont always mean better MPG, but in this case doesnt it seem like the car benefits from that couple hundred RPM drop?

I am not the best when it comes to engine RPM and how it equates into the rest of the cars function, as far as MPG and performance is concerned, but given the basics I have noticed it seems like it would be better to auto-stick it to 6th when you have a longer drive like this.

Now above 50, putting it in 6th tends to just increase RPM's over what the CVT would do, but since my drives are usually between 40 and 50, this would be good info to have.

Thanks all!

 

all I'm going to say is I F*CKIN HATE HINES DRIVE. first off people go the speed limit which drives me nuts. second it is plagued with pigs. third the people on bikes are the stupidest people in the world, and teh walkers/runners aren't much better. fourth of all it is one lane each way and most of it is no passing. fifth of all the ****ty *** rogue river overflows all teh time closing ti down.

o BTW i cant help you out with your question sorry.

 

I tend to stay away from Hines Park... unless it is flooded :-). 4 wd Explorer Sport 2001 will go through water up to its head lights no problem... door seals even hold up to keep water out of the cab.

 

On top of that, CVT transmissions are SUPPOSED TO BE more efficient than the standard transmission of the past. I wouldn't doubt it in most cases they are. The Ford 500 actually gets better gas milage with a regular transmission as opposed to their CVT. They are supposed to be better because the shifts are supposed to be smoother and less noticable.http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt9.htm to learn more about it.

 

Wow I did not expect responses from anyone who actually knew what Hines was.

Funny thing is I agree with most everything said. People do love to hold to that speed limit or lower even when they have a line of fifteen cars behind them wanting them to speed it up a bit.

I got pulled over at 1:30am on Hines for doing 48 MPH (Its a 40 zone for those that dont know). The whole time I did not see a single car except the cop that pulled me over, and I believe the park is closed off to anything but cars after a certain time, so this seemed pointless to me. The only reason I was even going somewhat fast is because I was feeling REALLY sick and wanted to get home.

He made me raise my right hand and give an oath not to speed on Hines again. Man, I wish I could have thrown up on him. I understand enforcing laws, but this seemed like a waste of both of our time.

As for the Explorer going through water, cant cant be any more true. There was a major flood in Indiana a few years back, and I was visiting my dad at the time. I had my 2003 Sport Trac at the time I believe. This flood washed away bridges, caused millions in property damage, it was a pain. There was really deep areas of standing water all over the roads.

I must have passed 15+ broke down Chrysler/Dodge vehicles, four notable GMC vehicles (one lady tried to get through a really bad part in her Grand Am, it was fun to see a car actually getting pushed towards a river it was in so much water), and I never saw any Ford's there, but that probably has more to do with the fact that Kokomo is only there because of the Chrysler plants there, and the Delphi HQ, hence the GM vehicles, there are not many Ford's.

But my Sport Trac went through the water that the lady in the Grand Am got screwed over in, not a problem, went through deeper water than that even and did not even threaten to stall.

I love the Ford 4.0's, every vehicle I have had except the Tempo has had them, and they are good performing rock solid engines.

As for passing in Hine's, I have generally done alright. Its not even worth trying near rush hour, but just about any other time you can make it happen pretty easy.

 

The CVT2 drops revs when you are slowing down because the injectors shut off and the engine is not actaully running as far as I know. The revs that are happening is just from the tranny turning because of the wheels. The injector shut-off is supposed to improve gas mileage. Once you get on the go pedal, the injectors start up again.

The CVT2 does some weird ****..

 

Here's a map of Hines to get a good idea of the road.... Yeah... I was bored[&:]



[IMG]local://upfiles/8943/DAB2B5EBAB3D4567A01F149E7A5C44EE.jpg[/IMG]

 

I am not talking about slowing down, this is while on cruise control.

The only difference is if I am in Drive or Auto-Stick 6th.

 

Oh, then I really have no clue..