I drove Big Red on her 1st road trip to visit my Mom in NE. - about 900 miles round trip. Man, do I love this car! Effortless and gutsy at a moment's command!
Now for the rain part. I headed out of Denver and my gas mileage had settle in around 24.0 MPG while driving about 82 - 85 MPH - I think - wow, this is pretty darn good, until it started raining (pretty hard). As it rained the gas mileage began dropping until it fell to an avg. of 20.5 after about 3 hours of pouring rain. Then it stopped raining, and my avg. gas mileage managed to climbin for the last 80 miles up to 21.2, for the 450 mile trip. Then, on the way home three days later my gas mileage was averaging 24.5 MPG, again travelling at approx. 83 MPH, then it rained the last 100 miles which brought my gas mileage down to 23.0 MPG for the final 450 mile return trip to Denver.
Any similar experiences? I have never really noticed rain causing a deleterious affect on MPG before with other cars.
BTW, I let my older brother, who only has experience with american vehicles, drive the M5 a bit on a very desolate patch of NE. backroads. He is just tooling along through the countryside when we see a long open stretch so I tell him to "kick her in the pants a little". So he does and we rocket up to 135MPH in no time, that beautiful V8 droning through the gears effortlessly. He says, "Wow, this thing pulls like a corvette but drives like a dream". I say, "Uh Huh, can you see why I like BMW's now?"
He was impressed, and I was proud.
Now for the rain part. I headed out of Denver and my gas mileage had settle in around 24.0 MPG while driving about 82 - 85 MPH - I think - wow, this is pretty darn good, until it started raining (pretty hard). As it rained the gas mileage began dropping until it fell to an avg. of 20.5 after about 3 hours of pouring rain. Then it stopped raining, and my avg. gas mileage managed to climbin for the last 80 miles up to 21.2, for the 450 mile trip. Then, on the way home three days later my gas mileage was averaging 24.5 MPG, again travelling at approx. 83 MPH, then it rained the last 100 miles which brought my gas mileage down to 23.0 MPG for the final 450 mile return trip to Denver.
Any similar experiences? I have never really noticed rain causing a deleterious affect on MPG before with other cars.
BTW, I let my older brother, who only has experience with american vehicles, drive the M5 a bit on a very desolate patch of NE. backroads. He is just tooling along through the countryside when we see a long open stretch so I tell him to "kick her in the pants a little". So he does and we rocket up to 135MPH in no time, that beautiful V8 droning through the gears effortlessly. He says, "Wow, this thing pulls like a corvette but drives like a dream". I say, "Uh Huh, can you see why I like BMW's now?"
He was impressed, and I was proud.
