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What are some options for good gas mileage in overlanding vehicles?

ThundahBeagle

ThundahBeagle

Rank V

Advocate I

Autism Family Travels said:
True 100 percent. I was hunting one day in my JK when I had it, and there was a civic with 4 people in it in the same roads. Was so funny to see. We are lifting the patriot and putting 245s on. A small hit to the milage for some greater capability in the back country here. Most of what we need is grip on dirt and rocky areas and clearance for rocks in the trails. NO rock crawling or mudding, just clearance of "pan dingers". Meaning oil pan.
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The difference in this scenario is that you in your JK could do that all day, every day. While four people in a Honda Civic on similar roads would likely cause it to need x, y, and a in tires, underpinnings and low-hanging exhaust work far more often
 
rtexpeditions

rtexpeditions

Rank V
Launch Member

Advocate II

My vehicle isn't available in the US, so it won't help you much. But the VW "Computer with a 4wd van attached" regulates the average fuel usage to around 26mpg (9l/100km).
I don't push it that hard, fuel is too expensive nowadays, but supposedly if you drive it too hard the ECU lowers performance later on to achieve that average MPG.

I think that still qualifies as cheating.
 
D

Drunk_Dog

Rank II

Enthusiast II

achancesw said:
I'm going to do my first build this summer and this will be my 2nd vehicle.

In all the trucks and SUVs people use, which are the ones with better than 20+ MPG?

I drive to see family several times a year and I hate stopping for gas. I was hoping for something with 350+ mile highway range.
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My bone stock F150 with the 2.7L has a 36 gallon tank and gets about 21MPG at 70MPH... with bigger tires, an XL Roof Top Tent, 270 Awning, Fridge and kayak on top of the tent, 8 gallons of water, a dog, and all my cooking/camping gear (which isn't much)... I'm at 16MPG at 70MPH..... so I can go about 450/500 miles (depending on the wind) before I need to fill up again.
 
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smlobx

smlobx

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

My F-350 has over 600 mile range on 35’s. It’s a diesel but it also has a 38 gallon fuel tank. Day to day average just under 15 mpg

My Jeep Gladiator gets about 18 mpg but it has a small tank (~22 gal) so I installed an 18 gallon extended range fuel tank to give me over 600 miles of range.
 
Ubiety

Ubiety

Rank VI
Member

Explorer I

rtexpeditions said:
Some day the US will go metric.
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About the same time that we go right hand drive in order to keep our sword hand free ;)

In all seriousness I do wish that our edumacation system had tried harder to teach us the metric system. Good to see a Tasmanian here! Big fan of the Australian overlanding scene.
 
Moebius01

Moebius01

Rank V
Member

Advocate I

So far at least, even with a full loadout (like within a couple hundred pounds of GVWR), and with a Gazelle T4+ and 2 camp chairs strapped to the roof rack, I still get around 24-26 mpg at highway speed in my Jeep WK2. Plus, the thing is actually comfortable to drive on the highway. :D If you get the trailhawk (or get the same equipment on a different trim) it's pretty darn capable off-road as well. I haven't done a ton yet since I'm still in the shiny-new phase and it's also my daily driver, but it's taken the stuff I've thrown at it without missing a beat.

Supposedly, Chief is still working on a lift that's compatible with the air-lift suspension which would let me bump the tires up a bit for a little more capability. Of course I'm sure I'll lose some fuel efficiency there too...
 
Ubiety

Ubiety

Rank VI
Member

Explorer I

Moebius01 said:
So far at least, even with a full loadout (like within a couple hundred pounds of GVWR), and with a Gazelle T4+ and 2 camp chairs strapped to the roof rack, I still get around 24-26 mpg at highway speed in my Jeep WK2. Plus, the thing is actually comfortable to drive on the highway. :D If you get the trailhawk (or get the same equipment on a different trim) it's pretty darn capable off-road as well. I haven't done a ton yet since I'm still in the shiny-new phase and it's also my daily driver, but it's taken the stuff I've thrown at it without missing a beat.

Supposedly, Chief is still working on a lift that's compatible with the air-lift suspension which would let me bump the tires up a bit for a little more capability. Of course I'm sure I'll lose some fuel efficiency there too...
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Did some super muddy tails with a guy in a Trailhawk (forgot the model) and he went everywhere the other more off-roady vehicles went. Very cool!
 
U

UgotWheelz

Guest
I have a 2018 Limited with the fancy pants four-wheel-drive with locking feature, low range all-wheel-drive system. I have everything a Trailhawk except for the air suspension which I did not want. And I’m not sure that I have the same rear differential as Trailhawk my differential does have an electronic control module on it but I’m not sure that it’s the same one on the trail hawk. I haven’t had any problems on the Oregon coast range up in the Tillamook Forest logging roads and in eastern Oregon it just seem to be a super capable nothing seem to challenge it that tow rating is incredible 6200 pounds and oh boy lots of space inside. There’s some great YouTube channels about WK2’s offroad like @prodigaloverland
 
Moebius01

Moebius01

Rank V
Member

Advocate I

OverlandRS said:
I have a 2018 Limited with the fancy pants four-wheel-drive with locking feature, low range all-wheel-drive system. I have everything a Trailhawk except for the air suspension which I did not want. And I’m not sure that I have the same rear differential as Trailhawk my differential does have an electronic control module on it but I’m not sure that it’s the same one on the trail hawk. I haven’t had any problems on the Oregon coast range up in the Tillamook Forest logging roads and in eastern Oregon it just seem to be a super capable nothing seem to challenge it that tow rating is incredible 6200 pounds and oh boy lots of space inside. There’s some great YouTube channels about WK2’s offroad like @prodigaloverland
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Sadly, both my channels I've been using for learning on what the WK2 can do and how to do it went and got new vehicles. Prodigal got a JT, though at least the wife is now starting to bring the Trailhawk along (just did some trails at Windrock), and Cara at Ozark Overland Adventures got a wild pink JLU. There's one other channel out there, FunkyWk2 or something like that that puts it through some major paces, but he doesn't put out a ton of videos.

That said, I'm more than happy so far. Get that decent highway mileage, even fully loaded, and capable enough to take me anywhere I'm likely to want to go off road. Would I like a JLU fully decked out with a nice lift and running 39s? Sure. Given that I live in an area with no real overlanding or trail options nearby, would I want to drive said JLU 1500+ miles out to Utah or the like? Not on your life.
 
U

UgotWheelz

Guest
Moebius01 said:
OverlandRS said:
I have a 2018 Limited with the fancy pants four-wheel-drive with locking feature, low range all-wheel-drive system. I have everything a Trailhawk except for the air suspension which I did not want. And I’m not sure that I have the same rear differential as Trailhawk my differential does have an electronic control module on it but I’m not sure that it’s the same one on the trail hawk. I haven’t had any problems on the Oregon coast range up in the Tillamook Forest logging roads and in eastern Oregon it just seem to be a super capable nothing seem to challenge it that tow rating is incredible 6200 pounds and oh boy lots of space inside. There’s some great YouTube channels about WK2’s offroad like @prodigaloverland
Click to expand...
Sadly, both my channels I've been using for learning on what the WK2 can do and how to do it went and got new vehicles. Prodigal got a JT, though at least the wife is now starting to bring the Trailhawk along (just did some trails at Windrock), and Cara at Ozark Overland Adventures got a wild pink JLU. There's one other channel out there, FunkyWk2 or something like that that puts it through some major paces, but he doesn't put out a ton of videos.

That said, I'm more than happy so far. Get that decent highway mileage, even fully loaded, and capable enough to take me anywhere I'm likely to want to go off road. Would I like a JLU fully decked out with a nice lift and running 39s? Sure. Given that I live in an area with no real overlanding or trail options nearby, would I want to drive said JLU 1500+ miles out to Utah or the like? Not on your life.
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I’m trying to decide if I want to keep the 2018 Grand Cherokee Limited myself or move on to a E/F 450 or 550 box truck 4 x 4 expedition rig. I would loose quite a bit of gas mileage but I would also save in the fact that I don’t have to store my seasonal items non-essentials. Everything can go in the truck with me there’s a few former fire department and military 4 x 4 box trucks for sale in my area that I’ve had my eyes on. No matter what I do I will eventually put out some YouTube content. My computer and camera gear was stolen I haven’t had a chance to scan through the remaining hard drives or get a new computer and edit the content. I should add at the grand Cherokee is absolutely perfect for one person solo trips but for extended solo trips. For two people you really even need a large rack with gear boxes, a rooftop tent, or some type of trailer as you will get tired of tripping over gear cases on n the rig quickly.
 
Lothar

Lothar

Rank III
Member

Enthusiast III

Suzuki Sidekicks (which will be my next build) get about 20 mpg combined. Those numbers will drop with larger tires and added weight. Our fourth gen RAV4 was highly capable and would occasionally hit 30mpg on the highway. If the places you haunt don't have major gatekeepers (and even if they do provided you apply enough brute force and ignorance to the scenario) crossovers are definitely worth looking at.
 
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