![]() What does a Murano usually do? Eerily enough, a 2017 Murano is rated at 21 for city driving and 28 for highway driving. There’s some big country miles on the wide-open highways. There’s a slight octane bump, and it looks like we’re traveling quite a bit in the high country - he refueled a 21 gallon tank that was recording 28 MPG. The refueling would have changed the mix from something like E10 to around E2 or E3, and added a little less than 1 percent to the energy density. ![]() This one stop for gas made a believer out of me.Īs an experienced western driver would tell you, it’s 90 miles or so from Idaho Falls to Jackson Hole, and the driver in question is piloting a Nissan Murano SUV with a tank that holds 21.7 gallons. I checked it 3 times to make sure it was correct. When I refueled again in Jackson Hole Wyoming, I couldn’t believe my increase on mpg. We had been averaging 20-22 mpg on 91 octane gas with ethanol. I have a 2005 Nissan Murano and on that trip had a Thule cargo box on top. Since I was down to below a 1/4 of a tank I decided to give it a try. The next morning when leaving I stopped at a Sinclair station and noticed they sold 93 octane Premium with no ethanol. In late July 2013 my wife and I were on a 13 day road trip, The second night we stayed in Idaho Falls. And these days you can buy anti-ethanol swag - bumper stickers and t-shirts are the more popular items. That’s almost four times the number of outlets that sell a high-ethanol blend such as E15, E30 or E85. In the US and Canada, according to, there are some 12,000 outlets that sell ethanol-free gasoline. It’s become something of a cult in recent years. In the high plains, there are all those up and downs of the folded western mountains - and that thirst for a little power that an SUV needs to get rolling when on an incline - well, it can help with fuel consumption and driving a high-octane fuel can make a small difference in the pocketbook - and also in the sensation that there’s, as Exxon used to put it, a tiger in your tank.įor all those reasons, it’s reasonably surprising to have read about one driver’s journey along the road from Idaho Falls in into the wonders of Jackson Hole - also a journey from ethanol indifference to becoming an ethanol-hater. You might notice, if you are a sensitive driver, that when you put in E85 into your sedan and try and accelerate from a standing start, the car really pops - or, you get your usual acceleration without quite so much flooring of the gas pedal. Sliding along the coast roads in a small sedan, you’d hardly notice it, especially with an E10 fuel. From the other side, as the air is less dense at higher altitudes, the vehicle aerodynamic is changed and this also leads to lower fuel consumptionĪnd there’s a third kick – high octane gives you more power, too. In the case of gasoline engines, the higher altitude theoretically leads to lower fuel consumption due to lower throttle frictions due to the wider throttle opening. That jump can be dramatic - and a thirty percent jump in fuel economy is pretty common for highway miles.īut there’s an extra kick in the mileage that you might not have expected, and that’s in the altitude itself: There’s no real magic to the better mileage, but it’s welcome.įirst of all, you’ll get the highway miles that you never seem to fully capture on the coast, amidst all the stops and starts that urbanization imposes from the traffic lights to the traffic snarls. ![]() Especially if you happen to be piloting an SUV - and big AWD vehicles are de rigeur for residents of the Western mountain ranges who must from time to time navigate 3-meter snowdrifts and roads that require an all-wheel drive vehicle, and often snow chains as well. ![]() One of the greatest and most unexpected bonuses of an eastward journey along Highway 26 is that the vehicle mileage unexpectedly improves. This is US highway 26, which eastwards out of the metropolitan centers of the west coast offer a hilly, verdant introduction to the disciplines and delights of fly fishing. If they are not casting today on the most beautiful stretch of rainbow trout-heavy river in America, you can find them unlocking the secrets caches of the caddisfly, and they’ll test some of those real-deal caddis against their best tied flies. Now it is springtime and the water is high on the Crooked River in north central Oregon, but you’ll find the anglers there all the same.
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