I do believe we managed to put our FX through the gambit of wind, rain, altitude, temperatures, and speeds for the last two weeks! We traveled from the extreme northwestern corner of WA down through OR, ID, to Salt Lake City UT (for a conference), and then on to St. George UT where we spent 4 days enjoying red rock country. Leaving St. George, we headed South to Gold Canyon, AZ, via Valley of Fire in NV, and after a few days of sun (in the 90's) and appropriate adult beverages, we headed home up through AZ, NV, ID, OR, and finally WA.
We experienced travel from sea level to over 8k. There were a lot of our travels at elevations exceeding 5k feet. We went from 0 MPH in a couple of construction zones to some cruising at 100 MPH in Nevada on the long straight stretches of Hwy 93 (FX really sucks gas at that speed!). Most of the time we ran at about 80/85, and we were loaded down with luggage and on the return, several cases of booze (much cheaper in NV/AZ than in WA, about half price!). Many of the western highways (ID, NV, UT) are posted at 75 and 80 (Utah), and you can pretty safely run at 5 to 10 over.
We hit severe headwinds for a stretch in NV that absolutely killed our fuel mileage (dropped to 18) but overall average for the entire trip was 21.3 MPG. The FX performed flawlessly, was a real joy to drive, and quite comfortable, although at about 6k feet in elevation, it was noticeably working harder.
We also managed to do our part to deplete the bug population of all the listed states. The front of the FX was a real mess especially after hitting a swarm of something in NV at about 90 MPH. Had to stop in Ely and scrub the windshield in order to see. Hit the car wash in Union Gap (WA) to scrub the rest of the bugs and debris off the exterior. And of course, as soon as we got into the Cascade Mountains, close to home, it rained.
We’re very pleased with the “Cheetah", and are ready to do it all again. Road trips are great if you happen to have a spouse who loves to ride, listen to tunes and hit out of the way places. All in all a great trip. BTW, the nav system was dead on the whole trip, even with some of the more unusual side roads we took.
We experienced travel from sea level to over 8k. There were a lot of our travels at elevations exceeding 5k feet. We went from 0 MPH in a couple of construction zones to some cruising at 100 MPH in Nevada on the long straight stretches of Hwy 93 (FX really sucks gas at that speed!). Most of the time we ran at about 80/85, and we were loaded down with luggage and on the return, several cases of booze (much cheaper in NV/AZ than in WA, about half price!). Many of the western highways (ID, NV, UT) are posted at 75 and 80 (Utah), and you can pretty safely run at 5 to 10 over.
We hit severe headwinds for a stretch in NV that absolutely killed our fuel mileage (dropped to 18) but overall average for the entire trip was 21.3 MPG. The FX performed flawlessly, was a real joy to drive, and quite comfortable, although at about 6k feet in elevation, it was noticeably working harder.
We also managed to do our part to deplete the bug population of all the listed states. The front of the FX was a real mess especially after hitting a swarm of something in NV at about 90 MPH. Had to stop in Ely and scrub the windshield in order to see. Hit the car wash in Union Gap (WA) to scrub the rest of the bugs and debris off the exterior. And of course, as soon as we got into the Cascade Mountains, close to home, it rained.
We’re very pleased with the “Cheetah", and are ready to do it all again. Road trips are great if you happen to have a spouse who loves to ride, listen to tunes and hit out of the way places. All in all a great trip. BTW, the nav system was dead on the whole trip, even with some of the more unusual side roads we took.