Long trip summary (3735 miles)

Drove the LGT down to New Mexico (Las Vegas area, stayed at the Star Hill Inn for observing the night sky) from Seattle area via I-90, I-82, I-84, I-80, I-25 and back via mostly 2 lane roads from Las Vegas to Ogden, UT and interstates from Ogden to home. 3735 miles total and I found that the LGT is a FANTASTIC long distance cruiser. VERY stable at speed (75 - 85 mph), in fact there was very little buffeting from the many head/side winds I experienced most of the way down. I stopped at a rest stop in Wyoming and was nearly knocked over by the high winds, but hardly noticed them while driving. VERY quiet as well, though some of that is attributable to the v-comp sound deadening material I added (thread forthcoming to describe this, here it is: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20069), and as a result, I could drive 12 - 13 hours a day and not feel overly fatigued (no issues with noise or seat comfort, just tired after being behind the wheel all day). I'm very happy with the performance of the LGT, it was nearly flawless.

 

According to the trip computer, I got 27 mpg for the trip, by my calculation it was 26.4. Either way, I consider that to be damn good for the high speeds, high winds, and high altitude, plus the inclines/declines throughout the trip. At one station in Utah (sinclair, they have a clever dinosaur logo), they had fuel grades of 85, 87, 89, 90, and 91. Weird. Does anything run on 85? Speaking of fuel, I did notice a significant increase over time in the part throttle surging as well as some minor surging when on a downgrade with the cruise set. I attribute this to lower quality fuel as my last two tanks coming back I filled up on Chevron and added a bottle of the techron fuel system treatment, the surging is MUCH less now and nonexistant on downgrades. Unfortunately, it's difficult to cruise around and find a brand you like when you're in an area you're unfamiliar with, so I used a variety of brands for convenience's sake.

 

I changed my oil to M1 0-40 before the trip and used roughly 1 qt. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone who's experienced oil consumption with M1 and has since switched to another brand and had the oil consumption stop. I only seem to experience oil consumption on hwy trips, not during daily driving.

 

One thing I found strange: Id, Ut, Wy, Co, and NM all have 75 mph speed limits on their interstates, yet everyone seems to drive 70 - 75. I cruised at 80-82 most of the time thinking I'd be one of the slower cars on the road, yet I don't think I was passed more that twice on the whole trip. Most of the time I was blowing by people. Luckily I only saw maybe half a dozen cops the whole trip.

 

BTW, with respect to OCD and anyone else living in Utah, Utah has the worst drivers I've ever seen. In spite of that, I plan to go back, the Arches NP area is incredible. Sorry this got to be a lot longer than I anticipated!

I switched to Mobil1 5w30 at 15k miles and have been using it ever since. No significant consumption here. I am now at 40k miles and everything is fine.

 

-Nick

I changed my oil to M1 0-40 before the trip and used roughly 1 qt. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone who's experienced oil consumption with M1 and has since switched to another brand and had the oil consumption stop. I only seem to experience oil consumption on hwy trips, not during daily driving.

 

Switched to Mobil-1 10w30 at last oil change, from dyno. Mileage appx. 9K.

 

Currently nearing 12K miles, and I've only had to add about an 1/10th to 1/8th of a quart.

 

This is after several extended highway trips which accounted for the majority of the mileage, plus about a half-dozen dyno pulls on a Mustang dyno.

 

My daily commute is < 10 miles one-way, however, aside from letting the car properly warm-up prior to pulling out of the driveway on the majority of days, I also tend to not be too easy on the car. I usually wind up launching her with a 3K slip-launch at least 2x per week, and an occasional 5K launch isn't unknown, either.

 

It's now been nearly 1K miles since my ECUTek custom tune/flash. I am at what is equivalent to "Cobb AccessPort Stage II," with a Crucial UP and shorty-DP, plus a Perrin Short Ram intake.

 

I will switch to Mobil-1 5w30 with this coming oil-change.

 

I was, at first, prepared to have to go off of Mobil-1 -which has been my preferred brand on all of my DSMs, which now spans back 15 years of driving- due to reports on nabisco about excessive oil consumption/possible blow-by with this brand and modern turbocharged Scoobys. I am glad that I, personally, have not found this to be the case.

 

In my past experience, motor oil seems to be something that is more "car specific" than anything else. What works on one unique vehicle may or may not "take" to another.

 

My thing is to just keep an eye on it after the first couple of changes, and adjust accordingly.

 

The dipstick is my friend.

It was great to read about your drive, deneb. Sounds like a pleasant trip, with good fuel economy to boot. 26.4 is not bad at all at over 75mph.

 

I too enjoy the quiet ride. Glad the seats held up for you comfort-wise too; I'd read some people not liking them. I haven't sat for more than an hour at a time in mine, so no complaints.

Hmmm...maybe there's some truth to the 'don't switch to synthetic till at least 10k' statement? I switched at 6k and have the previously mentioned oil useage issues, maybe I made the switch too soon? Or perhaps it is just my particular motor? I may try Castrol syntec on my next oil change just to see what happens, though if I don't take any trips it won't give me the data I'm looking for.

deneb,

 

I never really bought-in to the "don't switch to synthetic 'till X many miles" rhetoric - but to be absolutely honest with you, I have practiced it, more often than not.

 

However, also to be honest, in the cases where I did make the switch early, or in cases where I switched to synthetic at upwards of 120K miles, I've either had no problems or have had the supposed "synthetic-related switching" problems.

 

I am of the most humble opinion that this is something that is unique to each individual vehicle; not brand, not model, not engine option - but each individual, unique, vehicle.