15 mpg for a normal road trip

[vetteSUT]

Some of you guys have the newer models as well with the 6 speed. That might make a difference on the highway at cruising speed.

[VegasGuy]

Road trip report: The wife and I just returned from our three week vacation covering 11 states and over the Rockies twice. We put about 4500 miles on the H2. I hit the average mpg reset in my driveway upon departure. I took two lane roads when time allowed and mostly drove 65 mph. Upon return to Vegas, my average mileage for the entire trip was 14.8. Pretty good for a stock H2, IMO. The H2 performed flawlessly.

[surf twang]

We just drove our new-to-us 2006 H2 from San Jose, CA to Albuquerque, NM. On the way to ABQ I did not reset the average mpg and got 13.3 mpg for the entire trip. At one point we were at 13.8.

On the way back I reset average mpg every time I filled the tank. On the first two legs through NM and AZ at mostly 75 mph we got 14.4 and 14.3 mpg respectively. The third leg from Kingman, AZ to Newberry Springs, CA (near Barstow) we got 12.7. The last time we filled up before arriving home we got 13.8. We had pretty strong head winds through most of California. I am pleased with the results. I'm sure the hundreds of big pickups and SUVs that passed us going 85-90 mph weren't getting any better mileage.

Over 70% of our trip was in 100+ degree weather (hitting a peak of 110 in AZ) and engine coolant never got more than a little past 200 and that was after 3 hours of driving in 105-110 degree heat.

[VegasGuy]

My gut feeling is city driving, strong headwinds and driving over 65 mph are the biggest factors in average mpg in a H2. We had some strong headwinds the first 1/3 of the trip, especially in the afternoon. There were only a couple of legs where we had a tailwind. It made a big difference when we did. We spent close to a week in one city with a lot of hills and that also was a big factor in bringing our mileage down.