Just myself and my road bike. Left home with 400 miles on it, returned with 1900. Visited son in Wilmington NC , who rides, then visited elderly Mom in Western NC, where bike riding is good. Took one rear seat out, left one in. Bike traveled well with fork mount and front wheel mount (Bike Tights....available any bike shop) bolted to short piece of 2X6. This way fork and front wheel both well secured. Good, convenient, strong, tie down points. I like bike to be well secured in case of crash....don't want it taking my head off.
I usually go the speed limit, but not over. My GPS says 71 on the speedo is actually 70. BTW....my bean bag GPS mount sits well on dash. Far out windshield design keep GPS screen glare down. With auto trans engine turns 2200 at 70. Low cruising RPM is how you get good fuel economy, and smart auto downshifts easily on hills when in cruise. I got in the 27 or 28 range for each tank for whole trip, depending on whether or not I ran AC compressor and how fast I ran.....and depending on whether or not I ran into a head wind whole tank or had tail wind or side wind. The E is not very aero efficient, but side winds don't bother it as much as some other high profile vehicles I have driven on trips.
I was very impressed with the heating/cooling system. When necessary, the AC wil freeae you out. And when outside air is cool enough, you can bring air in thru the vents with fan on or off and be plenty comfortable....and take some load off engine and save some fuel. All my other vehicles have auto air systems, and I had forgotten just how nice and versatile the old manual controls are. All in all.....this vehicle suits my hauling and traveling needs just fine, and I kinda like it's "back to basics" design and content. I think it's a lot of vehicle for the money ($21,600 for 2WD EX plus taxes and registration....plus I did add factory mud guards). My wife thinks it's kinda crude, but to me that's part of it's appeal.
I usually go the speed limit, but not over. My GPS says 71 on the speedo is actually 70. BTW....my bean bag GPS mount sits well on dash. Far out windshield design keep GPS screen glare down. With auto trans engine turns 2200 at 70. Low cruising RPM is how you get good fuel economy, and smart auto downshifts easily on hills when in cruise. I got in the 27 or 28 range for each tank for whole trip, depending on whether or not I ran AC compressor and how fast I ran.....and depending on whether or not I ran into a head wind whole tank or had tail wind or side wind. The E is not very aero efficient, but side winds don't bother it as much as some other high profile vehicles I have driven on trips.
I was very impressed with the heating/cooling system. When necessary, the AC wil freeae you out. And when outside air is cool enough, you can bring air in thru the vents with fan on or off and be plenty comfortable....and take some load off engine and save some fuel. All my other vehicles have auto air systems, and I had forgotten just how nice and versatile the old manual controls are. All in all.....this vehicle suits my hauling and traveling needs just fine, and I kinda like it's "back to basics" design and content. I think it's a lot of vehicle for the money ($21,600 for 2WD EX plus taxes and registration....plus I did add factory mud guards). My wife thinks it's kinda crude, but to me that's part of it's appeal.
I too left just the passenger side rear seat in and slept seats folded down on the passenger side vs pitching my tent on a couple of days. Less setup time when I just crashed for the night & drove on the next morn.
