Have fun! That cargo box is gonna take a huge mpg hit

 

Hi Vw4Life. - I have been driving around with the Thule Force for a bit now and fuel mileage hasnt been hit, BUT I am sure it will be at highway speeds. According to Thule this new Force XT L isn't so bad on mileage because of the weird textured “aero-? Skin” it has.
Also, since its not winter anymore, I will be keeping the speed lower (65-80 instead of 80-95). Apparently one is supposed to drive slower with a cargo box on too. Seriously, this may be how they get away with saying less effects on fuel - sure I use fuel faster at 80-95 mph than I would at 65-80 anyways. I have never used a cargo box before - but it was my best option for my needs.
see ya for coffee? Will let you know when I am closer to your part of the country.

 

Bon voyage!
I'll be heading on a long trip myself for 2 weeks in late Sept and will see if I cannot create/maintain a travelogue.
Philly to Cleveland to UP MI to MN/WI to Chicago to Indy...

...Pulling a teardrop and with a cargo box on top. Even with diesel, I'm expecting sub-15mpg for the journey

 

Hi WatchCarefully - I will be passing thru a few of the States you mentioned. Watch out for that 15 MPH curve in Cleveland Ohio! And get an EZPass reader for the Tolls - doesnt matter which State you buy one in because it will read at all tolls in all States and simply bill to your account. I bought one last Winter and it really makes life simpler than the Pay By Plate stuff.
Looking forward to reading about your adventure too!

 

Day 1.
Weather ranged from mid-50s over mountain passes thru Montana to upper 90s everywhere else.

On the Road at North Idaho near Coeur d’Alene Lake.

Just a little bit of top corner of Wyoming as my Touareg transported me to Sturgis South Dakota for the night.

Summer roadways sure do have a lot of people driving on them that shouldnt be! Seriously, highway vehicles are NOT golf carts AND what ever happened to courtesy by pulling off the road to let the multitude of real vehicle drivers get around you! My Touareg gets extremely frustrated, it’s bad enough I am deliberately holding speed down to 75-80, my Touareg wants to do what it wants to do, and that is to go fast and safe. Winding 2 lane roads on my shortcut ended up being less miles but longer times UGH Very few safe places to pass. But of course passing is effortless for my Touareg, seriously my Touareg’s middle name has to be Autobahn!

Zero issues with the crossbars and cargo box. But I will be making sure they are tightened down well before heading out in the morning.

 

Day 2.
Touareg is doing great. I am glad I checked the clamps on cargo box this morning because I was able to turn the torque wheels about 1/4 turn each.

Even tho the big Biker Rally is over, there were still more Harleys than cars in Sturgis. But of course I had the only Touareg around!

Drove thru South Dakota and Iowa today. Temps in the 90s. Averaging 70-80 mph except for the many construction zones. Happily my Touareg is averaging 16.1 MPG!!! Yes 16.1 MPG with a/c on all day and the cargo box on top.

Iowa is growing Ethanol crops! Miles and miles and acres and acres and acres of corn.
Bugs were dying to land on my windshield all thru Iowa - yuck. had to wash windshield and headlights quite a few times today.

 

Wow 16.x.mpg is great

 

Day 3

Great day to drive a Touareg! Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and into New York.

photo coming into Cleveland Ohio. I-90. This is the area where that super sharp turn is. Dont know who decided an interstate highway needed a super sharp turn and super slow speed for it.

Lots of construction zones today in every State I drove thru. Really slowed the trip down as work zone speeds were 35-50.
What’s worse than slow speed construction zones? How about traffic coming to a stop for 20-minutes due to someone causing an accident in a construction zone! Yep, it happened New York today. Here is a photo of traffic at a stop.

Watch Carefully - yes EZ-Pass works in mid west as well as new england. If it is not your “home state” they charge a skosh more, but it all pays out of your home State EZ Pass account. Just drive on thru under the EZ Pass signs.
For those members who do not know what an EZ Pass is….. it is a little transmitter that sticks on windshield. It is for paying toll fees (fees charged for privilege of using a road). Yep crazy. But with the EZ Pass transmitter it saves time and money so at the toll booths you dont have to pay cash, or pay by mail. It automates and simplifies the process.

VW4Life - yep very pleased with the 16.1 MPG my Touareg is experiencing. Will need to reschedule coffee.

Trip-wise, I am 2 days ahead of schedule. Last Winter the trip took 5 days. This trip would be just 3 1/4 days. (I attribute this to Summer having longer daylight driving time - which I had not taken into account.). But…. it now looks like I will be visiting and experiencing a Revolutionary War Encampment (Reenactment of course) etc and Living Museum. As a big history buff, I cant pass up that experience.

 

But…. it now looks like I will be visiting and experiencing a Revolutionary War Encampment (Reenactment of course) etc and Living Museum. As a big history buff, I cant pass up that experience.

Lexington?

 

Sorry I missed coffee 😢 turned out to be a hell of a morning

 

Day 4 -

Started out the day near Niagara Falls NY. Although I didnt get to grab a coffee with VW4Life this morning, I did get a light warm rain for a while. Sadly not enough to wash all the dead bugs off. This photo shows Toll Road reader - this is what EZ Pass transmits with to pay the fees for using the roads. There are toll roads in many North East States.

Weather jumped back up into the 90s by the time I got to Massachusetts.

Touareg continued getting 16+ average MPG. Amazingly wonderful! Brings up questions tho….
1- did lower speeds (65-80 mph) help fuel mileage THAT MUCH? (Same trip in Winter ave 80-90 miles per hr and ave MPG 14).
2- Is the Thule Force XT L “aeroskin technology” really that well designed as to improve fuel economy? (This is a 16 cubic foot cargo box)
Whatever the reasoning, I am very happy with it!

Touareg is going to need a good washing soon. But I do have a couple day historical type “side adventure” to enjoy first.

 

View attachment 252258

I was driving east from SW Michigan to Portsmouth, NH (one day drive, 15 hours for the 1,000 miles). I was a bit road drunk when I hit that bridge. It freaked me the hell out. I actually stopped and got out and stretched for a few minutes when I came around the corner and saw it. Weird... I drove that trip the next year and it didn't do it to me. Maybe because I knew it was coming.

 

Re#1
In very simplified terms, Drag is proportional to the velocity for low-speed flow and the squared velocity for high speed flow.

 

Hi-how-ah-ya gryhnd.
not Lexington. The fun will be at Sturbridge. Its an amazing Living Museum and Old Village etc reenactment too because winning once is never enough!

SaVAGeSoot - your simplified physics lesson would mean my Touareg is the exception. Or it works for airplanes but not Touaregs? Sure increased drag with cargo box, but on winter trip I did not have cargo box. With cargo box my MPG was much better. Does the Thule aeroskin technology change the laws of physics?
or is there no difference in drag from the aeroskin tech cargo box and simply reducing speed by 10 mph average improve mpg that much?
or cold air and snow of winter thinner than humid hot air of summer?

 

or is there no difference in drag from the aeroskin tech cargo box and simply reducing speed by 10 mph average improve mpg that much?

Yes, as speed increases drag increases proportional to speed squared, so reducing speed has a massive impact. Keep in mind that your engine rpm are also 400-500 lower so that puts the engine in a different efficiency zone, etc.

65mph is very different than 80mph

 

Oh I've been to Sturbridge Village before!!! Enjoy. There's some historic things in Lexington too, but the :living museum" didn't click with me for some reason. You could do that though, down at Plimoth Plantation.

The "physics" comment was not mine though, lol.

 

I'm guessing reduced speeds had the biggest impact on MPG

 

Here's a sample chart of a similar experiment with various vehicles to illustrate the impact of speed on MPGs.

 

Great chart. Very eye opening

 

Check this out if you wanna really see a difference..... there's a neat calculator at this url

https://www.mpgforspeed.com/

 

Looking now boo

 

Ok ok so summer trip with cargo box traveling 80 mph improves fuel mileage over winter (same trip) at 90 mph without cargo box resulted in a 2+/- .5 mpg improvement.
I wasnt expecting it, but very happy with it.

In the future, I will attempt to maintain 80mph speeds so I can have better fuel mileage. BUT 90+ mph is so much more fun.

SaVAGeSoot - neat calculator!

 

Wow, your road trip has made my 214 mile journey towing our caravan to our holiday destination look like we've nipped to the store for some milk🤣
You have my respect and admiration 👍

 

jon. The more you drive your Touareg, the farther your adventures become.
Enjoy the ride where ever the roads and trails may lead.

 

Lady,
You've gone silent.
Hope you weren't a casualty of the reenactment!
I'm missing vicarious vacation.

 

Hi TTreg

all is well, my Touareg and I have been relaxing but I do check the Club Forum daily, thanx for asking.
The reenactment was good but several events were cancelled due to the heat. The end result - the Rebels (and some French Soldiers) beat the Red Coats (again) Here are a few photos of the event

There were hundreds of participants camped on the grounds of Sturbridge MA Old Village living museum and probably four times as many visitors watching and wandering around.
Rebels wore traditional clothing of the period, French soldiers wore their traditional blue uniforms and the Red Coats of course wore the traditional red uniforms of the day.
the black powder rifles had powder but no balls - so there was zero live fire - just smoke and noise. The cannon firing was not done due to the heat.

Revolutionary War reenactments are done by history clubs in many usa States. This is what they do for their vacations. Spectators are able to “talk history” with them and look at their equipment - weapons, tents, cooking and medical etc. we had a great time.

 

Medical?

No re-enacted live amputations I suppose?!

 

Medical?

No re-enacted live amputations I suppose?!

Hi TommiT
sorry to disappoint, no live amputations or burials (which usually followed the amputations) but some period medical equipment was on site - saws and pliers and chisels and hammers and of course whiskey.
My youngest daughter’s ”cure all” phrase is “piss on it and drink some whiskey” I am sure there was a similar saying back in the 1770s.

 

Ah, you lucky girl. I sure the pictures don't due it justice, not like being there, but enjoyable just the same. The enactment on my bucket list will be Gettysburg for the 200th anniversary. Never allowed to hold it in the park unfortunately. Instead on private property. Will have to live past 100. 🧙‍♂️ And July in SE Pennsylvania can also be hot, as it was for the real battle.
You remind me of a coworker; she traveled the world: African safari, Machu Picchu, Havana, China. We'd all look forward to her slide shows after each trip.
Enjoy, stay safe, post for the rest of us sad saps,
And Keep Rolling

 

Hi TTreg

Gettysburg sounds like a great event, don’t they do an event annually? Why wait for the 200th? Who says you can only attend once? Reenactments are so much fun!
They do cancel portions of reenactment events when weather is too hot and humid out of caution for all. And there were actual paramedics on hand in case of need. I recommend bringing your own hydration packs as bottles of water were going for $5 a piece!

Viking Blood runs through my veins - gotta travel, or go crazy! This seems to fit well with my Touareg LOL.

 

Carry on carrying on and keep us posted!

 

Of course it's $5! That's delicious Massachusetts water, like no other water in the world. Well, except that NYC water, also so delicious it's $5 per. For sure you don't want to miss that.
Keep Rolling

 

most water sources today are polluted.
No matter what the water source happens to be, I always trust my Berkey Water Filter to make the water clean and drinkable and filling a few water bottles or hydration packs with water from my Berkey Water Filters saves me a ton of $ - especially when folks are getting $5 per bottle! I can put mud in my filter and clean pure drinkable water comes out - seriously.

 

most water sources today are polluted.
No matter what the water source happens to be, I always trust my Berkey Water Filter to make the water clean and drinkable and filling a few water bottles or hydration packs with water from my Berkey Water Filters saves me a ton of $ - especially when folks are getting $5 per bottle! I can put mud in my filter and clean pure drinkable water comes out - seriously.

the only thing the wifey wants for christmas is a big berkey. I want the plastic version and wants the metal version. it has been on the list for a few years now. thankfully our city water comes from
sebago lake which is pretty clean and actually tastes good.

 

I couldn't agree more about the Berkey. Common with off grid folks around here. But enough about water; Lady what's the latest of the travels? Continue spinning the yarn that makes Gulliver sound like he was making a trip to the grocery!

 

Hi


Hi TTreg

Yes when I lived off-grid I used my Berkey Filters for river water and now living in city and traveling, I continue to use them all the time.

I am enjoying my relax time. Also had to give the Touareg a good washing to remove bug splatter etc. When I am traveling again I will be posting daily.

speaking of bug splatter
A simple way to remove bug splatter from windshields - use a used clothes dryer sheet on dry GLASS. It works amazingly well. I have NOT tried this on painted surfaces since a good wax lets those splatters wash off with a bit of scrubbing anyways.

 

Had never heard that about dryer sheets; I'll give it a try. Didn't realize you were stationary. Enjoy your VayK.