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I was just reading and discovered that Ford works with various tire companies to optimize for the Ford Transit Connect.  Ford recommends certain companies for best overall performance.  I chose Pirelli P-4
Four Seasons Plus.  It had the least road resistance and ranked well in all other consumer report categories.  It's going to have to roll like hell to offset the price.  Fingers crossed.  Cancel that !!

Placed an order for the Michelin Defender 205/65R15/XL 99T  It is an upgrade that increases the load index.  The 99T is rated at 1709 lbs per tire.  The often recommended 95T is rated at 1521 lbs.  The 2012 Transit Connect Cargo Van is rated at 1600 lbs of cargo.  The 99T tire provides a measure safety worth having.  The heat index was AA as well.  These are good tires. 

Edited by Loafer
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I find fuel efficiency to be strongly related to speeds driven. Driving through Kansas, Colorado, and Utah at high speeds,my computed mileage would drop to 20-21mpg at 85-90mph. 95mph netted 19mpg, but was uncomfortable controlling the vehicle with wind gusts. As a result, my wife (SWMBO) now hates driving through Kansas. At 85mph, the SWB TC locked in to the road.

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"I find fuel efficiency to be strongly related to speeds driven"  -  A profound statement if ever there was one!  :future:

My other two cars are 100% electric and you learn a lot driving an EV, and after some time in EV's everything else you drive magically gets much better mileage  -  Your 19 mpg at 95 doesn't compare too favorably to my 29 mpg at 55 to 65 mph.  After 20,000 miles, the fuel economy readout on my 2014 SWB TC's dash says the average so far has been 27.6 mpg

My Mitsu iMiEV with a 16 kw battery can go more than 100 miles at 25 to 30 mph, about 75 miles at 45 mph and about 50 miles at 70 mph  -  Nothing changed except the speed.  Pushing the air in front of the car costs you more and more the faster you go!  A reduction in speed of even 5 to 10% nets a much improved range in an EV and that translates into a much improved mpg number in an ICE powered vehicle

The really big advantage with EV's is they all get better mileage in stop and go around town driving than they do at steady freeway speeds, while ICE's get much worse mileage under those same conditions.  Just because your car gets better mileage at 70  than around town at 25 or 30 doesn't mean driving that fast is more efficient . . . . it's just that your 25 mph efficiency is so much WORSE.  An EV with regenerative braking can get back about 80% of the energy you used to get it moving as it slows from cruising speed down to a near stop, while an ICE turns that energy into wasted heat using friction braking, so stop and go driving doesn't hurt an EV's mileage very much.  Another big benefit is an EV isn't using energy when it's not moving like ICE's do  -  It also wastes much less energy turning it into heat.  An ICE uses less than 25% of the energy in a gallon of gas to actually move the car . . . . most of the other 75% is wasted as heat

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml

You realize when driving an EV that every time you put your foot on the brake, you're wasting energy, so you drive a bit differently  -  You leave a little extra space, you coast to a stop from farther away . . . . you do most everything you can to avoid the brake pedal.  If you were raised driving gas engine powered cars, you never realize that braking is wasting fuel so the less of it you can do, the farther you can go on a gallon of gas.  It's pretty eye opening when it finally dawns on you!

Don

Edited by Beta Don
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It's all that time sitting at stoplights at 0 MPG that really sucks. 

Maybe someday they will find an alternative to stoplights, and arrange traffic to minimize stopped time.  Even for any sort of EV, stopped time is range being eaten while going nowhere.

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4 hours ago, dbv said:

It's all that time sitting at stoplights at 0 MPG that really sucks. 

Maybe someday they will find an alternative to stoplights, and arrange traffic to minimize stopped time.  Even for any sort of EV, stopped time is range being eaten while going nowhere.

A lot of US cities are removing stop lights and replacing them with 4 way stops at the less busy intersections. Yes, everyone must stop, but you get on your way MUCH faster. And saves the city repair and electrical costs. Energy savings the whole way around. I've read where Great Britain replaced most of the stoplights on roundabouts to just stop signs, or even yield signs better still.

Edited by Boomerweps
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I've travelled a good bit all over Europe including Great Britain where roundabouts are very common and I've never seen one with either stop signs or yield signs  -  The whole reason for having a roundabout it to keep all traffic moving at all times.  It's universal law that you yield to any traffic already in the circle when entering any roundabout, so no sign is necessary

They're becoming more common here in the USA too.  I'm not a big fan of them, but we have 3 or 4 of them now in close proximity to my house  -  None of them with any yield or stop signs

Don

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Roundabouts a very common over here. They're good up to some specific load of traffic where there's virtually no wait time and you can merge right away. For heavier load you'll need traffic lights and/or multi-level intersections. Unregulated same level intersection is only good for very light traffic. There are differences in roundabout rules in Europe - most countries work by right hand rule but in Estonia the car on the roundabout has the right of way.

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My pet peeve is pedestrians with the right of way in parking lots. Makes no sense to me.

Pedestrians are far more maneuverable than cars. Pedestrians don't waste fuel while they are waiting. Pedestrians have far better visibility that persons in cars. About ninety percent of pedestrians have come to believe that the privilege afforded to them because they are on foot has become more than an entitlement, it is a license to take their good sweet time without regard to who they might be holding up. They are herding the kids, fumbling for keys, talking on the cell phone, gawking around and just generally skylarking.  It is just counter-intuitive.

Then there are those speed bumps. When I am in a parking lot, I play a little game. After I pass over a speed bump, I try to see how fast I can go before I come to the next speed bump.

Actually my last statement about the game, isn't true, but sometimes I feel that way.

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