Road Trip: Central Florida to the Smoky Mountains

[Chumbo]

On Monday, I set out on my first road trip (hopefully of many) with my new Mirage. I started out wondering if it could handle the trip, and oh, it did. I thought the MPG would tank the moment I took it on the interstate. I hadn't really taken it past 60 MPH since I had bought it. On the first tank of gas, I got 44 MPG going about 75 down the interstate. I got about the same on the second tank, though that was a mixture of interstate and going up the mountains of Georgia and North Carolina/Tennessee. Didn't have any problems on the way there, except for a potential problem with my brakes if I had pushed it any further. Should have put it in DS mode while going downhill. I think my brakes may have overheated a bit, but that is a small problem of my own doing. They still work fine now.
Once I got there, there was a lot of uphill/downhill driving. Everything held up great. I went to Cades Cove, a 2-3 hour scenic traffic jam, no problems. This car is a lot better than I originally thought. I have no doubts that it will do what I need it to. On one trip to the gas station to fill up and get more nicotine pouches I got 65MPG since I was going down the mountain most of the way.
On the way back, I took less breaks. I only stopped when necessary, and I had taken off the hubcaps thinking it may make the brakes cool better, but I think this hindered the MPG. No problems even with rain. The only scary time was when a truck had gave me a bunch of turbulence from the wind and rain. I slowed down after that.

All around a good trip and much more confidence in my purchase. I hope to have many more adventures with my Mirage. It's a great road trip car, even if a bit uncomfortable being on the taller side.

[defensivetackle99]

Awesome. The Mirage is great on hwy.

On my current fuel fill up I have been pushing my CVT hard with Ds and a lil bit of L to combat long distance steep hill commute while maintaining 65-75 mph with the A/C on. What really amazes me is the MPG hovering at 40-42. My ex 05 Corolla, ex 06 Prius, ex 22 G4 5 speed didn’t come close to equalize or surpass that. I love it!

[7milesout]

Good write-up Chumbo. The mpg graphs do give the CVT a bit of an mpg advantage at interstate speeds, so I'm not so surprised by your numbers. They sound a bit better than mine at those speeds, which makes a lot of sense. And I do agree, I think the Mirage is a really good interstate vehicle. Sure the mpg drops a bit, more so maybe for the 5-speed cars. But it remains much higher than most other vehicles.

Cades Cove is an amazing place. Truly beautiful. Frequently you don't realize how stupid humans are until you go there and see idiots trying to pet baby bear. Where there's babies, mama bears are not far away. Luckily for the idiots, black bears are not as aggressive, but still, people have been hurt. I believe Dolly Parton spent her childhood growing up there, or very close to there. There are still houses there, but now no one lives there. It's all a state or federal park. There were families there, and signs posted with the same last name as mine. So a few years back I did some research to find out if I were related to them. Turns out, I'm not related to them at all, and my last name is not really who I am.

I'm going to quit being coy. It's not a huge deal. We're all great friends. My last name is Oliver. Lots of Olivers in Cades Cove. My research into my direct male ancestry determined that I have 0% dna relationship with ANY Oliver. Meaning: I'm not an Oliver. Turns out, I'm a Grady / Graddy. Back in 1858 or 1859, a Graddy man slipped into a very very young girl ... by accident I'm sure. When it was determined she was in a family way, she was sent away (to Chattanooga) to deal with it. That she did. Very strong little girl. By my account she was 13 when she had her baby, my great grandfather. At some point later, his mother married a man name Oliver. And so the misnaming began.

Sorry to derail the thread. I always felt close to Cades Cove. Turns out, Grady Hospital in Atlanta is named after my direct 4th cousin. Henry Woodfin Grady.