Dodge Journey: Gas and Packing
OK, with Leg 2 of the four-leg vacation done, we’re halfway through the trip and have just finished up with the Dodge Journey. We didn’t drive nearly as far as we did in the Ford Flex, and, overall, fared a little better on mileage. Here’s the damage for Leg 2:
- We drove a total of 516 miles, split between 276 miles of mostly short trips and 240 miles of wide-open interstate driving.
- 12 hours (split over five days) with the wife and three kids
- We averaged 18.1 mpg in short-trip driving, 23.3 mpg in interstate driving and, through the power of math, 20.51 mpg overall
- Roughly 30 gallons of gas consumed
- Average cost of $3.92 a gallon
- Total fuel cost of $119.26
- Highest gas price seen on this leg: $4.22 a gallon in Honeoye, N.Y. (south of Rochester).
- Lowest gas price: $3.49 a gallon in (of all places) Mechanicsburg, Pa.
The Journey’s mileage was not terribly different from our first car, the Ford Flex. Some noticeable differences: The Journey accelerated much more quickly, drove like a lighter car (at least until I loaded it up), and it liked to coast at higher speeds than the Flex did.
When it came to packing, you can see it was a difficult chore in the Journey compared to the Flex. I was forced to settle for less rearview visibility, because it was a very tight fit for the interstate leg of the trip. Once again, we lowered the split third row to gain some additional space, and then we went vertical — as vertical as we could to get everything in. I will say that in some ways the limited visibility made me a more cautious driver. I waited until the cars that I passed were definitely far behind me before I moved back into the right lane, and I took extra care in making sure the left lane was completely clear before I moved into it.
Oddly enough, even though the kids were dismayed by the smaller size of the Journey, the DVD player in it actually kept them happy for the five-hour interstate drive into Pennsylvania. Whoever said religion is the opiate for the masses could today amend that to “DVD players are the opiate for children in cars.” For years, my wife and I have avoided buying one for any of our cars, on principle. We think that kids should read, or play games, or look (bored) out the windows like we were forced to. But considering how much I dreaded the complaints about the smaller Journey, it was its entertainment system that kept it on my good side.
Next, we’re moving into the Mazda CX-9. We’ll see how it plays with the family.
