Gas Mileage

Makes sense, I am sure there is a very strong low pressure area behind the pod. some aircraft use vortex generators, little bumps at certain areas behind the leading edge, instead of the air adhereing to the surface and then boiling at the trailing edge creating induced drag, the little bumps cause the air to be distrupted and not "stick" to the surface and it reduces drag at certain velocities, all of us know without looking at the speedometer when we reach that 56 to 60 mph and the drag increases like wow. I try to pull at 50 going up hill (hilly southern indiana) and no more that 55 on level and maybe 60 down steep hills.

I am in 100% in agreement with Tital Canada fuel has a bigger kick to it, and the biggest factor is the 55- 58 mph. while towing. I am at or was 10-13 mpg with a 3.8 Chrysler van.

Yes, we have noticed the poor mileage also.  However, our newer RPOD 171 Hood River came with some monster mud tires.  We think that it would take about 50 years to wear them out but also believe that by changing them out to standard road tires the mileage will improve.

We may be looking to do the tire change to find out what happens.

Has anyone else tried this?

Thanks,

Burt

HerbL...Before I bought my Pod, I talked to Forest River.  One of their big points about the Pod was its aerodynamic shape!  They stated that the shape would help deliver better mileage.  We now how that worked out!!!  I agree that it would nice if someone could run a Pod in a wind tunnel to see just how much improvement the new spoiler provides. I don't think that FR has either aerodynamic software nor run the Pod in a wind tunnel...with and without the new spoiler.  By the way, the newest airliners are all designed by software...the aircraft are too big to test in wind tunnels.
This reminds me of all of the stuff sold to the public stating that it will increase mileage by 2, 5, 50 or 100%.
Anecdotal evidence is terrible in determining aerodynamic efficiency.  I get a 10-20% increase in mileage when I buy non-ethanol gas. Driving with or against a stiff wind makes a big difference in mpg.  My sister's Mercury Grand Marquis consistently gets mid-30s mpg.  Her friend who owns an identical model never gets better than low-20s.

My wife is the exact opposite. I get better gas mileage than her. She only has two throttle positions off and on. She also wears out brakes faster than I do because she breaks hard and late. I told her when we were dating she missed her calling she should a have been a race car driver.