First road trip in the GXP
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
From: Cleveland
First road trip in the GXP Just thought I'd share some details of my first long road trip in the GXP. I left for the Outer Banks (Avon), NC from Cleveland early morning on 9/12 and returned on 9/19. Total distance (including driving while down there) was about 1550 miles round trip. Trip down took about 12 hours, and coming home was right at 12. The car was loaded down with myself and my wife, and a trunk and back seat's worth of luggage. The tranny fluid temp never got over about 190 and i came out averaging 24.2 mpg for the trip. This was my first trip in this car and i thouroughly enjoyed it. Very comfortable, easy to drive, and enough power for those crazy short merge ramps in Virginia.
Overall, a great trip to my favorite place in the country.
Overall, a great trip to my favorite place in the country.
Just thought I'd share some details of my first long road trip in the GXP. I left for the Outer Banks (Avon), NC from Cleveland early morning on 9/12 and returned on 9/19. Total distance (including driving while down there) was about 1550 miles round trip. Trip down took about 12 hours, and coming home was right at 12. The car was loaded down with myself and my wife, and a trunk and back seat's worth of luggage. The tranny fluid temp never got over about 190 and i came out averaging 24.2 mpg for the trip. This was my first trip in this car and i thouroughly enjoyed it. Very comfortable, easy to drive, and enough power for those crazy short merge ramps in Virginia.
Overall, a great trip to my favorite place in the country.
Overall, a great trip to my favorite place in the country.
Is that 24.2 in the DIC or by calcuation? I ask because the DIC is usually 1-2 MPG high.
On The Tree
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 107
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From: Randolph AFB, TX (San Antonio)
Love road trips in this car, your mileage for cruising on the hwy seems a little low, but maybe that's because of the hills.
On my trips BEFORE my tune from Ohio to Chicago: I consistently got 27-28 mpg HWY (72-73 mph)
After my tune (dod still enabled): 30-31 mpg (72-73 mph)
The roads are flat though. If I bump it up to 75-77 mph I'll get like 26-27 now. This thing is a freeway beast.
On my trips BEFORE my tune from Ohio to Chicago: I consistently got 27-28 mpg HWY (72-73 mph)
After my tune (dod still enabled): 30-31 mpg (72-73 mph)
The roads are flat though. If I bump it up to 75-77 mph I'll get like 26-27 now. This thing is a freeway beast.
Last edited by cacicgtp7; Sep 22, 2010 at 08:23 PM.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 59
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From: Cleveland
That mileage is manually calculated, I kept very close track of how much i added at each fuel up and calculated it when i filled up heading to work the next day. The DIC was saying 24.6, so really not too far off.
It is a little lower than i would have liked, but the hills deffinitely had something to do with it. Not many steep mountains on the route, but a lot of long rolling hills with 2 or 3 mile climbs. That combined with the cruise set at 75 the whole time (80 in the couple 70mph zones through) and i'll take it.
I've deffinitely seen it higher though on my shorter flat trips (Cleveland to Toledo, Columbus) but this was the first long one, so i'll take the 24+
It is a little lower than i would have liked, but the hills deffinitely had something to do with it. Not many steep mountains on the route, but a lot of long rolling hills with 2 or 3 mile climbs. That combined with the cruise set at 75 the whole time (80 in the couple 70mph zones through) and i'll take it.
I've deffinitely seen it higher though on my shorter flat trips (Cleveland to Toledo, Columbus) but this was the first long one, so i'll take the 24+
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I was interested to hear how the mileage was calculated, though I guessed it was probably manual.
Last week I took our GXP to Kansas City and back, which ended up being about a 375 mile trip. I stayed about a mile behind a HEMI Charger who was running about 83 mph with my radar detector, and maintained that most of the way. I still pulled that off with one tank, giving me 23.8 when I filled back up.
I also took a trip out to the Black Hills in it, and it was about 1,600 miles round trip and managed a similar 24.8 mpg all together. And that was with me "enjoying" the mountain roads!
I agree, comfortable, roomy, XM is great for cross-country, and enough power to make me happy for such a trip.
-Adrian
Last week I took our GXP to Kansas City and back, which ended up being about a 375 mile trip. I stayed about a mile behind a HEMI Charger who was running about 83 mph with my radar detector, and maintained that most of the way. I still pulled that off with one tank, giving me 23.8 when I filled back up.
I also took a trip out to the Black Hills in it, and it was about 1,600 miles round trip and managed a similar 24.8 mpg all together. And that was with me "enjoying" the mountain roads!
I agree, comfortable, roomy, XM is great for cross-country, and enough power to make me happy for such a trip.
-Adrian
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Staging Lane
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
From: Cleveland
Agreed, much more comfortable that previous cars i've made that trip in. And i'm sure the mileage would have been a little better if i was able to park it and leave it while down there, but there was a good 150 miles of random driving to stores and sights while we were there too.
On a side note, i'm glad i installed the ipod/phone jack a while back...pandora set on the comedy station is a great way to pass time
On a side note, i'm glad i installed the ipod/phone jack a while back...pandora set on the comedy station is a great way to pass time
I was interested to hear how the mileage was calculated, though I guessed it was probably manual.
Last week I took our GXP to Kansas City and back, which ended up being about a 375 mile trip. I stayed about a mile behind a HEMI Charger who was running about 83 mph with my radar detector, and maintained that most of the way. I still pulled that off with one tank, giving me 23.8 when I filled back up.
I also took a trip out to the Black Hills in it, and it was about 1,600 miles round trip and managed a similar 24.8 mpg all together. And that was with me "enjoying" the mountain roads!
I agree, comfortable, roomy, XM is great for cross-country, and enough power to make me happy for such a trip.
-Adrian
Last week I took our GXP to Kansas City and back, which ended up being about a 375 mile trip. I stayed about a mile behind a HEMI Charger who was running about 83 mph with my radar detector, and maintained that most of the way. I still pulled that off with one tank, giving me 23.8 when I filled back up.
I also took a trip out to the Black Hills in it, and it was about 1,600 miles round trip and managed a similar 24.8 mpg all together. And that was with me "enjoying" the mountain roads!
I agree, comfortable, roomy, XM is great for cross-country, and enough power to make me happy for such a trip.
-Adrian
I'm curious on the GM PAL. I think I've read about it on the forum before, but I'm wondering if you have any more specifics on it. Though I like the XM, we're still on our GM Certified 3-month trial, and 90% of our driving is in town, or at least within the coverage of our local radio stations. I'm not sure I want to pay $150/yr for something that I would use limitedly, so hooking up my iPhone seems to be a good compromise.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
From: Cleveland
I'm not sure about the lumbar support on those years, but occasionally, my back does feel it after a long ride. I'm not sure if I should blame that on the car, or me being out of shape though.
I'm curious on the GM PAL. I think I've read about it on the forum before, but I'm wondering if you have any more specifics on it. Though I like the XM, we're still on our GM Certified 3-month trial, and 90% of our driving is in town, or at least within the coverage of our local radio stations. I'm not sure I want to pay $150/yr for something that I would use limitedly, so hooking up my iPhone seems to be a good compromise.
I'm curious on the GM PAL. I think I've read about it on the forum before, but I'm wondering if you have any more specifics on it. Though I like the XM, we're still on our GM Certified 3-month trial, and 90% of our driving is in town, or at least within the coverage of our local radio stations. I'm not sure I want to pay $150/yr for something that I would use limitedly, so hooking up my iPhone seems to be a good compromise.
I'm not sure about the lumbar either, but the 06 has basic lumbar adjustment and that seems to work fine for me.
I was curious about the GM PAL as well, but couldn't afford it at the time. I'm using the Isimple Transit which was about $80 if i recall. It is a FM transmitter, however it plugs directly into the antenna port as opposed to being wireless, so the static and reception issues of a normal transmitter are not an issue. I would recommend this product for anyone looking for a good solution, but doesn't want to open the wallet for the PAL
04-05 Grand Prixs have 4-way (in/out/up/down) power lumbar. 06-08 have 2-way (in/out) power lumbar.
This was the first thing I noticed when trading up from my 04 GT2.
As for the PAL, it works just fine. Though it is made for the C6 Corvette. There is a NAV and non-NAV version. The only reason it works is because we share the same NAV.
After Mediatronics (the company who makes the PAL for GM) is done with finalizing any issues with the non-NAV C6 radios, they'll be moving onto other Class II vehicles (Grand Prixs, TrailVoys, etc.).
The NAV version costs $180 shipped.
This was the first thing I noticed when trading up from my 04 GT2.
As for the PAL, it works just fine. Though it is made for the C6 Corvette. There is a NAV and non-NAV version. The only reason it works is because we share the same NAV.
After Mediatronics (the company who makes the PAL for GM) is done with finalizing any issues with the non-NAV C6 radios, they'll be moving onto other Class II vehicles (Grand Prixs, TrailVoys, etc.).
The NAV version costs $180 shipped.
TECH Regular
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 428
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From: Kansas City MO
I remember my first road trip in my MCSS, I bent a rim on a newly paved road! 
You know how sometimes they are not done finishing a road and sometimes they leave a lip? Well I hit it going about 50mph and bent a rim! It sucked and I had to buy a new one, cost me $700!
You know how sometimes they are not done finishing a road and sometimes they leave a lip? Well I hit it going about 50mph and bent a rim! It sucked and I had to buy a new one, cost me $700! 