5th gear seems more economical than 6th?

[malnik]

Having done 13,000 miles in my delightful Journey, i have been watching the fuel economy in these trying times. I have written about it in other threads. and how good i think it it is for such a large vehicle.
I stick to the speed limits so 60 on open road and 70 on dual carriageways. OK...on the motorway i set the cruise about 80......sorry!
It seems that at 60 to 70 in 5th the fuel economy is about 43. 60 is the same as 70 which is rather good! Over that it drops to around 40 which again is rather good.
If i change to 6th at 60 to 70 it seems to drop a couple of mpg. In 6th at anything less than 60 it drops a lot more.
I am off to Cornwall on the weekend...loaded with kids so its going to want to be as quick as possible....so the M4/M5 route is the favorite. Cruise at 80 and 6th may be more economical.
Anyone else thought 5th is more eco friendly than 6th?

So perhaps it would seem that 6th is designed for fast motorway travel....something we dont have here. So why do we have it?

[WOLF..]

this is what i posted a while ago in an other thread......

a quick update...

CANIS RUFUS, has just topped 9000 MILES... blimey, where does it all go!!

and she drives through regens with a tiny cough, and thats it!!!! "HURRAH"!!!!!!!!!

in stop start town traffic, am getting on average 33-37 mpg...

crusiing at 62mph (found its the best) ...HIGH 40's...normally about 45-47mpg (has occasionally has topped the 50..JUST!!!)

and mainly 75mph... 38-40 mpg

ALL STILL WORKS..PERFECTLY!!!. only noises from this one are from the new GRANDSON!!! (when in the back..oh how damned good are iso fix seats!!)


so this is HOW JOURNEY's are meant to be... AWESOME!!!       

now CANIS RUFUS has now topped 12K i am finding the fuel returns are still improving... 39.6 average in town this week so far, and i do agree, that 6th gear is to high for anything less than 75mph... on the M20 it is normally set (cruise) at about 82-85mph, for best fuel consumption

why not try 62mph in 6th, as this brings better results than 56 or 75mph