dave61
Well-known member
Having recently purchased a new to us 2004 BT Cruiser we are in the getting used to it phase. In November we did our first trip to Sarasota which is only about 75 miles each way. Our route included the Sunshine Skyway bridge, I was looking forward to seeing how the power would be for that climb. I hit the incline in the right lane behind the "ragged 30 year old pick -up loaded with old appliances and other junk" that looked like it could fall out at any time. He was soon down to 48mph, once a gap was available in the left lane I moved over to pass. With OD off I gave it a bit more gas and we just pulled away from the guy and were soon back to 65 mph before reaching the crest. We were towing a light boat but even so I was impressed with the power of the Ford v-10. On the return trip the weather was a little stormy and the wind was about 30 mph from the east which means it is a crosswind on the Skyway. We were getting pushed around a bit but overall less than I expected. The trip was good w/ no issues.
This past weekend we took our second trip which was to Jacksonville, about 230 miles one way, again with the boat in tow. Between the two trips I decided to replace all 6 tires since the Michelins had sidewall cracks. It is a little painful to replace tires with almost no tread wear but not wanting a blow out, we bit the bullet. For this trip we took I-75 from Tampa to Ocala then SR301 up to almost Jacksonville. I decided to check gas mileage and we got 10.1 mpg, I had been hoping for 10 so I was happy. I think we could do better but I purposefully did not drive to try to save gas. On the interstate I did between 65 and 70mph and on 301 I did the speed limit, mostly 65mph
(speed trap area not to be fooled with) using the cruise control. I did one very brief stint at 80 mph just to see how it would feel, which was fine.
My early impressions of how it drives are very good. It is not at all stressful, the one thing to get used to is that with the boat we are at about 57 feet total. The other thing I liked was that the ride is on the firm side with very little body lean on exit ramps, and other turns or wind gusts. Our chassis is the E-450 and we are about 3000lbs under the gross when empty. So far so good!
This past weekend we took our second trip which was to Jacksonville, about 230 miles one way, again with the boat in tow. Between the two trips I decided to replace all 6 tires since the Michelins had sidewall cracks. It is a little painful to replace tires with almost no tread wear but not wanting a blow out, we bit the bullet. For this trip we took I-75 from Tampa to Ocala then SR301 up to almost Jacksonville. I decided to check gas mileage and we got 10.1 mpg, I had been hoping for 10 so I was happy. I think we could do better but I purposefully did not drive to try to save gas. On the interstate I did between 65 and 70mph and on 301 I did the speed limit, mostly 65mph
(speed trap area not to be fooled with) using the cruise control. I did one very brief stint at 80 mph just to see how it would feel, which was fine.
My early impressions of how it drives are very good. It is not at all stressful, the one thing to get used to is that with the boat we are at about 57 feet total. The other thing I liked was that the ride is on the firm side with very little body lean on exit ramps, and other turns or wind gusts. Our chassis is the E-450 and we are about 3000lbs under the gross when empty. So far so good!
