Got my Mountaineer: nice ride, but how do I pay for gas?

I have a 2000 XLT Explorer with the 4.0 V6 and if I am driving I get around
17 city and 20 or 21 hwy. If my wife is driving she gets about 13 or 14
city. The K&N air filter I put in gives us 1 or 2 mpg better than standard
air filters did before we switched and costs less in the long run. When We
tow our 2900 lb boat we just pull into every gas station we find (10 or 11
mpg I think). At least its still better than the boat itself gets (3 or 4
mpg and 89 octane minimum for it to even run).

"wabbitslayer" > wrote in message
. ..
>I finally went back to the dealership that quoted me an insane price for an
> 01 2wd Mountaineer, and actually got a much better price. Then I gave it a
> good looking over and wow! Turns out the first price they gave me a few
> weeks ago was pretty reasonable after all...this thing is nice. I called
> previous owner, everything checked out ok there, so later that day I went
> back and brought it home.
>
> Methinks I made a good decision. With the 302, it downright boogies for
> that
> heavy a vehicle. It has something called the "Premier" option package,
> whatever that is. Anyone know?
>
> Only drawback so far is the mileage. Holy crap...the computer says I'm
> getting about 13 mpg around town. Ouch. I mean, I've read that the v8
> explorers and mountaineers got bad mileage, but I was thinking more like
> 16
> around town. Can anyone comment as to what they're getting? (and yeah, I
> know, lay off the gas pedal, get better mileage)
>
>