Nothing special

Odometer: 20897.1
Tank Mileage: 612.2
Gallons Added: 15.784
Long-Term Average: 40.9
Short-Term Average: 39.7
Calculated Average: 38.7

Nothing special on this tank. I had a couple days where I was running late for something and pushed for time and not mileage. One thing I see from looking at my notes: the displayed mileage is a touch (~1 mpg) optimistic versus the calculated mileage for the tank. This is only the fourth tank since I started resetting the displayed MPG with each fill, so the data are still a bit slim.

High winds

Odometer: 20284.8
Tank Mileage: 601.5
Gallons Added: 15.596
Long-Term Average: 41.3
Short-Term Average: 39.8
Calculated Average: 38.5

I drove all week after the marathon before I needed to fill. The last 150 miles were into a fierce headwind which dropped my mileage significantly. The 6-minute average dropped to the 30 mpg range. I am quite happy with the handling of the car in these conditions, even when I had that wind from the side. I expect I may start seeing somewhat reduced mileages as the weather cools as it takes time for the car to completely warm up in the morning.

Another milestone on this fill was the 20,000-mile service point. I went back to the same dealer as the 10,000-mile point. I scheduled this through the Ford Owner website. Also, the service tech I talked with when I dropped the car off seemed to better understand what was needed for this service point. The only confusion was an item not noted which is part of the scheduled maintenance for a related vehicle. It turned out that this car is designed slightly differently and that item doesn't apply. The work was handled well and I was out of there fairly quickly.

I forgot to mention the Fuel Economy graph resets that I am still encountering. At least I haven't had a recurrence of display resets I had earlier.

700 Miles!

Odometer: 19683.3
Tank Mileage: 700.0
Gallons Added: 16.508
Long-Term Average: 42.0
Short-Term Average: 43.3
Calculated Average: 42.4

I hit a few milestones with this tank. I finally drove the 700 miles mentioned in the advertisements for this vehicle. I broke 42 mpg for the tank mileage. I broke 41 mpg for the 5-tank average mileage. During this tank, I drove home from Ohio, drove my normal commute for 4 days (I took Friday off), drove to Lansing and back, and drove back down to Dayton before filling the tank. I love the flexibility this provides. (During this trip, it made a huge difference as there was a large price spike that I avoided by being able to delay my fill-up.)

One little annoyance that continues is the reset of the Fuel Economy history that is occurring with more frequency. I'll mention it to the dealer, but I have no expectation that they have heard of this any more then the total reset of the SmartGauge I reported to them last time.

[Posted 2010-09-22]

Long Delayed Fill

Odometer: 18983.3
Tank Mileage: 641.1
Gallons Added: 16.170
Long-Term Average: 41.4
Short-Term Average: 40.9
Calculated Average: 39.6

I long vacation was taken during this tank. I'm just getting caught up.

[Posted 2010-09-22]