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]

Riding high

Odometer: 18342.2
Tank Mileage: 686.1
Gallons Added: 16.419
Long-Term Average: 41.6
Short-Term Average: 41.6
Calculated Average: 41.7

Just a touch further than the last miles driven record. More exciting is a new tank mileage record. While I truncate the values in the summary, I do record them in a more detail personal log. My new record tank average is 41.79 mpg. This includes an Interstate trip to Dayton for the the weekend, running around base while there and my normal commute on either side.

There was one exceptional leg. I had to go into work early Monday morning after I drove home from Dayton. I averaged 54.7 mpg over 25 miles on the short route that minimizes Interstate travel. Having almost no other traffic and most traffic lights flashing yellow really helped.

The 3-tank and 5-tank averages were also records, but I don't have them handy at the moment.

New Miles Driven Record

Odometer: 17656.0
Tank Mileage: 685.1
Gallons Added: 16.524
Long-Term Average: 41.2
Short-Term Average: 41.2
Calculated Average: 41.4

I hit 0 Miles to "E" on my way home tonight. By the time I got to the station I planned to used, I had just over 685 miles on the tank. This is a bit better than the previous miles driven record of 680. Commensurate with this is the most gallons added. I hope I never find out the absolute usable capacity of the tank. Assuming that the tank will take 16 gallons when on "E" seems to be well supported. That 16 gallons easily gets me over 600 miles of range and frequently over 650. The initial estimate for the next tank was 700 Miles to "E" when I started the car after the fill.

This tank included driving in Chicago for the weekend and the trip home (over 200 Interstate miles), a round trip to Lansing (150 Interstate miles) and three days of my normal commute (120 Interstate and 30 City miles). One thing about my commute: I have a choice between the route that yields the best mileage and the route that uses the least gas. They are very close, but that is the split on the averages.

2010-08-11 1906 ETA: My 3-tank (41.09, first time over 41) and 5-tank (40.71, first time over 40) averages are also records.

Not what they seem

Odometer: 16970.9
Tank Mileage: 646.8
Gallons Added: 16.146
Long-Term Average: 40.7
Short-Term Average: 40.7
Calculated Average: 40.0

My wife was looking at the numbers I've recorded for the various average mileage and was confused as they weren't moving as she would expect them to. For example, the previous fill had an improvement in Long-Term average of .8 mpg over the fill before. This was supposed to be a "lifetime" average, but it had reset with the display about 9,000 miles ago. For this to make sense, the tank average would have to have exceeded the long-term average by about 10 mpg. Also, the short-term average should have moved further in response to the same input as it is supposed to show the average over the last 2000 miles. Instead, the two averages seem to run pretty close to each other. In fact, calculating backwards from the calculated tank mileage, the long-term and short-term mileages seem to have a weight equal to about 1600 miles. Allowing for the possible differences in fills and 2000 miles is in the ball park.

This is all minor, but, with both car-generated averages running so close, I'll probably start resetting the displayed average more often (possibly for each tank).

[Posted 2010-08-10]