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]

Now Beating the EPA

Odometer: 16324.1
Tank Mileage: 680.0
Gallons Added: 16.293
Long-Term Average: 40.7
Short-Term Average: 40.7
Calculated Average: 41.7

With this tank, my life-time average (calculated as all miles driven divided by all gallon bought) exceeds the combined EPA estimated mileage. (41 city/36 hwy for 38.5 combined) My lifetime average is now 38.52.

This tank set several other records: miles driven (680), tank mpg (41.7), 3 tank trailing average mpg (40.67). I also had a commute into work with an average of 47.6 mpg over 25.5 miles including 20 miles of highway. Finally, the estimated "Miles to Empty" after the fill was 711 miles. This was the first time I've seen over 700 miles displayed.

[Posted 2010-07-30]

Time Challenged

Odometer: 15644.0
Tank Mileage: 483.0
Gallons Added: 12.342
Long-Term Average: 39.9
Short-Term Average: 40.0
Calculated Average: 39.1

I had a number trips during this tank where I was under time pressure. I still did fairly well, but there were times when I just had to set the cruise at the speed limit and roll with it. I filled early as I didn't want to have to take the time while in Dayton. The great range of this car adds considerable flexibility in the timing of fuel stops. The extra range also allows one to be choosy about the price paid.

[Posted 2010-07-30]

Weekend Trip to Pennsylvania

Odometer: 15160.9
Tank Mileage: 604.3
Gallons Added: 14.823
Long-Term Average: 39.6
Short-Term Average: 39.7
Calculated Average: 40.7

This tank was just about evenly split between a highway trip to Erie, PA and my normal ~25 mile commute. I had a pretty good tailwind on the outbound leg to Erie. After the half marathon, I returned home bucking a headwind most of the way. The rest of the tank was normal commute service.

[Posted 2010-07-30]

Killer commutes

Odometer: 14556.5
Tank Mileage: 584.8
Gallons Added: 15.510
Long-Term Average: 38.9
Short-Term Average: 38.9
Calculated Average: 37.7

I had a week of commutes where I was running behind and didn't try for enhanced mileage. This is reflected in the lower tank mileage.

I like the segment mileage report I get when I stop the car. I wish this was stored in a location where I could retrieve the last 10 or so segments. I'm a data junkie and making it easier to collect the data would be a plus. Having the car send the report as an SMS or an email would be a way to do this.

One minor item: While the display, and longer term mileages, hasn't reset recently, I am noting that the fuel efficiency bar graph clears its data every so often. I haven't figured out a pattern yet. This is currently in the "that's odd" category as opposed to "that's annoying".

[Posted 2010-07-19]

Somewhat better

Odometer: 13971.7
Tank Mileage: 465.9
Gallons Added: 12.171
Long-Term Average: 39.0
Short-Term Average: 39.0
Calculated Average: 38.2

Still below the longer term averages, but better than the last tank. I had a day where I was operating the radios in support of a local bicycle ride. I changed the way I had the radio battery connected to the car and found a place in the shade where I could leave the car off and the windows down.

[Posted 2010-07-19]

Almost two weeks

Odometer: 13505.7
Tank Mileage: 601.8
Gallons Added: 16.438
Long-Term Average: 39.3
Short-Term Average: 39.4
Calculated Average: 36.6

Almost two weeks for this tank. This was mostly just a series of commutes. It also included extended idling to provide power for other activities. Definitely not the way to get high mileage.

[Posted 2010-07-19]

Still catching up

Odometer: 12903.8
Tank Mileage: 452.7
Gallons Added: 12.441
Long-Term Average: 39.9
Short-Term Average: 40.1
Calculated Average: 36.3

This is the fill-up after the weekend trip to Chicago.

One thing I noted during this period is the AC power point operation. If I have the laptop and radio battery charger both connected at once, this is too much and the point shuts down. If I have allowed one of the other to complete charging, I can connect the second device without overloading the connection. Also, I have noted no additional noise from the AC power point above the noise provided by the car itself.

[Posted 2010-07-05 0008]

Catch-up

Odometer: 12451.1
Tank Mileage: 392.3
Gallons Added: 9.937
Long-Term Average: 40.5
Short-Term Average: 40.7
Calculated Average: 39.4

We filled early to avoid having to fill in Illinois.

[Posted 2010-07-05 0002]

Round Trip

Odometer: 12058.7
Tank Mileage: 676.2
Gallons Added: 16.358
Long-Term Average: 40.7
Short-Term Average: 41.0
Calculated Average: 41.3

This was a great tank. For the first time, I was able to complete my monthly trip to Ohio (~400 miles) without having to stop for gas. I did a day of work on either end and even did a side trip to Lansing before I had to stop for gas. There are several records:

1. Calculated average, this is the best ever for a fill-up.
2. Tank miles, just a bit more than my previous best and only 14 miles after E.
   
3. Miles to E range, 662 miles were on the tank when the Miles to E hit zero.

A/C is used all the time. There were times when the load of accessories (which includes A/C) was 5/7 of full scale. The A/C is very effective. I'm still getting used to the controls. Currently, my issue is change the volume when I want to change the speed on the cruise control. Finally, I think either I'm getting better, or the car is hitting another wear-in point as I'm getting >40 mpg even into significant headwinds.

Back to Normal

Odometer: 11382.4
Tank Mileage: 575.7
Gallons Added: 14.825
Long-Term Average: 40.3
Short-Term Average: 40.5
Calculated Average: 38.8

There were a few longer trips (~50 miles) in this tank, but most were in the normal daily commute range (~25 miles). Construction on this route has improved, so there is less stop-and-go through that zone.

A Couple Records

Odometer: 10806.7
Tank Mileage: 672.2
Gallons Added: 16.371
Long-Term Average: 40.3
Short-Term Average: 40.9
Calculated Average: 41.1

Part of this tank was the final drive home. This was about 400 miles all Interstate running between 65 and 70 mph. The balance of the tank was my normal commute during the remainder of the work week.

First record is the distance driven between fill-ups. This beats the previous best by over 30 miles. The second record is the calculated average for this tank. This beats the previous best by over .5 mpg.

The other event was the 10,000 mile service point. I learned that the local dealer I went to doesn't appear to understand "give me the 10,000 service". The book calls for tire rotation, oil & filter change. Apparently, I have to specifically ask for each part of the service. All I got was the oil and filter change. I got it for free, so I can't complain too much. I also mentioned the display reset, but they were unable to find any information on this from Ford. They had never heard of it. Sounds like the same that everyone else online is hearing. I hope they are willing and able to pass my report back to Ford. I may give a dealer closer to where I work a chance at my service points when 20,000 rolls around.

Bolder Boulder Road Trip - Day 6

Miles Driven: 559.8
Average MPG: 42.5

Today's goal was to make it home in one piece. This was accomplished. Today's speeds were a bit slower than the mountain end of the trip. The closest to city driving was on the Tollway around the south end of Chicago. I'm glad I got a bit further east than originally planned for yesterday as there was severe weather near the Nebraska/Iowa border. As it was, I had great weather for the finish of the trip.

Today also completes the second month I've had the car. I continue to learn more about how it operates and how to get the best performance out of it. I am currently averaging over 5000 miles per month, but I don't expect this to continue as most of that was in Month 2 and over 3000 miles was in this trip alone.

I continue to enjoy driving this car and feel it was a decision well made.

RTFM

Odometer: 10134.5
Tank Mileage: 556.7
Gallons Added: 14.667
Long-Term Average: 39.5
Short-Term Average: 39.5
Calculated Average: 37.9

At 10,000 miles, the "oil service soon" message became "oil service required". (I have this scheduled for Thursday after I get home.) While recording my numbers, I discovered something useful. The Reset button on the steering wheel will acknowledge the message. For the oil messages, they go away. For the low-fuel messages, an icon is added next to the temperature gage. I never thought to look in the book to see about how to get back to the normal display of temperature, but I'm sure it is in there. This works well enough for me and removes the annoyance factor related to the announcements.

This tank was pure Interstate except for getting to the hotel, food, and gas. The wind was significant and almost a 90 degree crosswind for most of the tank. Running with cruise control in hilly terrain between 70 and 75 mph didn't help.