We picked up our 2008 FEH last Saturday. Did a lot of research on this board and others about how to get the best fuel efficiency and have done pretty well so far -- we're at nearly 32 mpg after just about 200 miles. But as a newbie in the FEH world, I've got a couple of questions -- and I'm sure others will have their own. So thought I'd start this thread with two questions:

1) One thing that does wonders for our FE is driving in L while in the city (which is probably 60% of our typical daily driving). I learned about this from the FAQ and various other postings -- but noted that they were all a couple of years old. And most had something of a "seems like a good idea but we're not sure whether this is OK in the long-run" slant to them. Has anyone gotten any official word from Ford -- or good advice from engineers or others likely to know -- about whether regular driving in L is a good idea, or whether there are any major downsides? I emailed Ford and asked this question, but so far haven't gotten anything useful out of them. Would like to be sure that I'm not doing major damage to the car while saving gas!

2) Also want to verify what the average mpg gauge is actually measuring. Can I assume that (unless you reset it) it's reading average mpg on the current tank of gas? I've read the Owner's Manual from cover to cover but there's no explanation of what this gauge is actually measuring (could be mpg at this particular second or from the beginning of driving history, etc.).

I'm sure to be back with more questions. You guys are great! We're looking for many miles in the new FEH. As an indication of just how unfashionable we are (I prefer to think "counter-cultural"), our FEH is blue -- the least popular color -- and has no NAV or other options.

Liz