First road trip fuel mileages - GreenHybrid

SuperC · #1 (**permalink**) 05-22-2005, 01:56 PM

Took the new HAH on its first road trip yesterday. 200 miles to destination. Started by going to gas station at home and topping the tank completely. Drove the 200 miles and was driving like I wanted to get mpg, +2 or +3 miles per hour cruise set above speed limit. I did cancel the cruise if I was going to pull a long hill and let the momentum carry as much as possible, tried to time any stop lights so I wouldn't have to stop or slow down too much etc. When I arrived at my destination, I went to a gas station at the edge of town and filled up again to get a true highway mpg. Trip odometer said 205 miles and it took 5.1 gallons netting an actual 40 mpg! Even though my mpg indicator in the car had peaked at 37.1 near the end of the trip, I found that it was a couple mpg shy.

After filling up again, I drove around town for several hours, driving a total of 125 miles. I then filled up again so I could check my city mpg and also get another accurate read for the return highway mpg on the way home. My city average was only 26, but I wasn't too concerned about it. I was driving the car like a normal car and not babying it trying to get mileage. It was also 101 degrees and the AC was cranked.

My return trip to and from the same gas stations resulted in 205 miles, this time using 5.5 gallons for an mpg of 37.27. There was some crosswind as I came home, and the difference in elevation between the two cities is about 1600 feet with home being higher. I never get the same mileage coming home.

I am very pleased and impressed with how the car performed. I do find it a bit agonizing to have to drive nearly 200 miles to finally get the mpg indicator into the high 30's but, maybe that's just a mental reassurance thing. Obviously the car is making good mpg the entire time.

Now I'm at 965 miles and my average mpg is well into the 30's. I'm looking forward to seeing if it actually keeps improving!

Tink · #2 (**permalink**) 05-22-2005, 05:09 PM

Mine is certainly improving, as well. Don't know if it's the warmer temps or the break-in. I'm to almost 9k miles, now.

I do know that all these 3 and four mile trips this weekend are nuking my numbers! I just returned from a ~2,300 mile road trip and aren't use to the short trip killers.

On the road trip in Destin, my friends drove it, so I didn't have to witness the sad demise.