Oh... I'm not discouraged. I was just responding to the post that 600 miles should be "easy". Perhaps in some terrains it is, in mine it is well-earned. I had 52 MPG on my current tank at about 400 Miles... my wife took it to the beach for a family event (I had to study for my calculus mid-terms) and when she brought it back to me (40 miles trip)... was 46 MPG average. Yikes. In any case, my point is that most people (my wife included) don't care about FE; my wife usually makes a point of it when she drives my car that I shouldn't be surprised when the MPG's are lower because she has not desire to even try and keep good MPG. She just wants a car to drive, is all. I do care, because every 5 MPG gets me about another 65 miles on the tank or so (based on my filling up at the MPG x12 rule and usually having nearly another gallon remaining in the tank.

Edit: BTW, my lights have been more and more green lately. I used to always catch reds. I got my first green on the run about 2 weeks ago and now I'm regularily catching 50% green/red. My MPG's are doing well as a result. Hopefully it is a purposeful improvement and not just "good timing" on my part.


Thanks,
Shawn

IIIRC, I have never had a tank under 600 miles, it's just a matter of how long into the "unknown zone" you are willing to go.

You know, where there are no bars on the fuel guage and you're hoping you are not close to running out! I know that one can safely go 50 miles into that range (ie there is at least 1 gallon remaining). My record tank still tands at 744, and though I know I can beat that - getting to 800 might be pretty tough.

I think that I will definitely have a tank soon that I can not reach 600 miles in, when it gets colder, and snow starts hitting the ground. The reduction in (or lack of) autostop and increased resistance and what not. I ahve already noticed the effects of the winter formulation fuel already. I am currently on my worst tank ever, about 400 miles into the tank at about 46MPG...

Oh, and as far as others, there are a large number of compact hybrid drivers who routinely get high 30's to low 40's and they could care less about getting higher FE. That certainly does not bother me, and I hope that my quest for a 60MPG tank does not bother them... that's just a dream for now, at least until after winter! To each his own... different strokes for different folks... etc etc

Did you happen to write the city or bring it to any 'higher ups' attention? If you did or not, it's still a good thing that is seems to have improved, I was just wondering if municipalities actually listen to us regarding what some may consider 'trivial' issues...

There was a ceremony 4 weeks (or so) ago celebrating a massive $20 million beautification and traffic organizer. They were talking about how all the lights on the stretch that I travel are "timed" but I couldn't time anything other than the fact they were always red by the time I got there.

I did not write to the city but I'm sure *someone* did. I mean, of all those sports cars and SUV's that were constantly trying to beat the light and failing someone must have said something but I don't know for sure.


Thanks,
Shawn

I'm in the 600+ club and I drive an HAH.

<Best Tank Economy!><Best Tank Endurance!>

I'm in the 650 club in my Honda Odyssey.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/505/IMG_3342.JPG

Wow! That's awesome! But, how big is that tank?? I'm calculating 23.3 gallons used. I need one with that capacity for my HAH!

Doing the calculations from my best FE tank, I could have gone 728 miles on 16 gallons. Not as good as the HCH guys, but pretty good for the HAH. Unfortunately, those aren't common tanks for my car. I'm still sitting around 31 mpg on average.

My wife's been considering trading in her Escape for a minivan. We'll probably go the Odyssey route, mainly for the VCM.

<Best Tank Economy!><Best Tank Endurance!>

For that tank, I topped it off which added about 5 extra gallons. I don't normally top off. I also ran that down to the 0 mile range. I didn't push much past that. It ended up at 23.316 gallons. I know that is a lot of gallons, but it is also my best fuel economy tank too. You have had some really good tanks in your HAH as well.

For the 2007 VCM Odyssey, they have added a new transmission and the results are EPA numbers of 19/26. It should be a better transmission, but the FE takes a hit.

HAH...

That sucks!

<Best Tank Economy!><Best Tank Endurance!>

EZ2beGreen - On my trip back from Milwaukee I ended up taking I-294 down the left side of Chicago rather than 94 through the heart; however, we still needed to get to that Casino out there (wife's request) so I decided to head East on Rt 12 between I-294 to I-90 (Hickory Hills to East Side). The time was after 10 PM and over those 14 miles I think I hit 4 red lights and I lost count of how many green lights - 30 maybe? That was surreal but if you get the chance to drive that stretch then you can time them at the speed limit or about 35 mph which is a great speed for zen-cruising. The only read I had to stop the light-timing was that I was about to drive into Lake Michigan so had to divert southward. Definitely my longest stretch of timing traffic lights.

--> Averaged 685 miles/week and 49.0 mpg in first year (35.7k miles from Aug 7, 2006 to Aug 7, 2007)