Wow! 72.1 mph? Best I have been able to get at 70 mph is 37 mpg, but it did include just a little city driving.

Congrats!

 

Yeah, which I found strange, since I pretty much had the cruise engaged at 70 mph the whole way. Supposedly, the GPS in the Navi is a more accurate depiction of speed. Perhaps I should get my speedo calibrated, since I generally drive at the limits of most officer's crossover point of writing a ticket or letting it go. I usually do about 5 mph over. Sometimes 10. If I'm doing a speedo speed of 70 in a 60, but the police radar shows me at 72...

A story about my 600+ tank: I filled up just north of Denver. Then I drove down to Albuquerque and started to head West. I see that my FE is doing pretty good, so instead of filling up just over 500+, I decide to go for the 600+ tank! I'm thinking, I just might make it to Gallup! Out on the high plains of Northern NM and AZ, the gas stations are far and few between. So, every time I pass a gas station, I get more and more worried about running out of fuel.


At 547 miles, my low fuel indicator comes on.

Okay, I can do this! 575 miles, oh man. That needle is pointing STRAIGHT at the E indicator! Come on baby, you can do it!! 585, I'm starting to sweat it. 590, oh crap. I just KNOW I'm walking. 595, "dear father who art in heaven..." 599, okay three miles to go to get to the Chevron! I can do this! (just past a sign that says next station is something like 20 miles away, past the Chevron) 600, WOHOO!! 602, here's my exit! YES! I made it! The needle is slightly south of the E mark. Hell, at this speed, I could just coast into the station, if need be. But then my world darkened. As I exit, I notice there aren't any cars at the gas station. There are cones blocking off the driveway into the pumps. NOOOOOOO! Oh God, will I make it another 20 miles?! But as I pull up to the station, the second driveway was open. And the OPEN sign was lit in the gas station window. YES! I pull up to the pump, relieved that my nightmare was finally over.

14.23 gallons later, I realized, I definitely had plenty of fuel to make it to not only the next gas station 20 miles away, but probably to the one after that! Whew, what a relief. I can't remember what exactly my FCD said I had distance to empty. I think it said something around 30+ miles. Nonetheless, I had plenty of fuel to make the trip. But never being this deep into a tank, I had no clue...

 

Oh, and I did this with full A/C on. It was freakin' over 100 degrees that day! When I finally pulled into my driveway at home, the temp gauge said 111.



In fact, I had the A/C on and cruise control set for my entire trip.

 

Altitude delta for Denver-Gallup?

 

They're pretty much at the same altitude. Well, maybe Gallup is about 1K less. There were lots of downhill sections. But just as many uphill ones as well. The biggest drop was from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. I saw regen come on and stay on until I had 6 bars. The tranny even upshifted to keep the speed down as the car was gaining speed going downhill.

The interstate in Denver didn't run up into the mountains, like I hoped they would. I was looking forward to going through some mountain passes for the scenery. Although the view from the interstate was beautiful, it didn't do the mountains any justice.

 

Here's an end to some beautiful FE tanks... 313 city miles around all metro Phoenix area. Temps around 110 degrees. 13.561 gallons. 23.1 MPG...