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Welcome to Week 3.

This rainy and cold (36F) Monday morning went pretty well for me. Getting my rear end out the door at 6:15 instead of 6:30 or later was worth it because I had the roads almost entirely to myself. I worked my usual routine and managed 58.0mpg despite the lousy road surface conditions. I'll take it.

I was greeted with a car covered in snow. Once I removed the bulk of the snow, I realized that there was a nice thick layer of ice underneath it. I scraped all the windows with the metal-edged scraper. The rear window was easier since I had turned on the defroster. Unfortunately, to get the windshield done, I had to start the car and crank on the front defroster. I hated to have the car sit there and idle (I almost cried a little) but it needed to be done.

In the end, the drive in was relatively decent. Because today is MLK Jr. Day, the traffic was extremely light.

Current mileage in the high 40s. I really want to bump that up.

It was a lovely 58ºF here this morning, unfortunately that will not be the case much longer. Anyway, 57.3 MPG on the way in.

Today the temps have been 30ish. The trip to take the wife to work was 45.7 and from there to my work was 52.0. This afternoon, everyone seemed to take extra time getting out of the parking lot so I had more idling with the cold engine than usual. The trip back to pick up the wife ended up at 46.0 and I managed to get 51.8 by the time I got home and backed into my garage.

It was an unheard of 38ºF here in LA this morning. I couldn't bring the morning drive higher than 57mpg though I was flogging the crap out of her as psy would say. The iFCD acts like it only knows one direction ...down. :(

I enjoyed the same temps as Skwyre7 today, with another 65 MPG cross-town commute. I think if this was my everyday commute (it's only a part time gig), I could be up there with VaBeachPrius!

Not looking forward to the forecasted 30 degree temperature drop by Wednesday. Between that and a much shorter commute to my full time job, I'll be lucky to manage 50 for the rest of this tank.

Today I backed my car out of the garage for some goofy pictures, then drove it back in - a total distance of about 20 feet. The driveway is inclined, so the engine needed to be cranked and it was 27F outside. It was too short to record the mpg, but it's likely ot be around 5mpg.

Unofficially it the worst trip in my Insight.

Hi Chuck:

___While at the 2007 NAIAS, I moved my car from Pravus Prime’s drive to an empty lot next door (total distance of maybe 75 feet) and pulled a whopping 3.7 mpg! Fortunately I had 358 miles of mostly Intestate ahead of me to make up for it :D

___Tony, a little trick I use for a coating of ice … Go back in the house and grab a bucket of warm water. Splash it over the windscreen once to soften and remove most of the stuff w/ your scraper/brush. Use a second splash to bring that glass to a pristine state. Wipe it down and you’re set.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Okay, I'll try starting this one. Hope it works.

The Bond Mobile seemed to be making gas this morning. Temps in the low 60's and the usual light traffic. The car seemed to be able to cruise almost effortlessly this morning. I could set the gas with the iFCD as high as it would go, pegged high at times for sustained periods, and the car would just go along at 35 - 40 mph. Ended up with 71.5 mpg.

Temps are suppsoed to plummet into the 30's tonight, so this will not continue. But, I'll take it as long as I can!

Bob

Looks like we've got two threads for the week. This one was started yesterday but got pushed down the page a bit:

brick, I merged the threads to avoid confusion

Just about 52mpg this morning, which includes a little bit of idle time while I was testing my tach last night. It's about to get freezing cold, which is going to suck.

Side note: maybe we should start to sticky the active weekly thread? Not that it really matters but it seems like things get confused if it happens to get pushed down the page.

I had a wonderful 62ºF morning and an even better 64.8MPG! I'm very excited. I'm not excited about the cold weather fast approaching though.

Hi All:

___A terrible 39.5 in 14 - 16 degree F temps over 62 miles this morning :( I had the windscreen cleared without Defrost but the aerodynamics were completely screwed with chunks of snow and ice all over the vehicle. It was quieter at speed with its random layers of insulation however ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I had a wonderful 62ºF morning and an even better 64.8MPG! I'm very excited. I'm not excited about the cold weather fast approaching though.Skyre, you know that saying "misery loves company"? Well you're not the company I need right now. :p

As I write this, Weatherbug is reporting 17.3ºF and it's after noon!

Don't worry, Tony. I'll be getting your weather later tonight. It;s already dropped 20º since I've been at work.

My commute is 6.1 miles each way through the city (one half-mile 45 MPH section of road that I don't get up to speed limit on).

1/15:
- morning, 20F, lots of SNOW on the ground (= lots of energy wasted making sure I wasn't going to spin off of the road), almost needed defrost just for safety - 49.6 MPG
- evening, 20F, roads not really cleared yet, starting from a parking garage not much warmer than outside - an AWFUL 43.8 MPG :mad:

1/16:
- morning, 0F (!), roads clearer but still can't corner at 20+ MPH - 51.4 MPG <-- yes, somehow *better* than yesterday despite 20 degrees colder, I'll take it! :D

I just found this thread - I'm sure I'll be posting a lot :cool: This deep freeze is going to kill my 60+MPG start to this tank (OK, it already has), but just doing the best I can...

I ended my day in the 48-49mpg range with temperatures descending through 28F. All that cold weather has arrived on my doorstep and should push things toward the single digits tonight and tomorrow night. Brr!

In honor of the cold snap I finally tried to fabricate something to keep the frost from forming on my windshield. It's nothing fancier than a 6' by 8' tarp (a lovely gray) cut to cover the entire windshield, plus retain a pair of "wings" that get jammed in the front doors to keep it secure. It's held on the bottom by the windshield wipers. I don't think I would want it on there during any kind of precipitation but it looks like it ought to keep the surface clear when the glass would otherwise be staring at the cold vacuum of space. We'll see how it works out come morning.

Today started out at ~20F. I managed 46.3 taking my wife to work and from there to my shop I got 52.2. It got all the way up to 29:rolleyes: this afternoon and I had 51.3 on the way back to my wife's work. From there to home was 56.6. I had to pick up my daughter from school so we could get to voice lessons and I got 55.3 for the 5.3 mile trip there and 56.6 from there back to home. The trip to the lessons was 61.9 and I ended up with 52.7 on the way home from voice lessons. I didn't think that 60+ was possible in this kind of weather. I can't wait until spring.

Quick question: How long will it take until I can buy a PriusII for cash by saving $600 or more/month? Or, am I looking at a PriusIII?:(

Hi All:

___20 - 24 degrees and I was working my tail off w/ heavy traffic to punch out a 42.0 on the way home. Glides at below freezing temps just hit a wall! If I am not careful this week, this will be the worst tank of the winter :( I did spend ~ 10 minutes breaking off the ice and snow at the Park and Ride to bring the Accord’s Cd down to at least .35 although it will be a few days before she sees .30 again.

___Larry, with the market in an almost upheaval mode right now, I would hold your dollars close to the vest for an 09/10. There is some really cool stuff heading our way ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

This tank is in the gutter. With the ice storm and low temps. Traffic all messed up. The tank is at 36 mpg. :(

What a difference a day -- and 40 degrees or so -- make. Yesterday's 8-mile commute with temps in the 60s saw a trip MPG right at 60. Today with temps in the upper 20s it was at 50.

I doubt I'll get much sympathy from Wayne, Tony, and the rest of you in the Midwest, huh? You're not showing Michael any love!:)

I doubt I'll get much sympathy from Wayne, Tony, and the rest of you in the Midwest, huh? You're not showing Michael any love!:)

They sure aren't, Jim. Especially Tony. He's the meanest. :p

It was 28ºF this morning, but I did squeek out a 53.1 MPG trip to work. I'm sure that would have been better if I had a block heater. Oh well.

Hello all,

I just got back from almost two weeks in Portland, Oregon and I was surprised that it was 70F this last Sunday and 75F on Monday of this week in Virginia Beach. For January 2007, through the 16th, the average high temperature here in Virginia Beach has been 64.4F.

While on travel, I tried my best with FAS on a 2006 Pontiac G6 with a V6. I am not too good. I only had the aFCD at just over 30 mpg for my 220 miles driven. Maybe I should have pumped up the rental car tires to 50 PSI.:D I guess I had better stick with my Prius and 30 mph driving.

JimboK, Skwyre7, and rhwinder; keep up the good work.

It was 32F this AM. Winds - 18 mph gusting to 30 mph.

The result: ~63.9 mpg

Well, as a result of my poor gas filling technique on my last tank (end of DEC), I obviously filled the filler neck up to the brim; I just lost my first pip at 240 miles. When I refill at the end of the month, this tank will calculate out higher than the MFD value. I do not plan to wash down the side of my car with gas again. The last tank was much lower than the MFD value; they will average out.

Have a good day.

While on travel, I tried my best with FAS on a 2006 Pontiac G6 with a V6. I am not too good. I only had the aFCD at just over 30 mpg for my 220 miles driven.

The G6 w/ 3800V6 is the same car I rented when I was in South Carolina and California on my last trip. My numbers were virtually identical to yours using a DWL/DWB routine on mostly highways and rural roads.

I would just about kill for 32F morning temps right now. This morning it was 12F. Air was too dry to frost, though, so I just lit the ICE and went for it. 49mpg was the best I could do.

Hi Chris:

___I wish we would have known about your trip out to Oregon as we could have helped get you ready for that Pontiac G6. GM automatic transmissions are perfect for the kind of cycles you were playing with ;)

___Tim, 49 in a Prius while driving in 12-degree temps? I think that might be a record!

___A blistering cold 9 - 13 degrees F in this morning and I barely got her above 40. Ended at 40.2 as parked. I was battling that 40.0 figure again and again over half the drive. I have the negative offset to rely on for the tank fill but it is still a mental battle against the ever present aFCD. She dropped below Full at just 170 miles and I have not performed this poorly since last February during a 0 degree cold snap :( I think I will try step it up on the drive home so as to give myself a small buffer just in case.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Made it to work before it was called off - snow day. Got 62mpg from the slower traffic, but got 68 on the way back with an inch of snow and 25F. Check out Another Wierd Ride Picture For The Day (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/the-daily-grind/t-another-wierd-ride-picture-for-the-day-3290.html) - seems like the Twilight Zone. :D

evening yesterday (6.1 miles) - an even more awful 42.6 MPG at 8F (starting in a parking garage near ambient) - I'm beginning to dread those 3 beeps of EV mode refusing to engage because of not being warm enough! :( Also the slightest touch on accel restarts ICE when it's this cold. I need a block heater...

evening yesterday (11.4 miles) - 60.8 MPG through town at 2F, starting from my garage. Normally I'd be ecstatic to get 60, but if I drove to work on the same day usually I can eke out 80MPG on this trip (at >50F) due to ICE still being reasonably warm.

evening yesterday (11.4 miles) - return trip of above, 53.1 MPG at 1F starting from outside.

morning today (6.1 miles) - 49.6 MPG at -1F starting from my garage.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's not better just to hit the highway when it's this cold due to the larger impact of starts and stops (and watching the SG report water temp dropping like a rock while I'm waiting for a light or in rare EV).

___Tim, 49 in a Prius while driving in 12-degree temps? I think that might be a record!




There's your record:


evening yesterday (11.4 miles) - 60.8 MPG through town at 2F, starting from my garage. Normally I'd be ecstatic to get 60, but if I drove to work on the same day usually I can eke out 80MPG on this trip (at >50F) due to ICE still being reasonably warm.

evening yesterday (11.4 miles) - return trip of above, 53.1 MPG at 1F starting from outside.



Great job! I'm going to see if you have already posted details about your commute somewhere because I'm dying to know more.

Great job! I'm going to see if you have already posted details about your commute somewhere because I'm dying to know more.

Thank you for the compliment. :D I haven't posted details about my commute(s) elsewhere, so here they are.

6.1 miles (to work)
a. 0.2 miles to a stop sign
b. 1.3 miles to a stop sign at ~0.5, then up and down a big hill to another stop sign (left turn)
c. 0.4 miles downhill through a stop light
d. 1.1 miles with stop signs at 0.8 and 1.1
e. 1.2 miles, gentle down then uphill, to a stop light
f. 1.3 miles with stop signs at 0.3, 0.8 and 1.3
g. 0.6 miles up and down one moderate hill, to the parking garage

notes:
a. If I can be out of stage 1 by the end of this, great, because usually I'm stopped here for a bit crossing a semi-busy road
b. stage 2 here, warming to 130-140 by the end... most of the time I can get no arrows down the backside of the hill (but not ICE-off)
c. when it was a little warmer, I could force a little EV for this part to get started and use no gas at all :D
d. *great* p&g section, stage 3 at this point so I can force EV at will (unless it's really cold, like this morning)
e. this is 45MPH for a bit, but I cap it at 40 to the bottom of the down hill. I can usually get a true glide at this point, and it's a LOOOONG one since there's a light at the end
f. one pulse between each stop sign
g. forced EV/true glide at the top of this hill, all the way to the garage

OK, this is getting long, is there a better place where people post commute routes/notes/etc? I haven't got to the 11.4-mile one yet. ;) Also I've seen those cool route elevation maps, anybody know how to make those??

OK, this is getting long, is there a better place where people post commute routes/notes/etc? I haven't got to the 11.4-mile one yet. ;) Also I've seen those cool route elevation maps, anybody know how to make those??

I think this seems to be as good a place as any for details. Awesome results by the way! I've set a goal to have a Prius in 5 or less years so these are good things to read.

My day started at ~10F. I had 45.9 for the trip to the wife's work and 49.7 from there to my work. This afternoon, it was up to 26F and I had 50.8 going back to get the wife and 52.5 from there to home. I then went grocery shopping and had 51.7 on the way there from my mom's house. From the store back to my mom's, I could only squeeze out ~45 mpg. From there back to my house I had 56.0.

Hi Jim and Michael:

___Sorry I missed your replies above. Anybody pushing 50 + mpg in any weather is noteworthy in my book! Nice job with and without decent temps ;) As for cold temp sympathy, there are limits and Tony, Tim, Jared and myself “aint handin out no sympathy” in these temps :)

___Jared, wtf happened to you these past few weeks! Smoking hot commutes and in temps that would scare a California Orange to death :D

___Had an ~ 10 mph tailwind in 19 – 22 degree F temps tonight and pulled in at 46.8. I still have some time to pull this tank back from the brink.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

___Jared, wtf happened to you these past few weeks! Smoking hot commutes and in temps that would scare a California Orange to death :D


Heh, I decided to get serious. ;) Kidding, actually I don't know where this is coming from! Some combination of my recent mods - EV switch and the radiator "block" hack maybe? Lots of good info at the last Madison Hybrid Group mtg as well that I'm slowly "assimilating". (OK, you knew that was coming. :D )

One to add - 6.1 miles home from work tonight (the route I posted earlier, but in reverse) - 48.4 MPG. This is the one that yesterday and the day before were ~43. The difference? I think most of it was a much better parking spot, that let me start in ambient temps of 34 rather than near air temp of 14. What a difference those 20 degrees make! It let me be able to force EV much earlier than either of the past few days, among other things.

I'll post the details of my 11.4 mile route (not to work, but a regular trip that I take a few times a week) probably tomorrow.

Commute home:
42 deg F and light rain. Driving into a light north wind.
The FCD appeared to be stuck at 50 at the beginning.
I had to really be aggressive with the FAS's to pull the average up.

Pulled into the garage with 76.9 MPG showing for the segment.

TAR coming up in February, will be working strange hours. That may help with less traffic.

My poor poor civic.

Today was good for a 40 mpg ave. The ice is taking a toll on the car, me and mpg. I got into some holes and ruts today that had all four wheels off the ground. At 15 mph mind you. Its insane.

I got into a traffic jam today that about sent me over the edge. With the ice the way it is you have to keep moving. You stop in the wrong area,,, even level ground and your stuck. I got behind a role of SUV's and trucks exiting the freeway. There getting stuck setting there. No way I was going to stop. So I ran the center of the car up and over the ice bergs on the side of the road and prayed the want to be LSD in the Civic still wanted to work. yes it acts not like a LSD but a posi-trac at times. Anyway the engine belly pan acted like a sled on the crushed up ice on the side of the road and the lower front wheel cept grabing and I powered around all those stuck gas pigs with there idiot drivers. Made the light at the bottom of the off ramp. Hung the wheels in the deepest ruts I could find and whiped around the corner at about 25 mph sliding again on the engine belly pan. Ive heard crunching and skreaching noises from the poor Civic, Ive never heard from other cars. I tried to take some pics of the roads and amounts of ice everywhere. But I never could get the white balance right so the dept would show through.

We haven't had a winter here like this in years! They say 5" more of snow this weekend. :(

I will be lucky to salvage a 40 mpg tank this week.

psy

It's amazing how quickly the weather pattern changed, isn't it? Tomorrow morning should be our first with any kind of frozen precipitation, though not nearly as bad as the midwestern bobsled run. (We hope.)

Yesterday's daily average fell into the 47mpg range after climbing back home and making an unwanted run to the quickie mart for a smoke detector battery. (They'll save your life, yes, but drive you insane if they're in need of more juice.)

This morning temps were between 14-16F range and my cat woke me up in time to get out the door fully 10-15 minutes earlier than yesterday. I was rewarded handsomely not only with fresh-brewed coffee but with a 51.5mpg trip to work. Having the roads entirely to myself allowed for some experimentation.

The biggest change to my technique was just to let the Prius do its thing in a mostly DWL routine rather than my sloppy P&G in temps where the ICE only **might** shut down on the glide. It was neat to see the iFCD hang out in the 60+ rage, as I was starting to wonder if that ever happened. I think this may be the way to go for those stretches of my commute that tend to be more up-hill than down, as the glide rarely makes up for the pulse in that kind of environment.

It was 28-32ºF this morning and 56.4MPG on the way to work. I was able to leave about 5 minutes earlier than normal, so that might have helped.

It was 25F and relatively ice-free, but got on 68mpg (some summers I got 88). One thing that might have helped is covering the radiator.

This morning temps were between 14-16F range and my cat woke me up in time to get out the door fully 10-15 minutes earlier than yesterday. I was rewarded handsomely not only with fresh-brewed coffee but with a 51.5mpg trip to work.


Brick, this is awesome for these temps - what does your commute look like (distance, hwy/city, ...)? If I leave earlier I'm rewarded with a better parking spot :D , but the tradeoff is heavier traffic along the way.


The biggest change to my technique was just to let the Prius do its thing in a mostly DWL routine rather than my sloppy P&G in temps where the ICE only **might** shut down on the glide.


Are you talking hwy or city here? I know this condition all too well, but the EV switch has helped with this because you can force ICE-off as you start a glide and cancel as you go to pulse - still a little sloppier than full stage 4 p&g, but every bit helps. (Not applicable for hwy driving. ;) )


So I ran the center of the car up and over the ice bergs on the side of the road and prayed the want to be LSD in the Civic still wanted to work.

:eek: :eek: psy, what kind of crazy weather are you having down there? Ice...BERGS?? It sucks that anyone should have to drive in that!! I hope your civic survived and is still in working order... and that your MPG returns to its former levels! :(


53.3 MPG to work today (6.1 miles) in light snow at 23 degrees for me.

49.6 MPG on the way home (reverse route of above) in very light ...something... at 27 degrees (starting ambient temp of 37).

Brick, this is awesome for these temps - what does your commute look like (distance, hwy/city, ...)?

My commute is a 17 mile mix, 12 miles of back roads and 5 miles of highway. In the morning I start off on a hill that's ~300ft above that of the office parking lot. When temps are above freezing I can EV out of my spot and glide straight down the hill for ~0.4mi, EV through a left-turn and then glide another ~.3-.4mi down a shallower grade at the end of which I light the ICE. It won't let me EV on days like today, so I just light up and go.

After that I drive the rest of the first 12 miles on residential back roads with speed limits of 30-35mph. These are winding, hilly, and narrow with ~12 stop signs if I'm counting right. This part of the tip starts and finishes at about the same grade, but i might go a little more down than up on the way to work. At the end of that I make a right turn and drive ~1mi on a 45mph surface street with 3 lights (hit or miss) before I get to the 4th, which is the entrance ramp onto the interstate. It has a nice, long ramp that turns into its own lane and descends slightly so I can get up to speed without needing more than 2000-2200RPM out of the ICE. Then I ascend maybe 60-80ft slowly and then back down more quickly at 60mph (65 is the limit) to my exit, that lets me bleed down to 35mph by the time I reach the top and a traffic light that may or may not be green. (USually green). Then it's a short ~0.5mi at 35mph followed by a short EV/glide into the parking lot and to my space. I take the same route back home, this time fighting the elevation change and several really bad stop signs that force me to climb from a dead stop.

It can be a great route when I have the road mostly to myself, as I can slowly glide to those stop signs without wasting too much kinetic. But that isn't the case most of the time and these drivers are insanely impatient.

Hi Tim:

___I know you have worked your route more then just about anybody but is there a subdivision you can duck behind that would break that nasty cycle of stop signs in the troughs? When heading towards one of the State Highways, I have an ~ 100’ drop over maybe ¾ of a mile and at the bottom is a light and another light about 300’ past to the right. Both right turn on reds allowed … If the light on the bottom is red (it normally is :(), I will pull into a dead street skirting the back of some subdivisions prior to that light at ~ 35 mph and bleed off until I come to a pass through at a crawl and can glide down the next 15’ of elevation through that second subdivision about 1/3 of a mile down. I use the last 15’ of elevation delta to glide ICE-Off through that sub at a crawl with just one stop sign at the end and it shortens my total distance by ~ 600’.

___This morning ended at 43.1 w/ temps of 20 - 22 degrees F and 48.1 back in a temp of 30 - 33 degrees F. I have a clinic to do for a member of Chicago Public Radio next Tuesday and will be pushing hard on the afternoon drives to get ready. The tank is still shot from those early 40’s in the ten degree temps but we’ll see where she ends up :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Wayne,
I see what you are saying and I'll have to look into it. One of those troughs is impossible to avoid because it's at a railroad track and happens to be the only crossing I'm aware of within about a mile. The other crossing is on my alternate route that I'll probably take tomorrow morning if the roads don't look like they have been well-sanded. That route is completely different, consisting of 40-45mph secondary roads for ~14 miles and hitting the same highway about an extra mile north of my normal exit. The Accord loved that route but I dumped it shortly after getting the Prius because I felt that the speeds ran about 5mph too high since I was constantly crossing the stealth/warp stealth threshold. But, I could try it again and see how it does now that I have a better idea what I'm doing behind the wheel. The improvement would have to be dramatic to justify the extra 3 miles, though. We're talking 70mpg out, 60mpg back in the same kind of weather we saw when I was doing 60/50 a few short weeks ago.

To answer the original question, I'll take look at the maps to see if there's a way to tweak the short route.

Finished the day with 49.6mpg for the round-trip. Tomorrow will not be so nice assuming the roads aren't bad enough that I just punt and call in.

It's a beautiful morning! 34-36F, no gloves required, a half inch of melting snow to brush off the car...and 58.6mpg.

I also had 35ºF temps, but no snow or ice. The roads were a little wet though. 58.0MPG for the drive in to work.

I had to drive across town last night and got about 53MPG for the round trip. Most of the roads were 35MPH, but there was a stretch of highway for about 5 miles or so.

My tank is still above 57MPG, which is the best I've seen. Let's hope I can keep it that way.

Started late at 33F - 62mpg - sub par.

Finally, hit 61mpg on this morning’s segment. I’m freezing in this 48F and boy with that wind chill it feels like oh…maybe 43. Just looking at those snow-capped mountains 50 miles away makes me shiver. Shutting up now.

18 degrees, sunny, roads clear, but a lousy 46.6 into work this morning. Reason? Garage door was left open all night, started from ambient of ~25 vs >40, as a result couldn't get EV to engage at any point on the way in, even once water temp got above 170! :mad: I'll say it again - what a difference the starting ambient temp makes, even just 20 degrees.

I'm now understanding what an MPG killer temps can be. Central Texas weather was in the 60s, and I was pushing 60 mpg after half a tank (Prius). But then Ice Storm '07 hit, and temps in the 30s plus melt on the roads pushed me down no matter what I did. Tank finished at 51.9 yesterday. My awesome morning commute to work, normally around 80 mpg, was "only" 58 mpg yesterday.

I think I'll be adjusting my expectations. :)

Heh. Now you can give us northerners some respect knowing what we have to deal with in winter. ;)

Just turned in a tank. :(

Its flat out horrible. The SG lied to me again to the tune of 3 mpg. 37 mpg for the ice storm tank. If I'd known it was going to be that **** ****** **. I would have had some real fun in the ice.

And to think it will snow this weekend. :(

psy

I finished the day at 53.8mpg for the round trip, but I'm down to three pips with something pitiful like 240 miles on the tank. There's something like 150 miles of driving ahead tomorrow in high winds, which I don't look forward to at all. No way that's going to be a tail wind as it rarely ever is :( . We'll see what kind of tank I turn in tomorrow night. I'm thinking it will be in the high 40s like the last one, or at least it should be without the bladder causing havoc with fill consistency.

I just got a really cool surprise. I was near my normal gas station and saw I was going to have just over 500 miles on the tank by the time I got there so I decided to stop and fill up. I had 500.5 miles and the SG2 was reporting 50.8 mpg. I thought, "That's pretty respectible for this time of year." I started pumping and when I was finished, I put in 9.548 gallons and my mpg figured at 52.419 mpg.:eek: This is in temps that have not been above freezing for over a week. I did one significant thing different this tank: When I accelerated/pulsed, I made sure that the TPS(throttle position sensor) on the Scanguage was reading as close to 15 as possible and, as usuall, I shifted at 1500 rpm or below. Wayne, where do you usually run the TPS up to?

Hi Larry:

___That is a darn fine number in the temps and weather we have had this past week. Nice job!

___The Accord’s TPS runs from 10 (no accelerator) to 86 (WOT) and I usually straight up pulse in the 22 - 24 range with a std. accel in the 17 - 19 range. These numbers are all over the map depending on the car. The Corolla for example used much higher TPS numbers for similar accel and load. The MDX and Ranger are very similar to the Accord. Still, a 50 mpg tank in mid-winter is kick @$$ :D

___43.2 in, 45.1 back, 43.7 in and 47.4 back the last two days in temps of 11 – 30 degrees F. ~ 46.5 after her SG-II’s negative offset is taken into account. I have a really poor tank showing right now as I am riding the Low Fuel light and only 770 miles out. I have to fill tomorrow morning and should surpass 800 but it isn’t like the 900’s in 40 + degree temps or 1,000 + in summer :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

My TPS runs from 0-99. It almost looks like we may be accelerating/pulsing at about the same rate then. I think I'll be sticking with 15 unless I feel especially miserly and drop it to 10 or lower.;)

As expected, my FE is in the toilet right now. 47mpg over 65mi against a gusting 20mph crosswind in one direction at 26F, and another 65mi in 17F temps against the same crosswind from a different direction for a 44mpg segment...my official worst in this car. Oh well, you guys should have seen the iFCD for the 5 minutes that I had that wind behind me! ;) At least the freezing cold weather kept the fuel bladder tight so that I can pretend like I'm getting nearly 54mpg. Untill I fill again in warmer weather, at which point I'm going to be paying dearly for that tank posting.

It all averages out in the end...
It all averages out in the end...

Hi Tim:

___Although cross winds are in many cases worse then head winds, there will be warm days in the future when those strong cross winds are strong tail winds and I cannot wait until you tell us about those in particular! You had better have your camera ready when that time arrives too :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi All:

___Nasty barely plowed snow and slush plus I stopped and dropped in 3 gallons at our local “expensive” Shell ($2.01 this morning) so as to hopefully find one at a lower price. 42.7 was the damage :( I am hoping for a better ride home but am not holding my breathe.

___On a positive note, the Interstates were absolutely empty this morning throughout the Chicagoland area? I did leave 15 – 20 minutes early knowing the snow would be falling but everyone was probably home resting up and waiting for the Bears to play later on this afternoon :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Made a number of short to medium commutes this weekend, all under 55mpg. :(

Finally blocked the radiator - about six weeks late.

I'm getting a little better at using the EV switch to FAS around town. The car's refusal to go in at low temps/early warmup stages is annoying but reassuring at the same time since it's pretty clear that I can't make the car do anything that it's not supposed to. It's kinda funny because I left the tank at 44mpg last night and subsequently drove maybe 10 miles up and down my big-honkin' hill a couple of times doing errands in ~25F temps and only dropped her down 0.1mpg. I think I'm going to let it keep displaying my tank average as motiviation to drag her back up to a respectable number this week if at all possible.