brick
06-01-2006, 08:54 AM
I'm on my third day commuting from the new place and it's a mixed bag. The distance is longer than I can really be proud of, at 20-25 miles depending on which office I'm headed for. The morning commute has been decent, at 38.5mpg, 40.3mpg, and 40.1mpg on Tues, Wed, and today, respectively. I'm doing the usual, easy stuff to get those numbers (DWL, NICE-on, early shifting, and a light foot.) I'll throw in FAS as soon as I get to know the route well enough to find the right kill points. The first three or four miles are down hill, and traffic has been light when I travel.
The afternoon commute is the real challenge. Traffic is much worse, which is manageable on the highway if I plan ahead and DWB. I can still make it from the office to the off-ramp at 40mpg+. But then there is a 4-5 mile 300-400ft rolling climb with intersections in precisely the wrong places. On Tuesday that brought my mileage down to 35mpg. I tried a different route yesterday that takes me a little farther up the highway to an exit just beyond where I live. This avoids the traffic and gets me up the hill more efficiently, but does add 1 or 2 miles to the trip. At the 37.5mpg I managed yesterday, that's still a net increase in fuel consumption by 0.02 gallons per day. It sounds like nothing, at only 5 gallons extra per year. Then again, if everybody in the US just said "screw it" and burned the extra five gallons...you see why this is a conundrum.
So option A is to take the shorter route, try to manage the traffic, and take the inevitable FE hit. Some days this might work out, some days I might end up burning quite a bit of gas. Option B is to try to tune the second, longer route for better FE. Bringing it up over 39mpg would result in a net fuel savings, a win-win. Option C is to look for another, still better route. I'm leaning toward B for the time being.
Anyway, I'm sitting on my first tank over 500 miles. The low fuel light started flickering at roughly 500, and now I'm at 515. The ScanGauge thinks that I should have 120 more miles, but I'm going to play it safe and fuel tomorrow morning after another 25-30 miles.
Wow, I've typed a lot. That's enough for now!
The afternoon commute is the real challenge. Traffic is much worse, which is manageable on the highway if I plan ahead and DWB. I can still make it from the office to the off-ramp at 40mpg+. But then there is a 4-5 mile 300-400ft rolling climb with intersections in precisely the wrong places. On Tuesday that brought my mileage down to 35mpg. I tried a different route yesterday that takes me a little farther up the highway to an exit just beyond where I live. This avoids the traffic and gets me up the hill more efficiently, but does add 1 or 2 miles to the trip. At the 37.5mpg I managed yesterday, that's still a net increase in fuel consumption by 0.02 gallons per day. It sounds like nothing, at only 5 gallons extra per year. Then again, if everybody in the US just said "screw it" and burned the extra five gallons...you see why this is a conundrum.
So option A is to take the shorter route, try to manage the traffic, and take the inevitable FE hit. Some days this might work out, some days I might end up burning quite a bit of gas. Option B is to try to tune the second, longer route for better FE. Bringing it up over 39mpg would result in a net fuel savings, a win-win. Option C is to look for another, still better route. I'm leaning toward B for the time being.
Anyway, I'm sitting on my first tank over 500 miles. The low fuel light started flickering at roughly 500, and now I'm at 515. The ScanGauge thinks that I should have 120 more miles, but I'm going to play it safe and fuel tomorrow morning after another 25-30 miles.
Wow, I've typed a lot. That's enough for now!