Week of Feb. 5th - Feb. 11th, 2007

Chuck · #31 02-07-2007, 09:08 AM

75.2mpg at 50F this morning.

laurieaw · #32 02-07-2007, 09:52 AM

we are now a week into sub zero temps, and that's double-digits below. some days we haven't even gotten above zero during the day. i hibernated all day sunday, brought home some work (OT, yippee), just going outside long enough to do chores and feed the critters, all of whom were in the barn. the only ones we left out were the sheep, figuring they have a pretty thick wool coat.

staying warm has been a part of the driving challenge. on my 40 mile commute, most days the heat hasn't even moved the bars up until at least 10 miles. my daily outfit in the car ends up making me resemble the michelin man, and then i add a blanket on my knees in the car.

yesterday was pure h#ll. despite the -20 temps, we had snow, the light powdery kind. and what happens, when i am driving along in the right lane, is the speed monkies, who must have superman goggles to be able to see through the blowing snow, fly by at their usual fast rate of speed. and as they pass, they drag along about 100 feet of blowing snow, in some cases enough to totally leave those of us in the slow lane driving blind....just can't see the road at all. all i can do is hope i can keep it straight. it's very stressful. semis are worse, since they don't clean off the top of their trucks, and of course, they add to the blowing snow. remind me again why i live in minnesota???

on a slightly positive note, i tend to hypermile as a secondary effect of how i drive in this crap.....with a very light touch on the gas pedal. and slow down well before a stop, knowing full well there is probably ice at the intersection.

right now my readout says about 46.5, which i will be happy to settle for. we still have several more days of this crap to get through.....big whoop.

Chuck · #33 02-07-2007, 10:18 AM

Laurie,

Second-hand 46mpg sounds exceptional under these conditions. Longer warmups is all I'm suffering - rarely have iced roads and below-freezing temperatures, not to mention snow tires.

I've heard that Honda limits the Assist to protect the battery pack in the bitter cold - it that true?

laurieaw · #34 02-07-2007, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delta Flyer

Laurie,

Second-hand 46mpg sounds exceptional under these conditions. Longer warmups is all I'm suffering - rarely have iced roads and below-freezing temperatures, not to mention snow tires.

I've heard that Honda limits the Assist to protect the battery pack in the bitter cold - it that true?

that could very well be. i have noticed that it doesn't kick in often, and seems to be fully charged all the time. not what i would expect from the way i drive.

tarabell · #35 02-07-2007, 11:00 AM

Monday I followed this big 18-wheeler onto the freeway and had a lovely ride the whole way home. Truck never went over 45mph even though it had a clear lane ahead and drove smooth as silk so I was in heaven. It felt like taking a giant dog on a walk as no one wanted to get near us. I stayed close enough that he might have wondered why I’m there but not close enough to worry. Got home at a happy happy 65.5mpg. Also helped that LA had a heat spell for a day or two.

Laurie I'm glad you’re keeping those knees warm as that is one lengthy cold snap up there. My daughter in PA tells me it’s frequently below zero with the windchill there and it gets painful being outside after 5 minutes no matter what she puts on. They won’t seem to cancel any of her classes though. I wonder if you’ll have an earlier and longer summer now (not sure that’s entirely a good thing).

Skwyre7 · #36 02-07-2007, 11:16 AM

It's been a terrible week for me so far. Monday I was sick, but went in to work anyway. I took the highway so it would be as short a trip as possible. Same route going home. Tuesday too. I felt so bad I didn't even look at the mileage. It must have been bad (45MPG maybe) because my tank is just under 50MPG. Temps were in the teens and twenties.

Today I'm feeling much better and took my normal route. 53.8 MPG at 29ºF.

laurieaw · #37 02-07-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarabell

Laurie I'm glad you’re keeping those knees warm as that is one lengthy cold snap up there. My daughter in PA tells me it’s frequently below zero with the windchill there and it gets painful being outside after 5 minutes no matter what she puts on. They won’t seem to cancel any of her classes though. I wonder if you’ll have an earlier and longer summer now (not sure that’s entirely a good thing).

hmm, wonder why they won't cancel classes. some of the out state schools did up here, could be the -45 wind chill. even with my heavy duty eddie bauer down jacket, sweater and long underwear, until the car warms up i can still feel the cold on my arms.

covering the knees helps some. the knee i had replaced last april is still giving me fits, long after i expected better from it. i have to wonder if this bone chilling cold has an affect on it.

as for semis, the other morning i watched several of the pick 'em up trucks tailgating a semi at high speed.....and i mean CLOSE. i don't know what they are thinking of, for sure not their FE. i see so many crazy people out there, and those who just don't care........

dcoyne78 · #38 02-07-2007, 12:40 PM

This week the average temp in Bangor ME has been 5 F overnight lows have been below zero and last night it went to -10 F, warm compared to Minnesota. I filled up Sunday and have managed 57.3 mpg over 250 miles so its been about 54 MPG since my trip home from skiing. I'll take anything over 50 mpg in this weather! Great job Laurie in that sub-zero weather and snow! We have gotten very little snow in central and southern Maine this year and until the last couple of weeks the winter has been pretty mild.

Dennis

TonyPSchaefer · #39 02-07-2007, 12:58 PM

Second-worse commute ever!
I got out of the house about five minutes later than usual and had to scrape the windshield. I've been trying a new route and this morning, it was backed up the likes of which were epic. Single-lane and crawling for more than a mile in 0ºF was not a good prospect so I turned to go my usual route. Unfortunately, this was no better. Perhaps worse?

Crawled for a little more than a mile. My tank had already taken a hit from 47.x to 43 due to the flat tire/dead battery/cold temps but now I was adding "sitting and idling" to the mix. Mileage at end of crawl: 42.3

After that period, the rest of the drive was acceptable. When I got to work my mileage was up to 42.9.

PaleMelanesian · #40 02-07-2007, 02:18 PM

Saturday night I took my wife to Starbucks, and it was packed. We got our drinks and sat in the car. I had the engine running on occaison, to keep the heater working. That combined with a bunch of short errand trips gave me 34.7 on today's fillup. Some things are worth more than saving gas.

Any advice for a non-hybrid driver to keep up with short-term mileage? I've been topping up the tank every week, but that's too long to really know what's working and what's not. Besides, a full tank of gas has to be weighing down my efficiency.