Month of February 2024 (Nat’l Avg $3.150)

I was perusing the ups & downs of various local TV channels on Local Now.
One Idaho news article told of a prisoner on death row for 41 years, was due for execution in 5 days. Down

Numerous articles in Idaho & Montana cities were highlighting snow activities & sports.
In Tucson, AZ tho, the weather report said the temperature would reach 85degF. DOWN & UP

PS, 1:30PM, PST....Later in the day, the Seattle Mariners baseball team plays the Cleveland Guardians in their 2nd 2024 Cactus League game. Temp is 79degF. One Cleveland ballplayer is named Jhonkensey Noel. A player for the Mariners is named Sean Poppen. His name doesn't portend how many homers he will hit, considering he is a pitcher. One piece of evidence tho, that may tell his baseball future is that his last previous ML game was on Oct. 15, 2022. No ML games played in 2023. A number of Mariner players up for a look-see, are small, 150-165 pounds. A smallish Mariner catcher tho, made an excellent play, moving his left grounded knee to the left, having to reach back across the plate for the pitch, yet still rifled his throw from his knees to 2nd base to thwart a steal attempt.The announcers were talking with a woman, named Nova Newcomer, who was in the Mariner PR program. In this 2nd Cactus league game, not much except for the catcher, is showing that the Mariners will play at any greater level than the Mariners always play. One Mariner pitcher failed to cover first base twice, for 2 extra runners on base! His failures allowed the inning to continue, leading to Cleveland scoring 5 extra runs in that inning.
Oh, yeah, did I say the temperature was 79degF. Oh, hmmm.

 

I can see pluses and minuses to each story. I remain neutral.

 

Today,41 deg F in Bolingbrook,39 in Elk Grove.

Wind NE 6

27.6 miles, fcd = 53.3 MPG

I drove the Elantra Saturday and Sunday. About 120 miles total.
about 60 MPG Saturday.,70 MPG Sunday.
Warmer weather and lower speeds Sunday.

 

Monday, 7:08 AM.....Woke this morning to snow on the grass & on outside parked cars, with temperature near freezing. However, the parking lot pavement is only wet. On Saturday morning, someone had said that some snow would fall later & two of us, thought that might be in the mountains only. So I'll have to thank the correct person for their..... correctness. Might be a little snow later.
Warmed the Elantra & scraped the snow off the front & rear windows. Maybe I"ll take the Hyundai Accent for a bottomland drive later with its snow tires. I may have to park the Elantra at the bottom of the hill which doesn't have snow tires. I wonder if the Senior Center may be closed today. They were closed one other time when there was some snow on the ground.
Now I see sunshine on the western ridge. We'll see if the ridge snow melts.

PS, 2:05PM....Traces of hail & snow, but no sticking. Wonderful blue sky & warming now. Sweet.

 

Yeah I miss the tach, too. I think they leave them out of the hybrids because it would be distracting to see it drop to zero so often.
Have you had the need to fill the Elantra yet? I just added almost 10 gallons to mine this morning. When you add gas, it resets the tank mpg but not the current trip mpg. So you end up with some pretty interesting numbers.

​

As you notice on cold days, the engine runs for about three minutes to heat the oil. In the process you end up with a lot of battery charge. So if you top the tank after one of these charge-a-thons, you can cover a lot of the trip in electric mode. The tank mpg was 999 for a while before the engine fired while climbing a hill. One of the many unique facets you will notice as you drive the Elantra.

 

Still working on the first tank.
About 90 miles remaining

aka " lovable quirks". Yes , i've seen some crazy numbers from time to time. On a longer drive ( 10+ miles )
it averages out.

 

resets the tank MPG ? My car doesn't have "tank MPG".
It has Accumulated and Trip, or something like that. I think I'm going to use the
Accumulated for tank MPG.

 

In the manual, it shows the screen that just says "Fuel Economy" and has the number and then the bar graph below. That should be tank MPG - especially is you see it go to all dashes after you fill up. I see it on page 4-38 of the owners manual. The trip and accumulated mpg show as separate screens.

If you think you've seen some crazy numbers already, wait until the day it decides to do what appears to be some sort of battery calibration or refresh. It runs on EV until the charge runs way down and then runs the engine until it goes up to near the top. No rhyme or reason. Just does it every over full moon. When it runs EV for a long time, you get wild MPG numbers on the trip info screen.

 

Thanks.

Today,55 deg F in Bolingbrook,56 in Elk Grove.

Wind S 10

27.6 miles, fcd = 56.2 MPG

Under the right conditions, the Fit is pretty efficient.

Addendum: going home against a 15MPH headwind , temps
between 72 and 78 F ( car thermometer ) I only managed 49.5 MPG

 

4:24AM, Tuesday....Snowing on the grass & cars, but pavement is only wet. Taking the Elantra to the mechanic for brake & light bulb changes. Hopefully, the pavement doesn't pile up with snow, so I can still walk without chances of slipping.
As I've got accustomed to, even in the middle of night, people & cars are moving in the parking lot. No emergency vehicles tho, which previously we had for 3 days in a row.

 

Today, 31 deg F in Bolingbrook,30 in Elk Grove.

Wind WNW 21 !

27.6 miles,fcd=49.1 MPG

Had a brutal hailstorm last night. I was glad both of my cars were in the garage.
Got a text from daughter last night. I expected them to be home Sunday sometime; now they
plan to be home late tonight. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed.

 

I was thinking of you and all the other midwestern CleanMPG'ers when I saw that storm passing through and triggering tornado watches.
One time zone to your right, I got some great rain. The resulting slow traffic and higher temps (44F this morning) landed me at 59.5 over the usual 18.2 miles.

 

Oh, that is cheap! In Eastern Washington areas that are near Grand Coulee hydro-electric dams, other Columbia River dams, & Wind Turbine power, people pay only a bit less than your rate. Our Western Washington electric rates, after power is transferred with losses 130+ miles, we pay 10+cents per kWh.

 

Today , 18 deg F in Naperville.19 in Elk Grove.

Wind = calm

33.4 miles, fcd = 47.8 MPG

 

6:44am....Wow! Our temperature is 20degF warmer than your temperature, now at 38degF. I love temperatures that are above freezing. I would have a very hard long-term time in Montana & N. Dakota. Around the Great Lakes would be too much, also.

 

I've never had a second home, but here in the wide open Western US, I wouldn't have a second home, unless it was 300 miles(more?) from home residence. Need a different climate entirely. I like islands, but so many are too small & closed in, otherwise. Hey, maybe you could have a second home in Scotland or Port Isaac, where Doc Martin was filmed?

 

Radar indicates rain here in about half an hour? Looking hard to the southwest, I see rain is falling on the western ridge, about 3 miles away.