Month of October 2024 ( National Average price $3.19 )

A beautiful but slightly cool day here. 49 deg F in Naperville,
53 in Elk Grove Village. Wind SSW 2

33.4 miles, fcd = 53.1 MPG.

 

Had to take the car to Senior Center.

 

Today it is 61 deg F in Naperville, 60 in Elk Grove.

Wind NNW 6

35.1 miles, fcd = 54.9 MPG. It certainly FELT like the wind was coming directly
from the west. All the vehicles who passed me were going faster than usual.

 

No problem,Gord.

Today it's 48 deg F in Naperville, 49 in Elk Grove.

Wind NNW 6

33.4 miles, fcd = 50.7 MPG

Pretty soon it will be harder to keep above 50 MPG.

 

Kancamagus Highway road trip yesterday. (scenic drive in the White Mountains of New Hampshire)




2 DC charging sessions, first halfway, second slower but cheaper charging to get back to 80% before home charging for vacation trip tomorrow.

Preconditioning in the winter would have been significantly higher.


1st DC charge


2nd DC charge


actual charge for 2nd charge session above at ChargePoint


elevations

1. home to start of Kancamagus Hwy


2. Kancamagus Hwy


3. return to home region


4. home region to 2nd charger


5. 2nd charger to home at last

 

There was a guy down at work, who bragged that his Hummer gave him 10MPG, & NOT his normal single digit MPG numbers.

 

Nice documentation, Bill.

Today it is 44 deg F in Naperville,47 in Elk Grove.

Wind SSW 2

33.4 miles, fcd = 52.2 MPG

 

Yesterday, had my mechanic put tires onto the Hyundai Accent.

 

Spent the better part of a week down in Kentucky for a family wedding. Flew in and rented a car. I ended up with a Toyota 4-Runner. What a shiece of pit. 3/4 of a ton too heavy, half a foot too high off the ground, awful ride quality that is both stiff and rubbery at the same time, and an interior that is about a roomy as a cute-ute although the overall package is half again as bulky. Accelerator motion is stiff and the brake pedal has about three inches of travel before anything happens.

EPA is 16/19.

With three people and luggage, AC on, driving in average-moron-mode from light to light rings up 13-15mpg on the fcd. After sundown - same three aboard but no AC and little traffic - so easy light timing - turned up 21-23mpg. One cooler (mid 70s) day, driving alone (so no b*tching from passengers about long glides rolling toward long lights) delivered 27.9 on the dash. I found out later that the EPA dyno number for highway so 27.7 - so that's a win for a vehicle so profoundly unsuitable for paved roads. Throwing the book at it - including ridge riding and flashers on when necessary - allowed 31.8mpg on the FCD before I hit a long light. Even a FAS at the light couldn't save it. Press the button to restart and the engine roars to 2k for about three seconds before settling to idle. That was the end of the 30s for me.

For the life of me, I can't understand why someone would buy one of these fake-Jeeps, much less a Jeep jeep, for driving on streets and highways. I kept questioning why I would drop $50k+ on this thing when I could buy two Elantra Blue hybrids for the same money, offering 10 passenger comfort, over 30 cubic feet of luggage, and a combined 40mpg (based on both running on a trip at 80mpg each).

Yes, it's competent offroad. It has all the dials and buttons for crawling over ruts and rocks. I have never done that and I don't see a need to ever do it. But if I hit my head, and the logic-and-common-sense part of my brain gets damaged, and I thus wanted to go off-roading, I would go and rent one of these. It's less than $100 a day WITH the collision waiver. Rent it for a day, drive it over to the nearest hill of boulders, smash it to pieces, and return the smoldering wreck to the rental lot and toss the keys in the dropbox. Repairs are on them.

My nephew drove down from NY in his 2025 Chevy Trax with his wife and new baby, and the mother in law in tow to care for the baby during the festivities. He averaged mid 40s on the dash over the trip, which includes climbing over the sometimes-steep Appalachians. Come to think of it, I could buy two of these little Chevy wagons for the price of a 4-Runner. They shared driving during the trip, and all raved about the peppy 1.2T engine and it's willingness to climb long grades without strain.

Heading in to the office this morning, it was a whole different world. At a chilly 55F and light wind from the north (headwind), I still landed at 59.8 over 18.2 miles. The cooler air makes the engine run longer after bootup, and it dents the overall average more than you'd expect.

 

Yeah. I don't understand, either.

 

That reminds me to take a ride in the small Hyundai Accent again, I may increase the 40PSI pressures by another 10%.

 

Filled up this morning at a Marathon in Wood Dale.
Two miles remaining. It took 9.502 gallons before clicking off.
I was on level ground , but that's about 0.2 more than it ever swallowed before.
$3.599, 467.8 miles, fcd = 52.8 MPG.

 

My older cars went further than their low fuel approximate indications…….indicated. Except for the 1988 Ford Festiva. The specified 10 gallon tank did take 10gallons.

 

Ah, your dog likes his brew, too.

 

Today it is 49 deg F in Naperville,52 in Elk Grove.

Wind S 4

35.1 miles (Eola route - 59 route is 33.4) .
fcd = 52.9 MPG.

 

We caught up to (or down to) your temperatures over here on the ocean. 49F for me this morning, and ended at 58.2mpg on the dash over 18.2 miles.
During the warmup for the first half mile, the dash reads in the 14 to 16 mpg range as you putter along at 15-20mph with the engine at high idle and rich mixture to warm up the converter (and dilute the engine oil - thanks GDI!). Once the engine shuts down, it's EV for a while since the battery SoC goes "way up there" during the engine warmup. I would complain except I'm still beating the EPA by about 16% in light-jacket-weather.

 

I should really use climate control to keep engine on for the first 1.0-1.5 miles.
Otherwise it takes much longer to warm up, even in 70 deg temps.
I will try that Sunday when I leave at 6:30 AM.