MPGs in the San Francisco Bay Area / Peninsula

Nel - Don't feel bad. My work commute is about 5-minutes on the flats getting 48mph in the South Bay. If I do longer drives I get mid-50's, and longer drives I can get into the 60-70. I average about 48 overall.

I use 280 every weekend and when I'm up by Stanford University I try to use my momentum so I can cost up hill a little before using the gas peddle. My MPGs at that point go down to about 46. But I can also get the upwards of 54mpg at 68-70mph. I haven't quite had the attention span to figure out what my driving habits are in certain terrain, but sometimes I win, sometimes I fail.

Except for two tanks, I have used Chevron Regular. One of the tanks my readings stuck at 40mph for the entire tank until I refilled up. do not know, that was goofy. My furthest distance on one gallon was 97 miles. But being in Cali, the defensive driver takes over and I compromise efficiency for letting others know that I'm not a road bolder and mash on the gas, lol.

 

Yeah, came back from a Denver trip last week where the weather was crazy, so was looking forward to some stability here. Now just stuck with ugly humidity. I'm trying to break 400 miles before I have to fill up, have two bars left at about 320 miles on the trip odom. Will be the first time I think, if I can actually make it. I've been quite spirited since I've got back, those Denver peeps are so mellow, it's nuts. I drove mellow for a week while out there, but it has long since worn off.

 

You betcha! If there's anyone from Denver reading this I never said a thing, not a single thing bad against them . I saw a few C's out there, so that was cool. That's were I saw my first one with the stock 16's on them; were better looking in person than I thought. I drove a Nissan Frontier 4x4 while out there and man, 19mpg vs. what we get, that was crazy. And 19 is not bad for a truck either. Just don't miss filling up the tank every few days and dropping $70+ each time. My coworker drove his supped up monster truck and gets 10mpg on a good day.

 

It took me about 8 months before I had the break-in/discipline to get more than 400 per tank, but am doing so fairly often the last few months. The warmer weather helps! Now, I can expect about 425 before worrying...of course, with a 500/week commute, its still once a week!