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sawdust

Hybrid car

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19 Comments
by
sawdust
on 05-05-2009 at 08:39 PM (1305 Views)
I went to a car show this weekend and when I got home I spied a NEW car in the drive way. It seems that my wife went car shopping. For quite a few years I have been thinking about going electric and was just waiting for the technology to get better. I got an Opel GT that would be a good candidate for going all electric and I was researching a few websites on how to go about it. Well, I took our Ford Escape in for an oil change at my local Ford dealer and, while waiting, I walked around the showroom and spotted the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Well, I just had to test drive it. And I did. I got my wife and we drove it around town in city traffic. We put on about 30 miles of stop and go traffic and we got the gas mileage average to go from the initial 19.0 mpg to 32.8 mpg when we got it back to the dealership. I thought that was alright. I fought off the salesman and escaped with the Escape. The dealer would not give any discounts and the trade in value for our Escape was not in my favor. However, both my wife and I like the car. My wife went bananas over the leather heated seats, outside temperature monitor and the on board compass. She had all but signed the papers. We left that dealership and went to another dealership in the next town. They had a Fusion Hybrid also, but not as loaded as the previous one. We took this one for a short test drive and got a little better trade in value for the Escape, but the car did not have leather heated seats, outside temperature monitor and the on board compass. I then got on the internet to see what Escapes were going for so we would have some ammunition to contend with dealership #1. Well, while I was at the car show, my wife went back loaded for bear and got the dealership #1 to agree to our terms. I am sure they made a nice profit but they did put on a good crying show. I thought I would start this BLOG for those interested in hybrid cars. We got the car on May 3rd, 2009. In three days we put on about 50 miles on it and got the overall gas mileage up to 38.1 mpg. We still haven't read the owners operating manual so we have not found all the neat features that this car has. I will keep everyone posted on the mileage that this car gets and any bugaboos that might pop up.

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  1. sawdust - 05-19-2009 01:18 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    1st Fill Up
    5/17/2009

    Well, we have had the car for two weeks and we just put in our first tank of gas: 14.373 gallons - 603.2 miles.

    the calculated MPG= 41.968 and the car's computer MPG= 42.1 Cost per Mile = .06

    This is all city driving and I am impressed. Let's see what the next fill up gives us.
    Updated 08-20-2009 at 06:00 PM by sawdust
  2. sawdust - 06-05-2009 05:32 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    2nd Fill Up

    6/5/2009
    Second tank. 13.351 Gallons 538 miles.
    The calculated MPG = 40.297 and the car's computer says the overalll average is 41.1 mpg. Cost per mile is .07
    longest trip was 18 miles but still all city driving.
    Updated 09-20-2009 at 07:20 PM by sawdust
  3. sawdust - 07-30-2009 04:18 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    7/19/2009
    Third fill-up. 541.3 miles on this tank. The air conditioner was on quite a bit which forces the system to run on gas.

    gas milage for this tank was 36.3 mpg
    the over all milage from day 1 is 40.1 mpg.

    cost per mile .07
  4. sawdust - 08-20-2009 05:59 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    4th Fill Up

    8/20/2009
    Fourth fill-up, 576.0 miles on this tank. Used the air conditioner only when we really had too.

    gas mileage for this tank was 38.3 mpg
    The over all mileage from day one is 40.1

    cost per mile .07

    Still only all local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way.
  5. sawdust - 09-20-2009 07:16 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    5th Fill Up

    9/20/2009
    Fifth fill-up, 515.2 miles on this tank. Did not used the air conditioner too much this month.

    gas mileage for this tank was 39.3 mpg. On individual trips we got into the 60 mpg region.
    The over all mileage from day one is 42.3

    cost per mile .07

    Still only all local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way.
  6. sawdust - 10-17-2009 05:11 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    6th Fill Up

    10/16/2009
    Sixth fill-up, 515.4 miles on this tank. It's getting cold out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 38.3 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 39.1

    cost per mile .07

    Still only local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way
    Updated 11-12-2009 at 01:45 PM by sawdust
  7. sawdust - 11-15-2009 02:55 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    7th Fill Up

    11/01/2009
    Seventh fill-up, 520.9 miles on this tank. It's getting colder out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 38.1 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 39.8

    cost per mile .07

    Still only local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way
  8. sawdust - 12-13-2009 03:10 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    11/20/2009
    Eighth fill-up, 549.1 miles on this tank. It's getting colder out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 39.1 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 39.6

    cost per mile .07

    Still only local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way
  9. sawdust - 12-13-2009 03:11 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    9th Fill Up

    12/09/2009
    Ninth fill-up, 456.6 miles on this tank. It's getting MUCH colder out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 41.4 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 39.9 This was an early fill up because a severe storm was on its way.

    cost per mile .06

    Still only local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way
    Updated 12-13-2009 at 03:16 PM by sawdust
  10. neuropel - 12-31-2009 10:39 PM
    neuropel's Avatar
    The gas mileage you're getting is impressive, especially the city mileage. I currently drive 600 miles per week to and from work, 99% highway mileage, and I've been using a 1992 Mercedes 300D (2.5L turbo diesel). The car is huge, heavy, and pretty slow, but I get 37 mpg on the highway. I've been considering getting one of the new hybrids, so thanks for posting your experiences.
  11. Opelmel - 01-01-2010 04:42 PM
    Opelmel's Avatar
    OK, now I'm confused. After your 6th fillup, your overall mileage was 39.1. Your next fillup got you only 38.1, but your overall mileage went UP?? Something's a little strange in the math here, my friend!
  12. sawdust - 01-01-2010 09:21 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    Quote" Something's a little strange in the math here, my friend! " Quote by OpelMel:

    I got to blame my wife for this one. We did an early short fillup. It was COLD and she did not want to fill ALL the way up (short by a couple gallons). The cars computer shows the milage going down, but because of the short fillup the calculate milage for that tank was falsely high. It will all average out over time. As a footnote, this car is surprizing me with the city driving milage but as the winter gets colder we notice that the gas engine is utililized more and more as the weather gets colder and colder. You just got to heat that water bottle.
  13. sawdust - 02-04-2010 11:58 AM
    sawdust's Avatar
    10th Fill Up

    12/20/2009
    tenth fill-up, 310.4 miles on this tank. It's getting MUCH colder out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 24.8 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 38.5 Full tank fill-up this time
    cost per mile .11

    Still only local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way
  14. sawdust - 02-04-2010 12:11 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    11th Fill Up

    1/08/2010
    eleventh fill-up, 425.2 miles on this tank. Still getting colder out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 28.9 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 36.7 Full tank fill-up this time
    cost per mile .10

    Still only local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way
  15. sawdust - 03-12-2010 06:14 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    12th Fill Up

    3/09/2010
    twelveth fill-up, 461.7 miles on this tank. Still getting colder out and the gas engines has been keeping us warm.

    gas mileage for this tank was 34.8 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 33.1
    cost per mile .10

    Still short local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way, about 13 mile per day

    Just noticed that we have had this car for one year now. No problems, only one recall. We still like it.
    Updated 03-12-2010 at 06:18 PM by sawdust
  16. sawdust - 04-11-2010 12:04 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    4/10/2010
    13th fill-up,

    509.3 miles on this tank. The weather is getting warmer out and the gas mileage is looking better.

    gas mileage for this tank this month was 36.8 mpg. The over all gas mileage from day one is now 36.2
    cost per mile .08

    Still short local trips of 5 to 10 miles one way, about 16 mile per day

    Just noticed that we have had this car for one year now. No problems, only one recall. We still like it.
    total miles to date of this last fill-up 6910.1 and total gallons purchased 191.1 which gives a rough year to date
    gas mileage of 36.2 mpg from date of purchase. I'm impressed.
    Updated 05-08-2010 at 03:39 PM by sawdust
  17. sawdust - 05-07-2010 10:12 AM
    sawdust's Avatar
    05/06/2010
    14th Fill-Up

    599.9 miles on this tank @ 43.9 mpg. The car has us trained pretty good.

    The over-all gas mileage from date of purchase is 39.3 mpg. A big jump from
    the last fill-up. The cost per mile is getting better at 7 cents per mile.
    Updated 05-07-2010 at 10:28 AM by sawdust
  18. sawdust - 06-05-2010 10:25 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    06/04/2010
    15th Fill-Up

    483.1 miles on this tank @ 41.2 mpg. The car does have us trained pretty good.

    The over-all gas mileage from date of purchase is 39.0 mpg. A slight drop from
    the last fill-up. The cost per mile is still at 7 cents per mile.
  19. sawdust - 3 Weeks Ago 08:07 PM
    sawdust's Avatar
    06/30/2010
    16th Fill-Up

    576.9 miles on this tank @ 40.1 mpg. On some individual trips we get as high as 60 mpg.

    The over-all gas mileage from date of purchase is 39.6 mpg. A slight increase from
    the last fill-up. The cost per mile is still at 7 cents per mile.

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