[Ford Man]

Way back in the beginning of the thread you mentioned the mileage on a Grand Marquis being 29 MPG with a 4.6L engine. The last car my dad owned prior to his death was a '99 Grand Marquis LS with the 4.6L engine. In normal everyday city/rural road driving he was getting about 25 MPG. He lived in KY and I lived in NC and he made that trip several times in the first few years he owned the car and usually drove with the cruise control set at 70-75MPH and he's told me several times he got 28+ MPG on the trip and about 100-150 miles of that trip was mountains and foothills in eastern TN and western NC on I-40. If I remember correctly the old EPA rating on dad's Grand Marquis was about 15-16 city and 24-25 highway by the old EPA rating. My mom still owns the car and I'm hoping to get a chance to drive it on a trip myself someday with the cruise set at 55MPH. I think I can easily achieve 30MPG using this technique alone.

As for 8+ MPG above EPA that's not that hard to do if you drive like you've got some sense. My '97 Escort station wagon I think was rated at 37 highway by the old EPA rating and if memory serves me right 32 highway by the new EPA rating. Like you most of it's miles come from longer trips and highway mileage, but just from adding a K&N air filter, running 50 PSI in the tires, driving with the cruise set at 55 MPH and not running the a/c I've broke 45 MPG several times with a lifetime high of 49.85 MPG. I can get 40-44 MPG about anytime I want driving with the cruise set at 60-70 MPH with the a/c on. The only hypermiling techniques I use is watching the road in front of me an not being on the gas then on the brake and back on the gas. I keep a few seconds buffer between me and the car in front of me so if they slow down all I have to do is let off the gas and coast and in most situations never touch the brakes.

You can look at my gas log for my '97 wagon and see for yourself. There are some entries in June 2010 that don't reflect my best driving practices, but those were during the day and next few days after my dad passed away. I witnessed him dying unexpectedly on June 13, 2010 at my home, then we had to have his body flown back home while we drove back to his and mom's home, so I had my mind on everything but my driving at the time.