[user removed]

This morning when I left my home I reset the MGP (factory) gauge. My driveway is 80 feet long and a 10 foot rise. My neighborhood is .3 mile from my home to the main road. route 143 which is 4 lanes, not divided and 45 MPH speed limit which goes to 55 MPH in less than .5 mile headed east. No traffic lights for 5 miles going east.

At the top of my driveway the reading was 7 MPG. At the end of the neighborhood it was 20 MPG. I coasted about half that distance. By the time I had travelled 2 miles total at the bottom of a slight downgrade and 3 glides after leaving the neighborhood, I was indicating 40 MPG. It was at 43 when I got on the Interstate 2 miles further down the road. It dropped as I sped up to merge on the Interstate, but it soon recovered as I glided down 3 more downslopes (probably less than 2% grades). I got behind a group of cars following a school bus and my speed was 55 MPH. At 14 miles from the beginning as I coasted off the Interstate the mileage peaked at 52.3 MPG.

It was still at 49 MPG when I reached my destination after filling the tank and one other stop.

My Fiesta has the 6 speed automated manual transmission (Powershift).

This drive also benefitted from a 20 MPH tail wind.

When I left my destination coming home I reset the MPG meter again. Friday traffic can get bad at 1:00 PM and the same tailwind now was a headwind that was obvious with coasting speeds hit hard by the headwind going home. The car had cooled off for about 1.5 hours before I began the drive back home.

I was up to 33 MPG within the first mile. In the next miles I had it to over 40 MPG. It peaked at 45 MPG and I was not able to get it any higher fighting that strong headwind the last 10 miles home as well as a total of 23 traffic lights, which I timed almost to perfection. I coasted frequently and I would guess the coasting was responsible for at least 6 MPG improvement even with the wind. The last coast before I turned into my neighborhood I saw my speed drop almost twice as fast as it normally does, due to the severe headwind.

In conclusion, coasting with the engine on works very well even with a cold engine. The ambient temperatures were right at 44 degrees when I left my home and they did not increase significantly due to the cold northwest winds.

My wintertime fuel mileage has averaged about 42 MPG. Last summer it was around 45 MPG. I did not turn on any accessories or run the heater during this test, so accessory loads were non existent.

regards
Mech