Living with my ScanGauge E

[JockoT]

Since fitting my ScanGauge E I have been gleaning quite a bit of information regarding my motoring.
Today was my usual motoring day. Drove car out of garage before locking garage back up. I then drove my wife to her work, returning home after, then picked her up at the end of her shift. The miles are all in town, a couple of sets of traffic lights each trip, reasonably busy traffic. Reversed car back into garage when done with it. Other than cold or poor weather it cannot get much worse.
Here are my figures for today's motoring.

Distance travelled: 8.0 miles
Petrol used: 0.16 gallons (UK)
Cost of petrol: £0.80
Average mpg: 49.7 UK mpg
Average speed: 17 mph
Max speed: 32 mph
Maximum revs: 2576 rpm
Max coolant temp: 77°C

Not too shoddy in my opinion.

[Daox]

Not bad at all.

With such short trips, a block heater would surely help out a decent amount. I'm in a similarish situation. My commute is 7 miles to work. Warm up is very important to my mileage.

[JockoT]

A block heater would make a huge difference, but as I live on the fourth floor of a block of flats, and my garage is remote and without power, there is not a lot I can do. It will get even worse come the winter, but at least I have the car garaged, we live right beside the sea, and temperatures here never drop too low anyway (-10°C/14°F is quite extreme for us here).

[puddleglum]

Good for you. I bet you'll see even better soon. Short trips are tough, especially when they are spread out throughout the day. My commute is 4 miles and many of my others are less than that. What you can do is Shroud in and insulate the engine compartment, it helps. Coasting whenever possible and avoiding stopping as much as you can helps a lot. Keep up the good work.

[JockoT]

I try my best to avoid stopping. With the preponderance of roundabouts here it makes that a bit easier. Though I see my missus cringe every time I skip in ahead of a car that had priority!

[MetroMPG]

How are you liking the gauge's graphical MPG history bar chart?

I find it's one of the SG-e's best features - it really encourages attention to driving technique.

[JockoT]

It certainly keeps you striving to keep it above the line. Not too bad early on in a trip, but gets harder as you go along.

[MetroMPG]

Yes indeed!

On a highway trip, you'll be constantly shedding speed if you want the bars to keep climbing.

[JockoT]

On the highway I am having great difficulty getting the mpg up other that P & G, where suitable. I had my first kn*b end toot at me today. I was in lane 1 on a dual carriageway. I was only doing 40 mph, but traffic was fairly light. Everyone else was filtering into lane 2, and passing peacefully, but this van driver had to blast his horn. Unfortunately the van didn't have a logo, otherwise I would have mailed his traffic manager. As a driver of a marked van I know that traffic managers get upset when a driver solicits a call or email!

[JockoT]

Not too concerned. At least, here in Europe, the other driver is extremely unlikely to be carrying a gun!