Pulse & Glide or In 5th Gear

[user removed]

Today I had one of my nightmare drives. Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with the wife for a vocal cord surgery. Rt 143 east to I 64 east across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. Exit Granby Street to a right on Brambleton to the Hospital. Traffic was supposed to be backed up 1.5 miles at the tunnel. By the time we got there it had mostly cleared and I hit 56 MPG after coasting down the eastbound tube, using some gear reengagement DFCO to keep from running over the car in front of me. Got to the Hospital still reading 54 MPG with lots of P&G (all engine on) and trying to time some 20 some odd traffic lights. Valet parking at the hospital, got there before 10 AM.

The surgery went great, vocal cord injections to help her voice which is best described (by the doctor) as "breathy". I can make an EEEEEE sound for about 18 seconds, she could only manage 4, because her vocal cords do not close properly (birth defect).

We finally got out of there at close to 3:15 PM. Bad time to go west through the HRBT (bridge tunnel). Radio said 3.5 mile backup westbound, 15 minutes later when we got there it was closer to 5 miles of pulse and crawl. Mileage dropped to 48.5 over the 30 some minutes it took to travel that 5 miles, finally the average speed picked up to close to the limit. Traffic is so heavy that average separation is less than 5 car lengths at 60 MPH. I got in the right lane and followed a few big rigs at just under the 60 MPH limit. Under these conditions I generally only glide on downhill sections to avoid being run over by Morons. When we arrived home the dash indicator read 51.3 MPG.

Combining the distance travelled and distance to empty, I am still ahead of the last tank whic was 52.07 MPG but without a road trip I doubt I'll beat that tank driving in conditions like today.

Highway EPA for the Fiesta is 38 MPG. Dash indicator has been slightly optimistic by an average of 1.5 to 2 MPG over the last 20k+ miles. My guess would be the coasting improves my mileage by 10-15%.

regards
Mech