Tank 204 - 21 August 2009

425.3 miles, 11.254 gallons of gas = 37.79 mpg. Higher than the annual
and lifetime average.

Is good.

An interesting thing over the last three tanks: even though each tank
was filled at a different place, with a different total miles, and a
different cost per gallon of gas, my "gas cost per mile" was $0.064 for
each tank. That is 6.4 cents per mile, and interesting that it rounds
out to that same cost.

Miles Gallons MPG $/Gal $/mile
414.3 11.782 35.16 $2.259 $0.064
467.4 11.495 40.66 $2.599 $0.064
425.3 11.254 37.79 $2.429 $0.064

I hope the chart looks nice.

Tank 203 - 11 August 2009

This morning I refueled at the strong Exxon of Woodbridge. Gasoline was
$2.599 per gallon, a full 34 cents more per gallon than the last time I
refueled 9 days ago.

On this tank, I drove 467.4 miles, 8.6 miles farther than I had ever
gone before on a tank in this car. The low fuel light turned on at
424.7 miles, which was not a record but still really good. At this gas
station, I pumped in 11.495 gallons, making for a fuel economy this tank
of 40.66 miles per gallon.

I don't know what to make of this, seeing on how last tank was such
crappy mileage. Perhaps the world's slowest gas pumps allow me to put
in so much more gasoline that fuel economy looks bad. But I thought of
that this morning and slowed down the Exxon pump as it passed 10
gallons, hoping that reduced turbulence in the tank would in some way
mitigate this issue.

Still, keeping track of fuel economy over the long haul ought to level
out these individual peaks and valleys.

This tank raised my fuel economy for the year to 37.22 miles per gallon.
I have spent $563.63 on gas this year and driven over 10,000 miles so
far.

Tank 202 - 2 August 2009

I had the unfortunate pleasure/mistake of refueling at the World's
Slowest Gas Pump yesterday. It was so slow that I stopped at the first
click. It was so slow that the guy who pulled up at the opposite side
pump actually swiped his credit card, punched in the ZIP code, started
pumping, decided it was too slow, replaced the pump, got his receipt,
and drove away before I was done with one gallon. It was torture.

To make it even worse, after 11.782 tedious gallons and 414.3 miles, it
was only 35.16 miles per gallon. This was an unusually large amount of
gas for this car.

How I dislike the local Valero.

On another, more positive note, the Cash Cab was also refueled recently,
and after that vehicle went 382.6 miles, the trip computer reported 23.4
miles per gallon. We squoze 16.486 gallons in there, making for an
actual mileage of 23.21 mpg, which is pretty good both for the minivan
and also as a correlation with the trip computer.

How to Stop Rubbernecking

http://www.cockeyed.com/science/rubbernecking/rubbernecking.php