Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tank 275 - 18 April 2K11

As I drove home yesterday, the low fuel light began to glow at 414.6 miles. I was optimistic that such a late lighting of the indicator was a clue that I would see good fuel economy for this tank. Normally the low fuel light turns on around 385 miles.

I left the house a little early this mornign so I could refuel at a local Wawa for a couple reasons. First, last time I drove to work with the low fuel light on (see post for tank 274), I encountered horrendous traffic and feared the worst. Second, I have secret evil driving plans today during lunch and don't want to spend extra time refueling during lunchtime. Third, and I don't know why, gas is much less expensive in Fredericksburg than it is in Woodbridge. Fourth, I know I talk out of both sides of my mouth because on one hand I declare my wishes for $8.009/gallon gas, and here I am buying gas at a station I know is less expensive. I call that thriftiness. If Wawa wants to undercut the competition, I will give them my business.

Irregardless, the Wawa pump shut off for the first time at 10.6 gallons. I thought this was a little early, so I broke the code and pumped more in, not just to the second click like I have always done, but to the THIRD CLICK, knowing that the more gas I put in, the lower my calculated fuel economy would be for the tank.

So it ended up at 10.727 gallons. And I drove 429.2 miles, making for a fuel economy of 40.01 miles per gallon! The last time I surpassed the psychologically-significant 40 mpg was August 11, 2009.

Of course, this high number comes on the tank after I achieved an unremarkable 35.97 miles per gallon, which lends credibility to my assertion that pumps at different stations shut off at different times, and my last tank was at a pump that permitted more gas to enter the tank, and/or this Wawa shuts off too early.

Still, my average fuel economy for the last 5 tanks is a respectable 37.85 miles per gallon.

And since people like blogs with pictures, please enjoy the picture I attached to this post.

1 comment:

  1. 80 Octane gasoline in Ukraine costs $4.50 a gallon nationwide

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