KarenD

My latest tank (at about 6000 miles total) was my best so far: 674 miles and 15.671 gallons for an average of 43.01 mpg. That's mostly all my normal half city/half freeway commute with AC on most of the time (it is summer here still).

This morning I put 14.216 gallons in, having gone 596.1 miles since my last fillup, for 41.93 mpg. This tank was my typical half freeway/half city commute. I've got a little more than 4800 total miles on the car, and my dash long term mpg has been showing around 42.2.

I like being able to have different music on my FFH jukebox than I do on my iPod, which I use mostly for running. (Also, I am cheap about some things and have yet to upgrade from my 4GB nano, so I can get much more on the jukebox.)

Not too shabby. What kind of driving (X hwy, X city). Oh, what hwy speeds are you doing?

This tank was mostly my commuting, which is around 40 miles each way, about half highway and half surface streets (most with 40 - 45 mph speed limits). On the highway, I usually average 65 to 70 mph (sometimes a little less if I hit the traffic wrong).

I filled up last night and got 41.318 mpg on that tank, which included a 6 hour mostly freeway trip at 70 mph with the AC on.

Today: 521.6 miles, 12.572 gallons, 41.48902 mpg

It's been in the mid to upper 80s and lower 90s here the past several days. My car seems to like it; I've been seeing around 45 mpg on the trip report when I turn the key off after I get home, and that's with me keeping the climate on auto at around 73 degrees. I don't plan to find out what I could get if I turned the AC off in this weather.

Edited to add that I've got around 3300 miles total on the car now.

I filled up this morning; had gone 609.3 miles since my last fill and put 14.826 gallons in, so that works out to 41.09672 mpg. Most of those miles were my commute, which is mixed city (40 to 50 mph speed limit mostly) and highway. I have been trying to minimize AC use, though we've had a few hot afternoons here so I have cranked it a few times. When off the freeway especially I do try to keep it "in the green" but I'm no hypermiler--not yet, anyway. I don't have complete records on my earlier tankfulls, but they've all been around 40-41 mpg.

Thanks, pacsai! I'm very happy with the color; definitely worth the extra dollars as far as I'm concerned.

Exterior, white platinum:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_d/3483635584/

I don't seem to have taken any pictures of the interior where you can see the seats; guess those leaves and vines on the dash are just too fascinating.

It is such a pleasure to drive that my normal driving technique, if you can call a lead foot a technique, has changed to speed limit driving and casual. The seats are so comfortable that I don't get a sore back at all any more on the way to and from work. And the only complaint my wife made to me the other day is that when she drives it, it makes her want to drive to make the leaves grow.

Same here--I used to be in the left lane watching for cops and now I'm hanging out in the right lane tending to my leaves. Slow down for a construction zone? No problem--that means more green on the display.

We found that financing through our bank was a better rate than through the dealer. At the time we bought at least, there were no Ford Motor Credit incentives on the hybrid and the banks the dealer worked with came back with two very different rates, both higher than our bank. It was pretty easy to arrange--applied online, approved via e-mail, a couple phone calls, printed out the paperwork from a secure website and FedExed it to the bank, who transferred the money into my account so we could get a cashier's check for the total purchase price.

I'm disappointed that those of us who have NAV do not get the 3 year traffic/weather, instead only the 6-month Sirius subscription

You and me both. Especially since Sirius told me we can't have an Ala Carte package with this radio.

Since you have the car, I would be interested if you can control the selections on the radio.

We picked up our White Platinum with the 501A package last Thursday, and I have been controlling the radio with SYNC. So far I've gotten it to tune to FM stations with the call number, Sirius stations with the call number or the station name, and tracks on my iPod with artist name or album name. I'm still learning, but it's been fun so far.

Our order went in March 3rd; the car arrived at the dealer April 21st.