Focus on mileage

          You cram everything you can into the nooks, corners and flat spaces of a Ford Focus. You install your dog in the remaining corner of the backseat and you head off for the next segment of your life looking like a modern day dust bowl survivor.

          You have undoubtedly heard this before but I’ll say it again: Moving sucks.

          My wife and I have left California, headed off for our new home in Ohio. Aside from the whole crying thing (I admit that I cried like a little baby when we got on the freeway yesterday morning), the first day was a success. The Focus, which is overloaded, turned in a 41 miles-per-gallon performance on the first stint.

          This brings me to a point: The problem with the cars America turns out, in terms of fuel mileage, is not the cars themselves. The problem is the idiots that drive the cars. In other words, I have met the problem and it is us. The Focus is rated as a 38 mile-per-gallon highway car and we got 41. My Mustang is supposed to get terrible mileage, but I can get 32 mpg on the highway.

          Am I the greatest driver the world has ever seen? Of course I am, but that’s a different story. The point here is that the way to achieve significant mileage is to think about it first. Use your cruise control, don’t surpass the speed limit, leave early enough to get where you are headed on time, keep the proper inflation pressure in your tires and use good gasoline. Do that stuff and any vehicle will improve its fuel performance.

          Anytime I see some idiot blasting down a highway, whether in a big car or a small one, I figure that driver has forfeited the right to complain about gas prices. Not me. I don’t forfeit the right to complain about anything.

          Our first stop is in Tucson, where we’ll spend a few days with family. We’ll putter around and generate excellent fuel mileage before heading off to the next stop: New Mexico.

 

          Thanks for reading.