You guys are going to say I'm full of it but I'll remind you I drive for a living and fuel mileage is a big deal when you drive a semi-truck that gets 6 to 7 MPG. I average about 21 MPG in my 5spd GT but I left home one day during a pretty good rain storm and drove 186 miles. I kept my speed below 60 the entire trip and took it real easy on the throttle. My mileage came out 30.7 MPG when I pulled into Oklahoma City. I suspect that's about as good as it's ever going to get.
You are so right, easy and steady is the trick. Just a little goosing will kill great mileage numbers.
I believe it. You have a 59 year old retired trooper here, living in a rural area of The Shenandoah Valley so nearest town is 15 miles away and we often go an hour or more to bigger cities. Wife and I just bought our 2008 Mustang GT 5 spd June 19th. We've thought about buying one for years .... just didn't before. It has 3.31 gearing with 22,000 mile and driven with a steady foot, 55mph speed limit, US RT11, anticipating hills and slow ups, etc, ..... filling up at same pump at same staion at Greenville on way up and back, I drove 186 miles on 6.12 gallons on a recent "ride" .... math says 30.39, readout in car read 30.3.
June 19th when we bought it and brung it home from Roanoke I gassed it and the '92 T-bird at the BP off exit 150 and reset the readings and did not mention it to wife, let her drive it home as I followed and photo graphed some, 60 miles later the info read out said 28.7 and there's a good increase in altitude from there to home.
I think I can squeeze even more after I get used to it. Something I do a lot is use my Scan Gage II in the '01 Grand Marquis, '95 T-bird, and '07 FX4 and two gages used almost always are the instant MPG and AVE MPG .... the instant MPG is much like watching a vacuum gage and in trying to keep it high one teaches oneself good gas mileage habits that will easily beat cruise control ..... on all except maybe perfectly flat Kansas highways and maybe even then.
I can get 30-31 out of the 1995 Thunderbird 4.6 LX and even 20-21 is easy on longer runs where not starting and stopping in the 2007 FX4 with 3.55 rears and 5.4 and tune / cat back. Even the Mercury will get high 20s, it averaged very nearly 27 mpg in 7,955 miles in 21 days of us touring Rt 66 and seeing Yosemite and Sequoia and back across Nevada, etc .... hauling wife and I and clothing and stuff and our dog.