Better MPG in the City vs. Hwy

[Loren]

I consistently get better MPG in the city than I do on the highway. Anybody else have the same experience?

I'll clarify:

My city driving is mostly fairly short trips, 10-20 miles at speeds from 35-50 mph. Long enough to get the car warmed up, and I usually know where I'm going enough that I can time the lights and get a lot of DFCO coast time without a lot of sitting at the lights idling. I can usually pull between 44 and 48 mpg on most of these trips. If traffic is particularly bad or the trip is less than 5 miles, it might sometimes be as low as 38, but I've gotten better at managing traffic, so it's rarely under 40 any more. This is punctuated with occasional longer trips at 60-65 mph for maybe 20-30 miles, which net just a little less mpg. Typical tank mpg will be around 45 mpg.

When I speak of highway driving, I'm talking typical interstate at 70 mph. It's all I can do to pull 43 mpg on the interstate. Which isn't bad, I guess, but flies in the face of most people's logic that you should get better mileage on the highway.

Now, if I take back roads, 2-lane highways where I can cruise 55-60 instead of 70, and make use of more pulse & glide, I can usually get up to around 48-49 mpg. And by the time I'm home (adding in some slower city driving with the car fully warmed up), the trip average will often be between 50 and 54 mpg.

So, no Earth-shattering conclusions here. MPG is directly related to speed, and DFCO can pay huge dividends in city driving.