15 mpg for a normal road trip

[surf twang]

We just drove our new-to-us 2006 H2 from San Jose, CA to Albuquerque, NM. On the way to ABQ I did not reset the average mpg and got 13.3 mpg for the entire trip. At one point we were at 13.8.

On the way back I reset average mpg every time I filled the tank. On the first two legs through NM and AZ at mostly 75 mph we got 14.4 and 14.3 mpg respectively. The third leg from Kingman, AZ to Newberry Springs, CA (near Barstow) we got 12.7. The last time we filled up before arriving home we got 13.8. We had pretty strong head winds through most of California. I am pleased with the results. I'm sure the hundreds of big pickups and SUVs that passed us going 85-90 mph weren't getting any better mileage.

Over 70% of our trip was in 100+ degree weather (hitting a peak of 110 in AZ) and engine coolant never got more than a little past 200 and that was after 3 hours of driving in 105-110 degree heat.