My xA gets 30-31 mpg this winter, and 33-34 mpg in summer. I understand how winter driving will result in lower mpg, but I'm still curious about a couple of things.

First, the local dealer had to drive my xA 90 miles, most of those highway miles, from the nearest other dealer with one in stock. Would this long highway trip adversely affect the break-in period and result in less-than-optimal gas mileage?

Secondly, how much difference does using gasoline with 10% ethanol matter for MPG? Minnesota requires 10% ethanol in gasoline sold here, so it's pretty much a moot point, but I'm curious what I might be missing out on by being forced to use ethanol.

 

Question 1.
No. A drive of 90 miles will not adversly effect the future mileage of your car. Just to add to what I have seen in other similar posts; usually new car dealer transfers are done by older folks. Usually retiree's. The idea that the cars are run like Indy cars from one dealer to another is just plain absurd. I know it may happen from time to time but it certainly is not the rule. When I sold cars many years ago I drove my demonstrartors like I was always going to a fire. I was not rough on them but they did get driven pretty hard. In all the time I did this I never had one of my demos come back with any kind of major problem.
I picked my xA up with 40 miles on it and got right on the interstate and drove 100 miles home at 65-70mph. My average right now is 34.7 calculated for the last 5000 miles. I started keeping a running total at about 1000 miles and I have jsut under 6000 now.