Well all, just got back from the dealer after the first oil change. Reported my milage concerns and was told they could do nothing about it as it is running the way it should. I made mention of my black sooty exhaust pipes and they claimed it was normal. This kind of statement from alleged auto mechanics bothers me. They either don't understand the physics of the internal combustion engine or their being told to say that. In any case, I've been thinking about the problem, and yes, I know thats dangerous for me. I remember back in the 80's, I had a trans am with a v8 and it kept dropping a cylinder going up a long hill under load. The dealer I bought it from tore the heads off it and rebuilt them 3 times trying to figure it out. I ran into an old racing buddy that was working at another Pontiac dealership and discussed it with him. He informed me of an O2 sensor in the exhaust header, that when bad, would send a normal signal to the ECM telling the engine that no advance on the timing was necessary, when in fact it was. That would cause excess fuel (and not enough O2) to load the cylinder and foul the plug causing the dropped cylinder. I informed the mechanic working on my car and he said if it did it again during the road test, we'd change the sensor and see. You can guess the result. He changed the sensor and no more dropped cylinder. I mentioned this story because after giving my current problem some thought, I'm begining to think my milage and black soot problems may be due to something similar. If the turbo has a boost sensor that kicks in boost at 2000 rpm, more boost would require more fuel. However, if attendent speed dosen't increase, then increased fuel use would not result in increased distance, resulting in decreased fuel milage. Additionally, black soot would occur due to excess fuel being only partially burned. Cruising around town, I can achieve better milage than its rated for, but I'm under 2000 rpm. I'm just guessing at this point, but what the heck, it's more than ford will do. I'll report back later after I've tried some different driving techniques, and, researched some of the mechanical details. Until later, its good to know that I'm not alone out there.