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Low MPG on new 2012 Titanium Hatch

27K views 160 replies 42 participants last post by  justford14 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,

I have a 2 week old Focus Titanium hatchback that has me worried with a few issues, the big one being MPG ratings.

On first tank of gas I got 23.5 MPG, and half way through 2nd tank the computer says about the same. This basically with just daily commute driving about half city streets and half 55MPH freeway. I drive carefully and usually get numbers better than EPA ratings on everything else I have driven, so this worries me.

I spoke to the dealer and they say it needs to break in to get best results. This makes some sense, but I am expecting at least 10 MPG higher out of this car (33+ on average)and that seems like a big jump for just "breaking it in" to fix.

Anyone have any insight on if this is normal or anything I should check?
 
#2 ·
I have a SE Sport with 17" wheels and I got 25 MPG the first few tanks. I now have 10,600 miles on it and I get 32 MPG on average and I don't drive very conservatively. I think you will see a difference as the mileage racks up and as the dual clutches bed in. Maybe at 2,000 miles you will see the 30 MPG mark depending on your driving style.

Use Fuelly to track your fuel mileage. It gives you actual numbers than what the cars computer puts out. http://www.fuelly.com

Welcome to the Forum! [welcome]
 
#4 ·
One more thing to consider ... the miles on the odo is likely to be off a bit and on a new car it will tend to under report mileage -- mine does to the tune of 1.4%.


Brian
 
#5 ·
if you are 50% city, odds are you are not going to get 33mpg, but until you are at 1000-1500 miles the engine needs to break in.
 
#6 ·
My car routinely gives me better readouts than my actual mileage, but I've been averaging over 30mpg with about 60-70% city driving since January, I have 17"s and my car now has over 10k miles on it.
 
#8 ·
I am a pretty aggressive driver. I have a little over 4,000 miles now. I get 27 to 30 mpg on a normal basis. I figure all mine with a calculator at the pump. Most of my driving is country roads. I would really expect better then this. I had a 2011 fiesta last year that I traded for my Focus and the Fiesta got 32 mpg at the least, even in the worst city driving.
 
#10 ·
I had a 2011 fiesta last year that I traded for my Focus and the Fiesta got 32 mpg at the least, even in the worst city driving.
Why did you expect better, you went to a heavier car with a bigger engine. Fuelly shows the average for the 2011 fiesta at 35mpg and the 2012 focus at 31, sounds like it is doing exactly what it is supposed to.
 
#11 ·
Yes I know. But my 2011 fiesta window sticker and the 2012 focus had the same Mpg ratings. That's why I upgraded to the focus when I seen the new window stickers. Like your comment, I struggled with the bigger engine and the bigger car getting the same mpg. I'm not disappointed, but I just wasn't sure if I'm in the ballpark. I have a co-worker that has a SE model and they get 32. Just trying to fing out if its me or someting goofy with the car. I expected the drop, and sounds like I'm in the right ballpark, my co-worker must just drive more efficent then me.
 
#13 ·
Give it time. I was worried like you when I first picked up my Ti.

I've got almost 9,000 on mine now and am averaging 31-33 MPG driving 50/50 city/hwy.
 
#14 ·
The Ti, if you have 18's, will get worse mileage than the others. I noticed a 3 mpg drop over my SEL. It will climb slowly over your first 3-4 tanks before you level out, assuming the same driving patterns/routes.

Also worth noting is the fact that any time you have the car reset or battery disconnected it will go through this process again as your car learns the world over...
 
#16 ·
Focus MPG

I have had my 2012 Focus SE for nearly 6000 miles in just under a year. My average mpg is 29.2mpg without ever resetting the meter. I drive frequently between Boston and New York and I manage close to 40 on the highway even with a loaded car, but in the city, I only get about 20. This is quite bad that I only get 29.2mpg combined even after nearly 6000 miles. Does anyone know a good solution for better mileage? I also try to drive as light footed as I can.
 
#17 ·
poor MPG

[Hey there, yes I had a 2012 focus SEL hatch, 6 speed auto. the milage really sucked for a few hundred miles. I decided to travel from Orlando to Miami using high RPM's (old Ford breaking ideology ), so I drove it in lower gears at high rates of rpm and that got the job done quicker. On most occasions I got mid 40's on highway at 65 mph. At 75 mph, plan on about 40 to 41. around town never got too good, maybe 25 to 29. Many people have this problem. I recommend you go out and beat the living shit out of this car and see what happens. You are covered under warranty. I got rid of the car due to the problems with the automatic trans, it really sucks. Hope this helps. Remember, when it comes to a Ford and you are in doubt, beat the shit out of it and it will run better.




I have a 2 week old Focus Titanium hatchback that has me worried with a few issues, the big one being MPG ratings.

On first tank of gas I got 23.5 MPG, and half way through 2nd tank the computer says about the same. This basically with just daily commute driving about half city streets and half 55MPH freeway. I drive carefully and usually get numbers better than EPA ratings on everything else I have driven, so this worries me.

I spoke to the dealer and they say it needs to break in to get best results. This makes some sense, but I am expecting at least 10 MPG higher out of this car (33+ on average)and that seems like a big jump for just "breaking it in" to fix.

Anyone have any insight on if this is normal or anything I should check?[/QUOTE]
 
#19 ·
The DCT tends to get better mileage than the manual due to having near the same drivetrain losses as a manual because there is no torque converter to suck the power away.

I get an average 7.5 mpg increase after a reset with my driving style and route (from 26 to 33.5 mpg) when using 93 octane. I don't know but would assume the difference would be the same regardless of octane number. It takes me three to four full tanks to get that full increase and has happen three times nearly consecutively on this car.
 
#20 ·
The DCT gets better mileage due mainly to the taller 6th gear, as well as the fact that it is essentially a robotized manual transmission with a pair of clutch plates which hand off torque during the shifts. If the cars were similarly geared it might not have as much of an advantage depending on who was driving, how they drove, and how frequently shifting was needed or performed.
 
#21 ·
Hello Everyone,

I have a 2 week old Focus Titanium hatchback that has me worried with a few issues, the big one being MPG ratings...
You should go on fuelly.com and look at some 2012 owners' entries to get an idea what you should expect. Some of these posters above may be giving you false hope. From my own car and looking at some fuelly users' data, I wouldn't expect any more than a 3-4 mpg improvement overall after the engine breaks in. I hope you do better than that, and if you do please come back and tell us.

Here are some sample graphs of users who started out in the low 20's and pretty much remained there after a few months and a few thousand miles. By the way, fuelly also shows that any other late model compact (Corolla, Civic, Elantra, etc.) can stay in low 20's mpgs depending on driving habits, so this isn't limited to the Focus.







 
#22 ·
Are we giving false hope or are you only showing the low data? Is there nothing to support the other side? There seems (imho) to be a larger amount of people whom report an increase. There also seems to be a lot of people whom have this gripe initially, then their thread fades away within a few weeks (tanks of gas).

I'm not saying that there will be a definitive massive increase, and a lot has to do with driving habits/routes. Quite a few people are reporting mid to low 20's in straight-up city-only driving. Quite a few people are reporting high 20's/low 30's with mixed driving. Quite a few people are posting mid/high 30's and even low 40's with mostly highway driving.

I don't buy in to the '1000 mile break-in'. If that were true, we would have some seriously high-strength metals in our bores. What I do buy in to is that it takes the PCM a while to 'learn' our styles and habits. That, and our GDI engines are very touchy and respond quite drastically to small changes.

I don't go on Fuelly, what does the majority of the data represent?
 
#23 ·
That, and our GDI engines are very touchy and respond quite drastically to small changes.

I don't go on Fuelly, what does the majority of the data represent?
I agree. Our GDI engine is pretty touchy. If its 100+F here I see a difference. The GDI seems to like the mid to low 70's temperature.

Fuelly is great to track your fuel mileage. You put the web app on your phone and you log your fuel ups. You input your current mileage on the odometer and the amount of fuel you put in the tank and the price per gallon if you wanna track the amount of money you spend on gas.

Here is my fuelly graph.



I got 25.64 MPG on my second fuel up. My last fuel up I got 28.70 MPG (That was this morning, I was excited to get my Focus back yesterday so I kinda romped on it [driving]). You can see the days that I have spirited driving and probably some stressful traffic and conservative driving. The days I drive nice and no stressful traffic I see between 30MPG to 32 MPG. Late May is when my FSWerks Race Exhaust and my K&N Intake were installed.
 
#25 ·
Just for the record. I have 34 Fuel ups and 10,700 miles on my car. Bought it brand new with 12 miles in May 2012. I have been running Shell 93 Octane since day one.
 
#40 ·


That Log is missing 18 miles from delivery, but it doesn't show much improvement at least under the same conditions from the beginning. The average has been around 34.5 mpg, but the absolute worst tank so far was on 87 octane but that doesn't mean much as the first half or so of the fuel ups were done on 87 octane, the last 5 were done on 93 octane.

The average in town primarily is around 32-34, and on longer journeys / primarily highway with a light throttle and including getting stuck in traffic and some time in town with a light throttle I got a peak so far of 39.38 mpg hand calculated at 70 mph on light throttle, but that also included some heavier throttle and running at higher speeds for at least a few miles. Car runs really well. The trip computer said it was doing 37.6 mpg on that tank by the time I went to refuel, but that was really only about a half tank, this tank is looking equally bright, well it was until traffic hit again. Trying to see what the peak city biased mpg I could expect to see, but really I'd rather have fun once in a while than drive with an especially light throttle all the time.
 
#41 ·
I have about 8,500 miles on my car. I am getting an average of 32.6 miles per gallon with a mix of city and freeway driving. In the city was getting about 27 mpg (when I was paying attention shortly after I got the car). On the freeway I get about 39 mpg (75 mph) and on the highway (60 mph) I get better mileage than the freeway mileage, of course. My car is rated at only 36 highway with the manual transmission.
 
#42 ·
Well I slowed down my driving and drove to the electronic mpg estimator on the dash. I manage to get it to read 32.4 mpg for most of the tank. After filling up and doing the math. I actually got 30.43 mpg by the calculator. So If everyone is judging their milage off the electronic mpg gage I guess i'm right in the ballpark. Still have a co-worker testing her SE's mpg. She even wrote the odometer reading to insre the trip meter and odometer track the same on the mileage. Will post her mpg when I get the results. I have around 5500 miles but not sure the milage will get any better then what it is now.
 
#43 ·
Here is a good one. Keeping up with traffic I ran 75 to 83 steady for 296 miles and only got 29.6 mpg. Figure that one out. Car has 6,600 miles if that matters. Called dealer, not to happy even at the higher speeds, would have expected 37 plus on the mpg. I have a good automotive background, and this one baffles me.
 
#45 ·
Filled up before the trip and after at the same gas station. It was a speedway at was 87 octane. Not sure on the Ethanol level. Used this station a lot in the past. Had a 2011 Fiesta last year, even in town it got 30 to 32 worst driving conditions and 40 to 44 on highway. Drove that one like a go-cart. I treat this one a lot different trying to get The fuel mileage out of it. I have yet to see over 32 mpg. I even drove for a entire tank in country road condition the smoothest I could with as few stops as possibly and driving under the speed limit, and letting off early on the gas at stops and easy getting back it to it, and that was the one time I got 31.3 mpg. At 55mph in 6th gear the tach reads 2000 rpm, I assume this is ok. shifted into sport drive at speed to insure it was making it into 6th gear, and it was. Not sure what to think now. This road trip has really got me thinking I made a bad decision on trading in the fiesta for this focus even though the window sticker says they both should get around the same gas millage. I expected a little drop due to engine size and car weight, but his is a lot more then I thought.
 
#46 ·
No, it should be better. I am not driving my new SE very 'easy' and through the city to work in stop and go 26.5 miles each way I just filled up this morning with my second tank of fuel and I am getting 32.5 MPG. My trip average MPG was showing 33.0 when I filled up so it was close. I shouldn't be getting better mileage in the city than you do on country roads.
 
#47 ·
I agree. I sent Ford and my dealership a e-mail. I also have some time tomorrow to stop into the dealership and see what they think, if I don't get a response by then. will be interesting to see what they say. Thanks, Wildsailor.
 
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