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MPG with All City Driving

3K views 27 replies 20 participants last post by  flyboyike 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I was wondering what everyone is getting in terms of mileage with nearly > 95% city driving. I'm averaging approx. 24.5 MPG.

Thanks.
 
#3 ·
The MK3 FF gets great highway mpg but average or less city mpg. If mileage is important and you do a lot of city driving a hybrid is hard to beat. Under the same conditions the FF is getting 24mpg and good hybrid could get double that...


Brian
 
#4 ·
Yeah I've seen folks on here complianing about less mileage than that. I think all these compact cars now are tuned to maximize mileage for suburban / highway driving at the expense of true city or fast highway driving. And the Focus is no different than the rest. Just look at these reported mpg's in Motor Trends July '11 8-car comparo:

Civic: 29.4
Focus: 27.9
Mazda3: 27.8
Corolla: 27.6
Elantra: 25.7
Forte: 23.9
Cruze: 23.8

Jetta TDI: 32.3 (not a fair comparison)



Very good performance from the Focus, and that was with the Ti handling package!
 
#6 ·
So I reset the TRIP 1 settings everytime I fill up and I always fill it up all the way. At next fill up I take the miles traveled and divide by the gallons I just put in the car. I filled up yesterday after not having any highway driving at all and got to 22 mpg.

Normally if I have city and highway driving I average more around 30. Since these numbers seemed low to me I figured since I just got the car in december - maybe I need to adjust my driving habits. Since my last car was a 2004 Toyota Echo I started to realize that I push down on the accelator a little fast. In my old car that's what it took to get her moving...but in the focus it just seems to waste more fuel.

So after the fillup yesterday I decided to ease up on the acceleration and try to retrain my foot for the focus. Keeping an eye on the avg mpg I've traveled about 100 miles since yesterday in city conditions and kept it between 27-28 mpg. I've been working on better acceleration and maintaining a speed vs constantly changing. So we'll see how that improves my mpg.
 
#9 ·
Driving style has the biggest effect on mileage, sure. Here's a graph I put together after some fooling around with my Scangauge. I was actually surprised there was not MORE effect on mileage with hard vs soft acceleration. But this was a controlled test - in the real world there may be more of an overall effect by always accelerating hard.

 
#8 ·
With my 2012 it is all about stoplights. Lots of stoplights and gas mileage sucks. Few to no stoplights and gas mileage in in the low 30's for city driving.
The gas you waste at a stoplight and the resultant acceleration would have carried you four blocks if you did not have to stop.
That is a huge difference.
I stay away from places with endless stoplights.. stop signs.
And I stay out of rush hour traffic. I get 32 plus Winter mpgs.
I suppose if you have to drive rush hour, and lots of stoplights,, you are out of luck on MPGs.
 
#11 ·
I've been using my car to delivery drive, since picking up the car at the end of November I've averaged over 70 miles a day since. Car is a manual.

As other have stated this car is very sensitive to throttle position get the higher mileage. I've seen tanks as low as 19 MPG pure city (pen and paper) and as high as 27 in the same conditions with a lighter foot. The type of driving this car goes through is not standard, it's constant stop and go traffic as well and turning off and on the vehicle upwards of 50 times a day. Fifteen to twenty 1-4 mile trips throughout the day.

On the other end of the spectrum here when I am not working and am casually driving I've seen city mileage hover low 30's with mild traffic and decent luck on lights.
 
#22 ·
I'm at around 9,000km and haven't had my first oil change yet.. anyhow
with a mix of 60 highway and 40 stop and go city in the winter on Husky 87 (winter blend) I'm getting between 7-8L/100KM. When I did a trip in November with my gf (got the car end of September) to the Radium hot springs, filling up at Banf and about when I got to Edmonton area I was at 5.2L/100km. Having new winter tires and a bit of cargo, thinking it wasn't too shabby!
 
#23 ·
Driving with the DCT, found that the rate of pedal power can have an effect on MPG (computer). Sometimes, when I accelerate fast and let things cruize I tend to do ok still.
 
#24 ·
We do very little highway driving and my wife's commute is only a little over a mile each way and when I drive it I'm a little heavy on the skinny pedal and I am impressed with the solid 26-28mpg we've been getting since new.
Using premium nets us only 1-2 more mpg than mid grade but we stick with it.
 
#27 ·
With the much more sophisticated engine controls and better cylinder head design engines can run much leaner at light throttle steady state conditions which accounts for the higher hiway mileage cars get these days. However, richer mixtures are required for acceleration and you can't get away from that so the mileage has improved as much as the hiway mileage.

The thing I find amazing about new cars is the amount of power with great economy they get.

For example: I purchased a 85 Daytona Turbo new in 85 it was arguably the most powerful FWD compact car of the day. It made 150hp/150ft-lbs and got 25-27 mpg around town and 32-34 mpg on the hiway. My wife's 12 Focus SEL makes 160hp/148ft-lbs and gets 32-34 mpg in the same around town driving and gets 38-39 mpg on the hiway. Then take my 13 ST it gets the same mileage as the Daytona and makes 100ho/100ft-lbs more than the Daytona.
 
#28 ·
For example: I purchased a 85 Daytona Turbo new in 85 it was arguably the most powerful FWD compact car of the day. It made 150hp/150ft-lbs and got 25-27 mpg around town and 32-34 mpg on the hiway. My wife's 12 Focus SEL makes 160hp/148ft-lbs and gets 32-34 mpg in the same around town driving and gets 38-39 mpg on the hiway. Then take my 13 ST it gets the same mileage as the Daytona and makes 100ho/100ft-lbs more than the Daytona.
Some say three decades later the improvements should be even greater.
 
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