Focus Fanatics Forum banner

Break in period and fuel economy

11K views 35 replies 26 participants last post by  mqflores4 
#1 ·
I searched for all the fuel economy threads I could find and couldn't really find an answer to this. I was curious if anyone has noticed any significant fuel economy increase after you get some miles and if so how many miles it takes.

I'm more than a little disappointed in the fuel economy on my new 2012 5 speed hatch. I realize the automatic does better, but I still expected better than 31 MPG for an almost all highway commute at speeds below 70 MPH the whole way. My 16 year old 5 speed Civic with 200,000 miles that the Focus replaced averaged 34 MPG on the same commute, and the city/highway ratings of the Civic were lower than the Focus.

I'm hoping it will get better with time. I've got a little over 1k on it now.
 
#3 ·
My quick analysis of fuelly.com user data a while back showed most folks generally do not see huge increases in mileage after break in. Maybe within the 1st 1 or 2 tanks, but not after that.

Do a test: get to where you can maintain a certain speed for a good 10 minutes, reset one of your mpg readouts, and see what mpg you get. Should roughly match the curve below which I also did and which roughly agrees with one done by one of the car magazines a while back. If it doesn't maybe you have a mechanical problem. If it does you may be underestimating your lead foot or something. Although your comparison to your previous car suggests it's not you.





 
#4 ·
First tank on the all interstate 240 mile drive home from the dealer was 32.68 hand calculated, 32.4 on the trip computer. The second and third tanks which were all 55 MPH back road and interstate commute to work with very little city driving were 31.5 and 31.2 hand calculated with the trip computer reading pretty close each time. I just didn't write the readings down. Almost all interstate driving is with the cruise set at 68 MPH.

All of those are with one occupant and no cargo windows up A/C on with temps ranging from high 50s to mid 80s.
 
#5 ·
Those are not horrible mpgs, probably about average, AC is probably costing you a bit, but I wouldn't expect more than a mpg or 2 better without doing some mods or switching to 93 octane gas.
 
#6 ·
MPGs.. More questions about MPGs than anything else IMO.
Seems to be some folks get horrible MPGs, the some get great MPGs.
I m in the great camp, with an average of 35 mpg with 70% city driving.
That is city with few stoplights and no traffic congestion.
Add in a LOT of stops at lights, and plenty of congestion, and my MPGs would drop like a STONE. (30mpg)
So that is my opinion on it.
Every stop and moving back up to speed kills fuel mileage. A LOT of stops, or even hills, and you have bad MPGs.
 
#8 · (Edited)
MPGs.. More questions about MPGs than anything else IMO.
Seems to be some folks get horrible MPGs, the some get great MPGs.
I m in the great camp, with an average of 35 mpg with 70% city driving.
That is city with few stoplights and no traffic congestion.
Add in a LOT of stops at lights, and plenty of congestion, and my MPGs would drop like a STONE
. (30mpg)
So that is my opinion on it.
Every stop and moving back up to speed kills fuel mileage. A LOT of stops, or even hills, and you have bad MPGs.
that's right. stop and start + heavy foot will eat you up. in town only i get maybe 22 mpg. i just drove home from monterey and took it easier than i normally drive. i averaged 37.2 mpg for the 70-mile drive.

at over 1500 miles i'm averaging 24.5 or so. i'm cool with that. that's double what i get in my tundra.
 
#11 ·
I see a little over 32 with primarily city driving in my commute, but that is DCT and 18's, coupled with K&N drop-in, 91 octane, and snorkel delete. My OEM SEL never got above 29 in the same driving despite having 17's and running 87 octane.
 
#12 ·
#14 ·
My previous car was also a manual Civic, 10 years old with 150,000 miles. My Focus gives almost the same mpg as the Civic. If I keep the speed to about 70mph I get around 35mpg. If I travel on country roads and keep the speed to around 60mph I can push up to 40mpg. Bear in mind that this is a 100 mile commute in a car with over 20,000 miles. The shorter your distance to work the more the fuel hungry warm up period will influence your overall mpg.
 
#16 ·
Improved Steadily



My economy steadily improved over first 10,000 miles - then I got bored monitoring it. Purple line is for each tank, green line is the average since I got the car.

Up to May it was city driving, May through August was 50/50 city and highway. During the week back and forth to work, at weekends a 300 mile 80 MPH run to the Beach.

Back to city driving now and getting about 32.
 
#17 ·
Most of the time I have been averaging 30 MPG on my 130 mile daily commute. But it was been getting cooler here in Texas and my last fill up yielded me 33 MPG. The past 3-4 fill ups have been in 31-33 MPG range. I don't drive anywhere as conservative as Elizabeth. My car just turned 17,000 miles. Been tracking my fuel mileage since day one. Here is my Fuelly graph.

 
#21 ·
I do 20% city and 80% highway. Combined I average around 34mog. If i do highway only driving I average 40mpg going 70 cruise control. If I go 55 cruise control I average 44.x mpg . Overall not bad . I was averageing 13 mpg in my 03 cobra so it's like a gold mine. I easily get over 400 miles a tank with 20-40miles remaining till empty!
 
#26 ·
I have actually been a little disappointed with my MPG thus far. I have a 2014 with a DCT and about 700 miles at this point. I'm averaging about 25-27 almost all in town driving but last weekend i did a 150 mile road trip all highway and i had a fresh tank of gas and i reset the display and i only averaged 32.5 with pretty much all flat highway non-stop at about 65 MPH. i was hoping to get closer to 40 on that trip. I'm hoping it gets a little better as the car breaks in.
 
#30 ·
I'm at about 1200 miles now and it's slightly better. I drive almost all city mileage and i was getting about 25 and now it's about 27 so i think that is about right. The last highway trip i did which was only about a 100 miles i averaged about 34 so it is looking better now.
 
#31 ·
Some points:
New(er) car is still in the 'engine learning' and the stock fuel map is set RICH. Which means the engine is set to be wasting gas in order to be certain the engine is protected. (more fuel means cooler temps in the cylinders)
Also the throttle is learning. And the driver is too.
I have to say I never press hard on the throttle EVER (exceptt a few times here or there) mainly just like I had an egg between my foot and the gas pedal. As little as possible...
No stomp on it from light to light.

Also 'city' driving is just not freeway driving. The idea of hywy driving is even flow at 50 to 75 mph with no changes. If you are in bumper to bumper traffic jam that is NOT hywy driving..
City is stop and GO. no stop and stop and stop and stop So inner downtown congestion is not what is 'city driving'. City driving is stopping say every six to ten blocks, with lots of stepping on the brakes, and reaccelerating per mile.

If you are in tight downtown New York like stoplights every block.. WTF do you expect but 15mpg? Or same on freway. If your commute is bumper to bumper average 15mph that is not 'highway' driving!

I would say mpg does get better.And will also improve is you do the free flow air filter AND the snorkle delete.
 
#33 · (Edited)
I agree with Elizabeth regarding being gentle with accelerations. In addition, maintain your distance especially in highways so you can slow down by easing off gas instead of braking. It's easier to accelerate again if you have that leftover momentum from your deceleration.

When on highway, I see lots of people stepping on the gas to keep up with car in front of them and slamming on their brakes to slow down. Not good! In most cases they keep very little distance between their car and one in front of them and I see their brake lights constantly blinking like Christmas lights.

It's not rocket science to make your car go zoom-zoom - just step on it! It takes lots of patience and careful planning to get really good mileage. I usually challenge myself when driving by seeing how long I can drive without engaging the brakes - just keeping my distance so I can slow down instead of braking. And if ever I do brake, I just apply it very slightly anticipating that car in front of me will probably speed up again. Works most of the time!

I bought my 2014 Ford Focus Titanium HB last November 2013. I'm at around 10000 miles right now and my mileage seemed to have stabilized at 40MPG. I used to drive 75MPH+ and stayed on the left. I've changed my driving habits and try to maintain constant 60MPH [not cruise control] on the highway even if it means that I have to stay on the 2nd lane from right on a four-lane highway. It's a comfy drive at that speed and I make sure I leave early in AM to take advantage of lesser cars on the road.

Below is my mileage reading after gas up and driving continuously for about 40 miles after that at ~60MPH. Probably a fluke because it stabilizes to around 40MPG during the week. [;)] But, hey! It's still way up there for a non-hybrid!



Here's a good article on conservative driving:
http://www.gas-mileage-enhancers.com/?page_id=358
 
#32 ·
I know i had to kind of teach my wife how to "drive" the car to get the better mileage. For us even if she drives it hard. She is still getting 25-27mpg. The car is our trip car for the most part. So that mpg vs our '05 Excursion which at best is getting 16mpg and cost $100-$150 to fill up. Well you don't have to be a math wiz to see the savings LOL
 
#34 ·
Nice, I need to start driving like this.
 
#35 ·
I recently went a small road trip and achieved at best 38mpg this is cruising at 60mph on 91 octane fuel. When I first bought my focus fuel economy was probably 26 city / 28 highway until around the 1200mile mark. Seems alright yet misleading considering what the EPA estimates are lol. 6 speed auto 2.0L FYI.
 
#36 ·
Let me know how it works for you.

Even in stop-and-go traffic, I follow the same principles of gently stepping on gas and laying off it instead of braking. My mileage goes down during bad traffic but not as fast as when I attack my pedals aggressively.

Something that I noticed also is that drivers usually change lanes a lot when in highway with bad traffic. I've observed that if you stay in your lane, you'll soon catch up with that driver that snakes in and out of lanes - accelerating and decelerating hard so many times. It's all about the lanes finding a certain flow equilibrium. I get a kick when I see somebody pass me, jump on another [*faster*] lane only to pass them by after a few miles. Really ! Wasted effort and gas!

Like I stated in my earlier post, so to speak - leave the racing to the professionals, let mortals like us drive normally and conserve gas!

The Ford Focus is a decent car. I won't probably race it - that's not really why I bought it. My intention was to get a car that will get me from point A to B safely and economically. Right now, I'm pleased.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top