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MPG inconsistencies (answered!)

8K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  SydneyRoo 
#1 ·
I noticed something a little interesting in the window sticker generated by Ford Services vs the advertised MPG on [url=http://www.ford.com/cars/focus/]Ford US and Ford Canada

On the window sticker and on Ford.ca, both report a city/hwy US MPG of 30.2/42.8 (converted via Google) for the non-titanium, non-ST models

However, on the American website, they quote 26/36 for similar models.

Furthermore, I'm finding the Canadian figures to be pretty much unattainable; even driving like a blind grandmother, and coasting in N rather than using my brakes, I'm only achieving 27.4/35.6 MPG. I am using a manual, but I'm doubting the DCT would give me a 3/7 MPG improvement (especially the highway figures). It seems that the American figures are more accurate.

Then again; it seems like there are many users on this board at least that are doing better than me for mileage. Then again, it seems like I'm sitting right on the average on fuelly.com.

Anyone like to comment?
 
#4 · (Edited)
This is the biggest factor since the canadian gallon is 20% larger (canada uses the imperial gallon), as opposed to the U.S. gallon (4.54xL/gal vs 3.785 L/ Gal) That means the economy figures are approximately 20% higher.
 
#3 ·
Winter gas...
Summer gas has a different mixture
Winter gas has higher volatility so it will start the car in subzero weather.
Summer gas cuts back on that stuff so the gas does not evaporate too easily.
Winter gas gives fewer mpg compared to Summer gas

Plus if you fiddle with the mpg gizmo in the dash, you can see how in Winter, a cold start uses a huge amount of gasoline before the engine is warmed up (compared to very little in Summer weather)
((This is why they say start and drive right off in Winter. Wasting a ton of gas idling to warm up the engine is just wasting gas.. And the engine warms up faster if it is being used instead of idling))
[drummer]
 
#5 ·
This has been said before, but to maximize fuel economy don't coast in neutral. While this seems counterintuitive, when coasting in gear fuel supply is generally cut-off as the mechanical connection to the wheels keeps the engine "running". If you shift to neutral, fuel has to be supplied to accomplish the same thing. This won't make a big difference, but manufacturers engineer it this way for a reason.
 
#13 ·
The calculation is correct even if I wrote down a slightly lower number for the imperial gallon, the point wasn't the specific size so much as it was the fact that the imperial gallon contains 20% more volume and therefore the published figures are 20% apart before accounting for differences in test methodologies.

Therefore subtracting the energy difference (a factor of 20%) the only remaining difference is that of the tests run to get the fuel economy figures.
 
#21 ·
the stupid part is..... we canadians don't even use gallons. Not Imperial gallons, not US gallons. We use litres.

And at that, if you do buy a gallon of something (ie, washer fluid), it's sold by the US gallon.

I really, REALLY hate they use imperial MPG to advertise car fuel economy up here. It's extremely misleading.

...... the kicker is, if we Canucks switch our gauge display to "Miles/Gallons" on our cars, it's based on US MPG, not imperial... I prefer US figures anyway.

stupid

stupid

stupid
 
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