2012 owners Post your MPG's

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by kam327

In any case, I think it's been pretty well demonstrated by now that the Focus's mileage drops off more significantly with increased speed than the average compact car. Car & Driver, Popular Mechanics, and it was an extensive subject on this forum a couple months back...

Yup! I think we have the DCT to thank for that. It has to keep up the RPMs even if there isn't really a need for any more power. It's great in other aspects, though (if you don't have the blender version, that is).

[12FociSE]

1000 miles since purchase w/38mpg

[kam327]

Originally Posted by BiggerBoat

Hmm, I was in fact hoping for more detail and explanations. This just seems too big a gap to believe:

Mazda3 Skyactiv: 45
Focus: 36

I wonder what conditions/speed these numbers were at? In summer, with no headwind or hills, I can get 39-40 at 65 MPH so the 36 seems low. But, even that would still be way behind 45 MPG?? Aerodynamics? Final gear ratio? I know the sky-active has a lot of technology that helps in city driving but I don't know what they would do at hwy cruise that would make such a difference...

Yeah it's strange. I don't know if the Focus gearing is such that the engine spins higher at highway speed, but something is definitely up. C&D had a foot note in there that explained their numbers came from a 150-mile highway loop or something like that - it doesn't specify whether all cars were tested at the same time in the exact same conditions.

But what leads me to believe it (besides others' experiences on this forum) is the Popular Mechancs testing that showed the exact same thing. With a carefully-measured 150-mile highway test they showed the Focus's mpg way below the Elantra's, while all other economy metrics were about even.

[kam327]

Originally Posted by asting

No, that's what I'm saying. Not all cars break in the same, so expecting a constant increase across all the cars isn't necessarily a good approach. The other ones could go up by 5 and the focus by 3, but I'm merely noting that it's not a fair test for the life of the vehicle.

You can go look at real world user data on fuelly.com and see the same thing, the Focus gets the lowest real world mileage of pretty much all its immediate competition (Civic, Corolla, Elantra, even the Cruze!)

Hey I'm not sayin' it's ruining my Focus experience - I'm very happy with my 32-33 average. Just wonderin' out loud why the Focus with its DCT, which was supposedly chosen by Ford for it's efficiency advantage, seems to get average at best real world mpg, particularly at highway speed.

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by kam327

Just wonderin' out loud why the Focus with its DCT, which was supposedly chosen by Ford for it's efficiency advantage, seems to get average at best real world mpg, particularly at highway speed.

Because the EPA highway testing doesn't have very high speeds, but those are the numbers they have to report. The original HIGHEST highway speed in EPA tests was 60mph. There is a newer test (post-2008) that includes up to 80mph with harsher acceleration/deceleration, but both tests have average speeds of ~48mph.

So... for those of you that drive 75-90mph on I-90 or I-294 in IL, you'll be sorely disappointed. I see a HUGE drop in gas mileage when I go from 55mph to 70mph. Otherwise, the transmission is much better when it comes to low-speed acceleration and other losses. Imagine if the car got 100mpg at 90mph -the EPA would never know.



Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml

[kam327]

Originally Posted by PratoN

Because the EPA highway testing doesn't have very high speeds, but those are the numbers they have to report. The original HIGHEST highway speed in EPA tests was 60mph. There is a newer test (post-2008) that includes up to 80mph with harsher acceleration/deceleration, but both tests have average speeds of ~48mph.

So... for those of you that drive 75-90mph on I-90 or I-294 in IL, you'll be sorely disappointed. I see a HUGE drop in gas mileage when I go from 55mph to 70mph. Otherwise, the transmission is much better when it comes to low-speed acceleration and other losses. Imagine if the car got 100mpg at 90mph -the EPA would never know.

I'm not talking about EPA ratings, I'm talking about actual achieved real world mileage. Several sources now show the Focus gets low to mid 30's at 70-ish mph, while direct competiton like the Elantra gets high 30's to low 40's at the same speed.

[raptor1956]

Originally Posted by PratoN

Because the EPA highway testing doesn't have very high speeds, but those are the numbers they have to report. The original HIGHEST highway speed in EPA tests was 60mph. There is a newer test (post-2008) that includes up to 80mph with harsher acceleration/deceleration, but both tests have average speeds of ~48mph.

So... for those of you that drive 75-90mph on I-90 or I-294 in IL, you'll be sorely disappointed. I see a HUGE drop in gas mileage when I go from 55mph to 70mph. Otherwise, the transmission is much better when it comes to low-speed acceleration and other losses. Imagine if the car got 100mpg at 90mph -the EPA would never know.



Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml

That graph looks horrible -- how can they draw any conclusions from a test that was so poorly conducted. Have they never heard of cruise control?


Brian

[F'nClassy]

On topic, about 3000km on my car, it averages around 8 L/100KM.

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by raptor1956

That graph looks horrible -- how can they draw any conclusions from a test that was so poorly conducted. Have they never heard of cruise control?

Love it.

[RonMaiden]

I'm at 700 miles and am getting a solid 30mpg with a slightly heavy foot so I'm sure with my wife driving it I'm sure mid 30s would be attainable.

Still with that MPGs I'm happy since on a good day I get 18 in my 4Runner and 21 with the STI.