Holiday Road trip w/ roof rack & bikes MPG

[gkirk]

Just some info and a question. I did about 1200 miles around the last week's holiday, with two bikes on the roof. My normal highway speed and driving nets me about 38-39 mpg. with two bikes on the roof, i couldn't get over 31. Some of the difference might have been 10% ethanol gas and the high temperatures.

I was wondering if anyone had annedotal evidence of how much better a trailer-hitch or rear bike rack would do over aroof rack.

Does anyone know?

The car also make such a horrendous noise when it shifts. Ford? You gonna extend the warranty on this? Or do I have to sell it before 36k miles.

It is such a shame because a 10 hour drive in that car was really comfortable and it drives so nicely.

Someone else posted a really nice trip report so I'll add to mine:

The good:
Great driving dynamics
Very comfortable at highway speeds. Very quiet (even with two bikes on the roof).
MPG - ~32 in that heat and a lot of hills. Route was MD, DE, NJ,NY,VT,NH,VT, NY(rochester), PA,MD. Temps were all 95+ during drives.

The bad:
The only thing is the transmission. it lunges when reversing and makes grinding noises between gears and yes it does seem worse when the car and air are both hot.

Overall:
Love the car, Fix the transmission, please.

PS i don't have MFT or anything, I am too much of a techy to have a POS like that in my car.

[Sponsor]

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by gkirk

The car also make such a horrendous noise when it shifts.

Overall:
Love the car, Fix the transmission, please.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

No idea on the bike rack, though.

[fofo60]

Thanks for posting, sounds like a great trip. 95 degrees in New England.... yikes! About the bike rack, consumer reports did a test on car top carriers a few years ago and they were stunned at how much they reduced mpg. I guess anything that disturbs the air flow is bad. The Focus is a great trip car, hope you can get Ford to fix your DCT.

[wilsonfocus86]

Originally Posted by gkirk

My normal highway speed and driving nets me about 38-39 mpg. with two bikes on the roof, i couldn't get over 31.

I was wondering if anyone had annedotal evidence of how much better a trailer-hitch or rear bike rack would do over aroof rack.

Does anyone know?

Don't feel too bad. I recently moved from Florida back to Michigan, drove straight though with lots of cargo, my dog, and two bikes up top as well. With being weighed down as such, which was my real gas killer couldn't do anything about it ... I averaged around 28-28.5mpg for the entire trip, about 1200 miles (same as you). That's just my "data" relating to gas mileage, but as far as a comparison, don't know if anyone on here with the other racks have done long trips!

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by fofo60

[...]hope you can get Ford to fix your DCT.

Is this the noise? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54_3_qF2xhQ

Because my car does this too and after being repeatedly turned away from the dealer, I really have no intentions of telling Ford or getting it fixed unless it actually breaks something (within the warranty).

Is that alright, or is it something I should be bringing up to Ford/my dealer?

EDIT: Sorry about making this into another DCT discussion... but he did mention it in the review.

[Zillon]

I did a similar trip last week with my road bike mounted on the roof with Thule Aeroblades - From PA to NC, through DE, MD, VA, and NC.

Computer said I should've gotten 35-36 MPG, only got 31 on the way down. Part of that I might attribute to a gas pump in NC that wasn't calibrated properly, but I'll never know.

I did get 33.6 on the way home, though.

[gkirk]

Originally Posted by PratoN

Is this the noise? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54_3_qF2xhQ

Because my car does this too and after being repeatedly turned away from the dealer, I really have no intentions of telling Ford or getting it fixed unless it actually breaks something (within the warranty).

Is that alright, or is it something I should be bringing up to Ford/my dealer?

EDIT: Sorry about making this into another DCT discussion... but he did mention it in the review.

Yep thats it exactly. It does that swapping out of 1st and 3rd.. honestly, i try really hard to pretend it isn't there, so i'm not sure about the other gears. :\

[wilsonfocus86]

Originally Posted by gkirk

i couldn't get over 31.

Originally Posted by Zillon

I did a similar trip last week with my road bike mounted on the roof with Thule Aeroblades

I will add too, that I have the AeroBlades; they are awesome. What set up do you have gkirk? Because that can contribute to a significant loss in gas mileage.

Zillion - I see better numbers as well when it's just my one road bike on the roof. I float around 31-33 when going on smaller trips, and windy days don't help either!

[gkirk]

Originally Posted by wilsonfocus86

I will add too, that I have the AeroBlades; they are awesome. What set up do you have gkirk? Because that can contribute to a significant loss in gas mileage.

Zillion - I see better numbers as well when it's just my one road bike on the roof. I float around 31-33 when going on smaller trips, and windy days don't help either!

I have a thule rack with the square bars. I don't have the windshield thing for the front of it either (what is that thing called :) )

I came to work with only one bike and my mpg was averaging about 35. The focus is a slippery beast wrt to the wind. And the bikes are not aerodynamic at all sticking up there :)

I had a rack for my last car, so i could scavenge the bike and ski parts from that. The bars from that were too short though :(

[wilsonfocus86]

It's called a "fairing". It deflects the wind up and over the rack to help with wind resistance. I bet those bars make a lot of noise without one; another benefit with the aeroblades...you don't need a fairing and there is no wind noise at all! Helps with the mpg's though. You really won't notice an mpg struggle around town and small trips, but for the big ones you will like we saw! Hope you can find someone to give you 'the other side of things' with a hitch rack or something!