[DarinS]

I'm just curious how long it took some of you guys to "break-in" the engine and start getting mileage near (or over) the EPA rated 27/37. I took my car on a trip from Portland to Tacoma, about 300 miles of 99% highway. I stayed between 65mph and 75mph the whole time, used cruise and kept a very light foot (i've always been able to beat the EPA numbers in every car I've owned). At the end of the trip, I only had an indicated 31mpg My car had 450 miles on it by the time I was done, so I'm wondering how long these engines stay "green". 31mpg is much better than my old 525i, but I was expecting closer to 40 [???] Thanks!

 

[RDJTX]

Excellent qiestion, I am in the middle of my trip back to texas and am seeing an average of 29-30. But I have a pretty heavy foot. I average 75 on the highway.

 

[VOLDAR]

The rule of thumb is forget about mpg the first 3 fill ups. Usually it is arround 1500 km. The break in period as per manual = 1000 miles (1600 km).
In my case, I never used the cruise control in the first 1500 km. I used a lot S mode in town and D mode on highway. Today in my dash board I read a combined value of 31 mpg. I am not talking about 31 mpg on hwy only. I am talking about 31 mpg since my last fill up. And yes, on hwy I was 65 - 75 mph too. I have 3 300 km (2000 miles) on my car already.
If you want to see more than the combined use EPA (32 mpg), you should drive under the 60 mph (55 mph seems to be the sweet spot). I am not this kind of guy, so I am happy with what the car offers at the speed I am driving.

 

[Superd]

I'm just curious how long it took some of you guys to "break-in" the engine and start getting mileage near (or over) the EPA rated 27/37. I took my car on a trip from Portland to Tacoma, about 300 miles of 99% highway. I stayed between 65mph and 75mph the whole time, used cruise and kept a very light foot (i've always been able to beat the EPA numbers in every car I've owned). At the end of the trip, I only had an indicated 31mpg My car had 450 miles on it by the time I was done, so I'm wondering how long these engines stay "green". 31mpg is much better than my old 525i, but I was expecting closer to 40 [???] Thanks!

Take your car for a good hard rip once it is fully warmed up and I bet your fuel economy will improve.

 

[Mik Ohki]

I was getting good milage after a thousand or so miles, but your not going a get it driving that fast.

I am 8000+ miles now, and on my last 250 mile trip was getting 42.7 mpg, with the cruise control set for 61 mph. When I drive to work in the morning, I set it more in the range you are talking about and score 37.8 mpg.

Keep an eye on where you buy gas, Cumberland farms gas has given me a rough ride and bad economy, Shell, Hess, Mobil, those are all good in my experience.

My economy has gone down a bit as of late but I think that is cold weather and tire pressure related, it was back up in warmer weather.

 

[adamc]

I'm at 3500 miles,
and my milage has acutually gone down. 31-33 mpg from 35-36..
I have driven at all different speeds, but mostly old lady driving @ 60 mph..
the 38+ mpg posted here by people is a buch of bull IMO..

My old car (given to daughter was a Honda civic hybrid....driven at 60 mph it regularly gave me 46-48 mpg..

 

[Kohler]

If your car only has 450 miles on it than you are still in the break in period as stated in the manual. It says to NOT maintain a constant speed for the first 1,000 miles, don't use your cruise control, drive like a teenager. I drove about 180 miles on I-4 between Daytona and Tampa ranging from 60-85mph and averaged 31mpg. Now that my car is broken in when I drive to school (about 12 miles all on the freeway) I set the cruise control to 62mph and last time I checked I got 43mpg on that leg. In the city I average in the high 20s. It all depends on how you drive.....

 

[DarinS]

I would sincerely hope that getting the rated 37mpg on the highway is relatively easy to do, if not I'm going to be more than a bit ticked off. But we'll see how it goes.

Just as a reference point, the week before I bought the Focus I test drove a 2012 Mazda3 SkyActiv (rated at 29/39) and managed 39 on my test drive, which was 75% city driving. That car had <100 miles on it.

I like the Focus more and the difference between 37 and 39 is negligable (nearly all my driving is highway). But the cost of ownership changes real quick when in reality it turns out to be a 10mpg difference instead of 2mpg.

 

[Mik Ohki]

I'm at 3500 miles,
and my milage has acutually gone down. 31-33 mpg from 35-36..
I have driven at all different speeds, but mostly old lady driving @ 60 mph..
the 38+ mpg posted here by people is a buch of bull IMO..

My old car (given to daughter was a Honda civic hybrid....driven at 60 mph it regularly gave me 46-48 mpg..

here is a link to my fuelly profile:

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/kupp/focus

the high economy rating for one fill up of 48.2 mpg is balanced out by the previous economy of 31.7. On that tank it was overfilled, thus making it seem as though I went through more fuel resulting in the lower rating on that tank, and the surplus fuel resulting in more distance traveled on the subsequent tanks. It balances out.

Overall with 19 fill ups and at this moment 6305 miles tracked my average fuel economy for how I drive is 37.7 mpg.

I always pump the gas until the cutoff stops the pump twice, and I try to always use the same pump at the station if I can help it, just to keep everything consistent. When I fill her up, depending on how I have been driving recently, it usually gives me a reading of between 448 and 488 miles for Distance Till Empty.

I also have the SFE package on my car, which is a factor.

But driving methods, fuel quality, and traffic conditions are all contributing factors.

If your economy is dropping, as mine has with outside temperature, have you checked your tire pressure?

 

[Dgc333]

The first tank was 29.7 on the economy read out. Since then it had been consistently 33.5-35 in around town suburban driving. We have only taken one extended hiway trip that was about 300 miles and 30 mins we were stuck in stop and go rush hour traffic. On that trip it was a tick over 37 mpg and when we weren't stuck in traffic we were driving low 70's.

Also, the dash read out has been consistently .8-1 mpg low compared to calculating the mpg at fill up.

BTW, we have just shy of 6400 miles on the car now.

 

[Macsleuth]

With just over 6100Km on mine, best mileage I've noted so far is 43.8. I'm pretty happy with that. I do a lot of hi-way driving. about 75 to 90% of my driving is hi-way. I hoping it's gets better after some mods. I use cruise on the hi-way, typically somewhere between 105KM and 115KM, still trying to find that sweet spot. Noticed stop and go is really hard on this car. Still playing with it though.

 

[datsunfreak]

FWIW, I hit the EPA numbers after about 650-700 miles. Now at 1900+ miles I am getting consistent 30-32 all city, and 42-44 all highway (personally calculated after fill-ups, but display numbers are within 2mpg of that).

I have seen as high as 50.2 on the display, while on the highway, with the cruise set to 60mph, and a fairly looong, flat stretch of road, and the AC off. [thankyou]

I generally drive like my grandma, but have "given it the beans" more than a few times as well. [shhh]

 

[datsunfreak]

Pic from last night. Driving for 25 minutes straight at 60mph.

 

[Montana]

I am only pulling 30.0 with cruise control set at 75 MPH and fairly level freeway driving.

Off topic for a bit what does the O with the slash mean before the gas pump and what is the> pinwheel supposed to mean?

Montana

 

[RDJTX]

I am only pulling 30.0 with cruise control set at 75 MPH and fairly level freeway driving.

Off topic for a bit what does the O with the slash mean before the gas pump and what is the> pinwheel supposed to mean?

Montana

The pinwheel is a "green" indicator. If you go into that menu you will get one, or part of one for doing good driving. Keep it up long enough and you could get a trophy on the last screen in the sub menu.

Sent from my phone whilst taking a massive

 

[Montana]

The pinwheel is a "green" indicator. If you go into that menu you will get one, or part of one for doing good driving. Keep it up long enough and you could get a trophy on the last screen in the sub menu.

Sent from my phone whilst taking a massive

Thanks for that bit of info, Sorta got a kick out of that, Reminds me of getting Stars back in school when I was a kid.

Montana

 

[KaputtEqu1pment]

if you have been noticing your fuel economy dropping lately, don't fret. Lots of gas stations are switching over to winter blends and the cooling temps will play a factor in that as well.

 

[Mik Ohki]

if you have been noticing your fuel economy dropping lately, don't fret. Lots of gas stations are switching over to winter blends and the cooling temps will play a factor in that as well.

I didn't even know there was such a thing as winter blends for fuel.

 

[emsvitil]

Don't forget that EPA ratings are for E0

With the normal E10 you'll lose 5-10%..............

 

[Elizabeth]

I was topping the epa estimates after the second tank of gas.
My mpgs have been going up in general.
Cold weather hurts the mpgs..
But I think once the car is resetting its fuel map in cold weather it may get better.

EPA combined estimate for my manual tranny Ford is 30mpg.
I am at 35.1 for total all miles driven so far (at 2,1??miles... 60 gallons of gas)

I hope by next year my total average is over 38 for all driving since bought...