[Hawaiian ZXer]

Aloha Everyone, I bought my wife a 2006 ZX4 SES and the last two tank fulls, I have been getting around 17MPG city driving. I bought the car new, and it has only 300 miles on it. I thought this type of car should get better mpg?[V] How's the Miles Per Gallon do you get? Aloha, Victor

 

[dave30]

17? wow, i get around 20 in an 4L explorer.....
i used to get anywhere fom 25 to 30 in my focus depending how much highway driving i was doing.

 

[zx5kidd03]

i get about 25-27 normal driving and about 20-22 when i put my lead shoes on

 

[grenada_focus]

Never did exclusive city driving, however, I usually get around 26mpg in mostly highway driving @ 70mph. I had a period where my mileage was well bellow my average. After using a fuel injector cleaner and replacing my spark plug wires, I have been getting around 28mpg, and just recently averaged 30mpg [headbang]

 

[grenada_focus]

Aloha Everyone, I bought my wife a 2006 ZX4 SES and the last two tank fulls, I have been getting around 17MPG city driving. I bought the car new, and it has only 300 miles on it. I thought this type of car should get better mpg?[V] How's the Miles Per Gallon do you get? Aloha, Victor

Your mileage will vary depending on driving conditions (hills, acceleration, etc.). The EPA does not use "realistic" driving conditions. Its not that your car cannot achieve better mileage

 

[blight0x]

learn2drive?

 

[BigRed03]

i get like 50-60 miles per 1/4 tank cuz i lve 2 miles from campus, and like 3 miles from work and I drive with a heavy foot which is the worst of my problems...

 

[Hawaiian ZXer]

learn2drive?

Nice..[8] My wife is the one who drives the car. I'm just the one who gets to clean and polish the car. [?|] I get to drive the car maybe once a week on my day off. Yeah, I do have a lead foot. The main reason why I have a lead foot is this is what my daily vehicle is. [thumb]

Kinda hard not to drive normal, when I'm usually hitting double digits. [thumb]

 

[bigmck068]

i was kinda upset my focus gets about 200-220 miles to the tank, was hopping for lest 350-400, when i bought it and then again it only has a 10-12 gallon tank, i know one thing ford better get there crap together or im going with a rice burner next time HONDA

 

[viney266]

300 a tank is exceptional on a focus. I can get it all highway driving. You should get mid 20's around town. You still may be breaking in. There was a large thread about this a few months ago, search around for it.

 

[Chick]

I get between 28-33 MPG mixed driving. The car gets driven hard a lot. I'm happy with it[]

 

[whynotthinkwhynot]

learn2drive?

This coming from someone who was recently complaining about not getting better than 20?!?!?!?![slap]

Hey Hawaiian.. when are you guys going to finally secede from the union? hehehe.. I saw some protesters near Wainae/Makalah (?) when I was on Oahu last summer. I wanted to hang out, but I'm white- maybe not a good idea.

Anyway, your concern is not uncommon. First off, it takes about 10k miles for the motor to settle into it's groove (for lack of a better description), so don't expect to see decent MPG until then. One thing you can check is the spark plug gap. We had one FF who was continuously getting 20-21 on a short drive to work, and he discovered that his gaps were off inconsistently by as much as .025. The correct gap should be .051, and I think it's listed in the owners manual- page 210 if memory is correct (hardly is). If you check the 2.0 performance forum, myself and other FF's have been running a continuing fuel economy test with proven suggestions for improving fuel economy. Any type of CAI will help boost MPG, as well as a free flowing exhaust- even if it's just replacing the stock muffler with a glasspack. I don't have a link for ya, but you can do a search for the "Stealth CAI" and find several descriptions of this mod, but it's not a great idea if you are in a rural part of your island where you might run through puddles deep enough to submerge the car up to the frame. If that's a concern for you then you might want to check out other more expensive options like the F2 or K&N CAI's which put a high performance filter inside the fender in the same location as the stock filter.

Also for your reading pleasure, here's an article describing why a Honda Civic Hybrid only REALLY gets 26 mpg in city driving- which is what my Focus gets []
Why EPA stickers are just bogus attempts by manufacturers to coddle the genitals of prospective buyers so they will buy their car

Aloha! [thumb]

 

[PTMD]

Your motor isn't even broke in yet I would wait until at least 3000 mi before you check your milage. I currnetly average around 31 highway and around 24 city but I just passed 3000 mi.

 

[SkaAddict]

I've been monitoring my fuel consumption since I bought my '02 ZX3 two years ago, and its consistently averaged 27 MPG with mixed driving throughout both years I've had it (I maintain a spreadsheet on my laptop that I update every time I refill.) During the summer I get about 320-360 miles per tank (I usually refill with ~1.5 gallons remaining) and during the winter its closer to 280-320.

 

[Hawaiian ZXer]

Thanks For all the info

I'm gonna check the spark plug gap the next time I get the car. Gonna run some fuel injector cleaner to see if it will help out. I was just under the assumption that I should be getting better mph from the start. I don't know how my wife is driving the car, but I do drive it fast. I'm really don't know too much about how this car should perform. I normally ride a motorcycle, so I have no idea on how fast the car should run, Should it be faster? Is it fast enough for a little car. Thanks Again for all the info. Aloha, Victor

 

[jaykirs]

I typically get around 20 to 21 MPG in stop and go traffic and about 34 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH.

 

[cassa]

i get about 25 to 30 in my sexy beast..

 

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Re: Thanks For all the info

I'm gonna check the spark plug gap the next time I get the car. Gonna run some fuel injector cleaner to see if it will help out. I was just under the assumption that I should be getting better mph from the start. I don't know how my wife is driving the car, but I do drive it fast. I'm really don't know too much about how this car should perform. I normally ride a motorcycle, so I have no idea on how fast the car should run, Should it be faster? Is it fast enough for a little car. Thanks Again for all the info. Aloha, Victor

Don't waste your money on FI cleaner. There's no way your injectors are dirty with these few miles on the car. I remember when I first started driving mine the fuel economy was horrible- no better than my 3.0 Aerostar. I nearly took the car back to the dealer because of it. I know it stinks with gas prices being as high as they are, but it will get better with time.

Go race any Scion. Those TC's have more HP, but are tanks compared to the Focus. You'll absolutely dog the other ones. The Focus is no hot-rod in stock configuration, but it responds VERY well to minor mods like free flowing exhaust and air intakes. DO NOT replace the ignition with those Hot Wires things- total waste of money. It's a good little car that handles accidents very well, and isn't sluggish in traffic. One of our members ran like a 15.6 in the 1/4 completely stock.

 

[SkaAddict]

Also, if your wife is running the AC constantly, that will destroy fuel economy. I left my defroster on a few weeks ago when I was driving on the interstate (which also turns the AC on to dry the air) and I was confused when I noticed I had a quarter tank with only 180 miles on the trip OD, then I noticed the HVAC controls were set to floor/defrost. Last summer I had abyssmal gas mileage when I ran the AC, less than 22 MPG even with all-highway.

Oh yeah, is it manual or automatic? Manuals usually see a MPG or two more over an automatic because they get the power to the ground more efficently...something else to keep in mind.

 

[MarksPZEV]

i get about 25-27 normal driving and about 20-22 when i put my lead shoes on

Dido I get the same, but instead of lead shoes i have steel toes for work