Not happy with mpg

[clummus]

well be was rude to me and I have meant no disrespect

[hybridbear]

well be was rude to me and I have meant no disrespect

I wasn't trying to be rude to you, but I do want to make a point about trying to avoid duplicating the same discussions over and over again. When new threads are continuously created asking questions that have already been answered then the threads with the answers end up getting lost which leads to more repeat questions and it becomes a vicious cycle which makes the Forum an unproductive place because it makes it harder for new users that come later on to find useful information because it's buried under threads that don't say anything new.

 

I'm sorry for having offended you with my comments from this morning. I did not mean it to be so harsh

[terryb]

So, I have three solid blue bars across the FE coach screen and aan average of 37mpg. What the hey? I did pull a plug this morning and found carbon coating just like Acdii reported when he pulled the plug on Blue Devil #1. I think I need a magic ECM software patch.

[Guardian_Bob]

So, I have three solid blue bars across the FE coach screen and aan average of 37mpg. What the hey? I did pull a plug this morning and found carbon coating just like Acdii reported when he pulled the plug on Blue Devil #1. I think I need a magic ECM software patch.

 

Sorry, I'm not privy to the details you're talking about, are you saying your spark plug was covered in carbon?

[acdii]

 

Sorry, I'm not privy to the details you're talking about, are you saying your spark plug was covered in carbon?

He is referring to that other car I used to have, at 4500 miles all 4 plugs fouled, setting a check light and throwing multiple misfire codes. At 900 ,iles after they were replaced I pulled one out and it was coated with carbon, Whether it was sign of a poor running engine or not, I have seen cleaner plugs in a worn out lawn mower.

 

BTW Love the Blue Devil name :)

[terryb]

The body of the plug had a layer of carbon on it. The gap was a little excessive. I'm not going to check the other plugs. Assume (yes I know) the sample was representative. I'm gonna hold out a while longer for a solution from Ford engineering related to the lawsuit stuff. I'd still like to know what the ailment is when the coach is perfect looking.

[acdii]

Did it look like this?

 

 

According to service, this is normal. The ones he pulled out had carbon covering the center electrode and ground. It had bridged the gap between the center and ground on 2 of the plugs.

[terryb]

Yep, carbon on the body, but no cap bridge. I couldn't measure the gap, but it took some pressure to close the gap to 0.050. What would a gap excess of 0.005 do to the performance?

[acdii]

Bigger gap for the spark to jump would make it less effective, and make the ignition work harder. Regapping may help it work better.

[terryb]

Guess I will regap and clean all then.

Thanks,

[LamarD2]

I have a 2014 SE Hybrid. I finally decided to try the ECO Cruise at 60 MPH. Yes, that did it. I live in Houston, Texas and I finally got 43 MPG! I was doing around 35 MPG with my normal driving. But, I decided to try doing the cruise at 60 MPH to see what I would get.

 

I have a driving trip planned to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That will be a painfully slow trip!! OMG!! Driving at 60 MPH felt like I was walking!!

 

But, I would imagine that if I did 55 MPH, I would get even better gas millage. Hummm, I may even get the 47 MPG that Ford claims that it does.

 

I saw a Volkswagen JettaTD pass me this morning. I wonder if I should have bought one of those. I sure as heck could drive faster on the highways and get good gas mileage. But the fuel cost would be higher.

 

Oh well, I'll keep Hope Alive!

 

Lamar

[hermans]

I have a 2014 SE Hybrid. I finally decided to try the ECO Cruise at 60 MPH. Yes, that did it. I live in Houston, Texas and I finally got 43 MPG! I was doing around 35 MPG with my normal driving. But, I decided to try doing the cruise at 60 MPH to see what I would get.

 

I have a driving trip planned to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That will be a painfully slow trip!! OMG!! Driving at 60 MPH felt like I was walking!!

 

But, I would imagine that if I did 55 MPH, I would get even better gas millage. Hummm, I may even get the 47 MPG that Ford claims that it does.

 

I saw a Volkswagen JettaTD pass me this morning. I wonder if I should have bought one of those. I sure as heck could drive faster on the highways and get good gas mileage. But the fuel cost would be higher.

 

Oh well, I'll keep Hope Alive!

 

Lamar

Lamar....The fact you can get better MPG using eco cruise tells me that you are not driving the car like a hybrid. I can get better mileage not using eco cruise. Hope that makes sense.

[acdii]

I have a 2014 SE Hybrid. I finally decided to try the ECO Cruise at 60 MPH. Yes, that did it. I live in Houston, Texas and I finally got 43 MPG! I was doing around 35 MPG with my normal driving. But, I decided to try doing the cruise at 60 MPH to see what I would get.

 

I have a driving trip planned to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That will be a painfully slow trip!! OMG!! Driving at 60 MPH felt like I was walking!!

 

But, I would imagine that if I did 55 MPH, I would get even better gas millage. Hummm, I may even get the 47 MPG that Ford claims that it does.

 

I saw a Volkswagen JettaTD pass me this morning. I wonder if I should have bought one of those. I sure as heck could drive faster on the highways and get good gas mileage. But the fuel cost would be higher.

 

Oh well, I'll keep Hope Alive!

 

Lamar

 

 

Lamar....The fact you can get better MPG using eco cruise tells me that you are not driving the car like a hybrid. I can get better mileage not using eco cruise. Hope that makes sense.

It IS all in how you drive it! While other Hybrids are get in and drive and get EPA, the Fusion does make you work for every drop. Then again, it is the only Hybrid that has full EV at 80 MPH. When you get more miles on the car, have your tire pressure around 40-44 PSI cold, you can have the Ecocruise set to 68 and see 43 MPG. Just remember the faster you go the more power required, the more fuel used.

 

Keep at it. eventually the way to drive it will "click" in and you will be seeing better numbers more often. I have nearly 15K on mine now, and I dont even bother trying in this cold crappy weather, yet still seeing 41 MPG. Much rather have the Fusion than a VW anyday.

[Bob Cooke]

Ok Ok Ok, I just got 600+ miles on my last tank and I'm still not happy about my gas only mpg. Wife thinks I'm nuts. Go figure.

I can't seem to get more then 20 mpg gas only. Going 600 miles tells me I must be doing something right???? Anyway I think I might have answered my own question.

Here it is. It would appear to me at least that in order to achieve better gas only mpg you must have your battery at or very near full charge.

When my battery is close to be fully charged the gas mpg goes upto 40, run the battery down and it drops back down in the 20's or so.

Since I've been trying to get the most mpge I didn't notice this correlation before. Maybe it's only me thinking this. I figure since the gas engine doesn't have

to charge the battery it's no longer working so hard and get the posted 40 mpg it's capable of. Which is kind of a catch 22 using the battery to get mpge or running the ICE to get better

MPG. So with only 4 full tanks under my belt and a mere 900 gas only miles on my ICE I maybe reaching here. Can anyone else chime in and either confirm or deny this?

BTW this is my first hybrid so I'm still learning exactly the best way to drive this car but, I believe we are going to have a long relationship. :)

[lolder]

It's normal to get 20-30 when the ICE is running. It's propelling the car and charging the HVB. Your average mpg is the total miles driven divided by the fuel used when the ICE is running which is about half the time at lower speeds. Drive the car as you would any other and don't worry about it. The mpg on short lower speed trips will vary wildly depending on starting and ending HVB SOC and many other external factors.

[md13ffhguy]

Ok Ok Ok, I just got 600+ miles on my last tank and I'm still not happy about my gas only mpg. Wife thinks I'm nuts. Go figure.

I agree with her. ;)

It's not a gas-only car, so don't sweat it. Keep on driving.

[lolder]

Here's the math. You go 2 miles with the ICE on indicating 20 mpg. That's 0.1 gal. During that time you have charged the HVB high enough to drive 2 miles in EV at which time you're back to the same SOC in the HVB that you started with. You've gone 4 miles on 0.1 gal which is 40 mpg which is what the trip summary would read. I used even numbers and distances for simplicity. The mpg while the ICE is running is almost immaterial. All of the Toyota / Ford eCVT models behave this way.

[Bob Cooke]

Ok just checking to see if I'm on the right track or not. I will be taking a long road trip to Colorado in July, :shift: So I curious to see if the 40 MPG rating on the highway is close. I know that driving in the mountains is certain to take a toll on my mileage, However I'm very curious if the highway driving will render 40 plus mpg's. Thank you for all of your input as I value

all of your information as crucial to my quest for the holy grail of MPG's the ever elusive 700.

[Texasota]

Your highway MPG will be very dependent on the speed you drive. Below 65 MPH (with no head wind) I am able to reliably achieve 40 (or a little better).

[mwr]

Ok just checking to see if I'm on the right track or not. I will be taking a long road trip to Colorado in July, :shift: So I curious to see if the 40 MPG rating on the highway is close. I know that driving in the mountains is certain to take a toll on my mileage, However I'm very curious if the highway driving will render 40 plus mpg's. Thank you for all of your input as I value

all of your information as crucial to my quest for the holy grail of MPG's the ever elusive 700.

You should do fine. I took my fist long trip in February and posted about it here. Total miles 1148, 26.95 gallons, 42.6 mpg. 75 mph freeway driving plus slower driving.

[GrySql]

Your highway MPG will be very dependent on the speed you drive. Below 65 MPH (with no head wind) I am able to reliably achieve 40 (or a little better).

It wasn't long ago that 40mpg was an almost magical number that few car owners could achieve, now look at how we talk. :)

[Texasota]

It wasn't long ago that 40mpg was an almost magical number that few car owners could achieve, now look at how we talk. :)

Agreed. It also seems like it was not that long ago that hybrids were known for providing very good MPG during city driving and no so much for highway driving. Today’s hybrids excel at both. The FFH significantly outperforms the gas Fusions in both city and highway. It is impressive.

[darrelld]

Consumer Reports recently rated the Fusion Hybrid price premium payback at 5 years even at $2.20 per gallon gas. The FFH had the quickest payback of any hybrid.

 

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/04/are-green-cars-still-worth-the-money/index.htm

Edited April 22, 2015 by darrelld

[Cobra348]

thanks guys for your encouragement. I want acddi's numbers..Lol

After 2 tanks and nearly 1000 miles I have an average of 40.9 which is a 10-15% increase over the lifetime (16 month) average of the Fiesta I had prior. I still have learning and adjusting to do but I'm tickled pink! And don't tell anyone but for a larger car than any I have owned since 2002 or so, this is a fun beast to drive.

 

For the left screens I have Empower setup with the brake coach popup when I stop. I try to keep the coach over 85% but sometimes it just doesn't work that way. Trip 1 right now is showing about 44 MPG for 150 miles or so.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Cobra348

[Cobra348]

Here's the math. You go 2 miles with the ICE on indicating 20 mpg. That's 0.1 gal. During that time you have charged the HVB high enough to drive 2 miles in EV at which time you're back to the same SOC in the HVB that you started with. You've gone 4 miles on 0.1 gal which is 40 mpg which is what the trip summary would read. I used even numbers and distances for simplicity. The mpg while the ICE is running is almost immaterial. All of the Toyota / Ford eCVT models behave this way.

Okay - question. In two fillups so far, EV miles has been about 46-48% of the total miles. That makes ICE running slightly more than 50% of the time. Based on what I **think** I read in your statement, I need to get ICE percentage 50 or less in order to really see improvement in MPG. Am I correct?

 

Admittedly I am not tracking each and every run in the car, but only when I fill up. I'm still happy at a 10-15% increase over the little Fiesta 4-banger average and that was mid-30s.