Brand new Fusion driver

[rwhgme]

Low to mid 20's with rain, snow, and north winds to 40 mph. With a little over 100 miles on the odometer we are averaging 35.5 mpg. I am happy as I am coming from 20 mpg on premium fuel.

[GrySql]

It takes about a dozen run cycles of 10 minutes or more to learn your driving habits, plus the weather and heater use is causing the lower mpg's.

As Spring approaches and you get used to driving the car the mpg's should start to climb.

Edited February 1, 2015 by GrySql

[mwr]

It takes about a dozen run cycles of 10 minutes or more to learn your driving habits, plus the weather and heater use is causing the lower mpg's.

As Spring approaches and you get used to driving the car the mpg's should start to climb.

Just another data point, but my mpg were as good my first trip in the car as it's ever been. But definitely agree about the lower temps and rain lowering mpg.

[Texasota]

Just another data point, but my mpg were as good my first trip in the car as it's ever been.

Same here. But, I attribute that to the things I learned here on this forum.

[rwhgme]

Just had a 15 mile trip where I averaged 53.7 mpg on the screen! Very pleased with that!

[machoman1337]

Tip for heater use during winter: I use the seat heater to warm my body (turning it off when I feel good enough) and turn on the defogger (my windshield fogs up easily in BC winters) but keep the temperature as low as possible (i.e. right at the perfect point where it doesn't blow cold air, typically 17 degrees Celsius), with the fan at minimal speed. I can still achieve phenomenal fuel economy provided I don't do too much uphill driving. If your hands feel cold, wear gloves while driving or use the heated steering wheel if you have that feature (sadly I don't).

 

The seat heater part is especially important. It's FAR more power efficient than the HVAC, doing the job much faster with minimal impact on your fuel economy.

 

Yesterday on the way home from work (with quite a bit of downhill) I got 4.4 L/100 km (53 mpg) with the defogger on at the settings I described above. I have never exceeded 5.0 L/100km on that route even during the coldest times in this part of town.

 

In my old car I used to just blast the heat from the vents and that got me a nice 14.5 L/100km (16 mpg) during the winter (I lived in Ontario then, which has a similar climate to New England).

Edited February 5, 2015 by machoman1337