2011 Lincoln mkz hybrid only getting 27mpg

[Greg84]

Hi all, I know I should probably be on the Lincoln mkz hybrid forums, but I cant seem to register, so I decided to try here seeing as these 2 cars are almost exactly the same. 

 

Anyway, i bought a 2011 Lincoln mkz hybrid on friday and for the most part it seems pretty good, except the fuel economy isn't quite what I had imagined.

 

Now I know what everyone is going to say, the battery age needs to be reset.  Well I've done that already twice.  The first time I set it to 2 years and it didnt improve, today I set it to 0 years to see if that would change things and nope.  Truth is the only thing that's been helping is learning to drive it properly.  When I first started driving it I was getting about 10 litres per 100 km.  Now it's down to 8.5 litres per 100 km.  I've also reset the modules and then relearned the idle trim.

 

So I'm wondering what else could be causing it? I mean I've read online that I should be able to get up to 60 mph on ev alone.  I cant get above 40 kmh before the ice kicks in. No way I can ever use ev on the highway.   

 

Anyway just looking for some tips that'll hopefully point me in the right direction.  

 

Thanks 

[Waldo]

The 2011 won't do 60 mph on the highway in EV mode, that's only the 2013+ that can do that.

 

There are about a billion threads on this forum about optimizing fuel mileage, so do some searching and reading, but there could be a lot of things.  As you've already noted, driving style and environment is a big one.  But also tires, carrying around extra weight, dragging brakes, and with a 10+ year old could be general maintenance things like spark plugs, engine cleaning and all that stuff.

 

Also keep in mind you can't make fuel economy calculations on short distances.  If you've had the car less than a week, none of your numbers mean anything yet.  You need to do hand calculations (gallons put in at the pump divided by distance traveled) on two tanks before you can really draw any conclusions.