New (to me)car, many questions

[hal9000]

Hi all, Just picked upa 14 fusion hybrid recently and while I'm pretty happy with it overall, there are definitely a few used car issues and a learning curve to get over. I'll be searching out the appropriate forums to post my questions as Time allows, but I live on toddler time at the moment so that could be hit or miss.... Oh, and I definitely bought the car for fuel savings, but I've had this nagging itch to play hot rod games with a hybrid for years. I'll never do it (see note on toddler time above), but I'm probably going to ask some silly questions about adding performance just to keep myself entertained!

Best.

[aschulz261]

The answer is simple.  If you want to add performance.....not going to happen.

 

The best thing to do is make sure there are low rolling resistance tires on it and they are properly inflated.  There are people on here that have tried sportier tires and taken a good  hit in mileage.  What I have seen is that where I live (Hawaii) AC use on short trips absolutely KILLS the mileage.  Long trips its negligible.  You will find you usual controversies here about fuels and oils.  I use the Motorcraft semi synthetic put in by the dealer and have no reason to try anything else.  I also use 92 octane.  I get about 1.5 mpg better using it.  Does it pay for itself....no.  But I would rather give the engine what it wants.

[Waldo]

8 hours ago, aschulz261 said:

The answer is simple.  If you want to add performance.....not going to happen.

 

The best thing to do is make sure there are low rolling resistance tires on it and they are properly inflated.  There are people on here that have tried sportier tires and taken a good  hit in mileage.  What I have seen is that where I live (Hawaii) AC use on short trips absolutely KILLS the mileage.  Long trips its negligible.  You will find you usual controversies here about fuels and oils.  I use the Motorcraft semi synthetic put in by the dealer and have no reason to try anything else.  I also use 92 octane.  I get about 1.5 mpg better using it.  Does it pay for itself....no.  But I would rather give the engine what it wants.

 

Ding, begin the controversy!  The engine is designed to run on regular fuel.  That's what it wants.  It's a complete waste to run premium, in particular with an Atkinson cycle naturally aspirated engine.

[hal9000]

Thanks for the heads up on tires. I'm not sure if what's on it are low resistance or not ( haven't checked? But my first  tank average was 44.5 mpg, and that included 300 miles of highway use with a gross elevation change of about 15000 ft. So it seems like I'm doing ok.

[Cobra348]

On mileage, base MPG on receipts and not the car.  I have found that the car is as much as 4 MPG over what I really got.

 

For tires ... 17" rims are typically Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires ... 225/50-R17 size.  These are low rolling resistance.  I'm not sure what comes on the 18" rims, but I would guess perhaps Michelin as well.  It seems to be Fords brand choice on FFH.

 

For first tank however, you did quite well.

[MeeLee]

On 11/15/2022 at 8:56 AM, Waldo said:

 

Ding, begin the controversy!  The engine is designed to run on regular fuel.  That's what it wants.  It's a complete waste to run premium, in particular with an Atkinson cycle naturally aspirated engine.

Totally untrue!

The engine actually prefers high octane fuel, as this (not being a true atkinson engine, but a modification to the Miller engine).

Instead of keeping the intake valves open longer, the ford engine closes the exhaust valves quicker, causing a smaller amount of air/fuel to enter on the next intake stroke.

 

This also causes the chamber to still have hot exhaust gasses in them. Higher octane fuel not only has higher resistance to heat, and thus pinging, but also contains more potent combustion (nitrogen), mostly gas stations like BP and Shell use that.

 

This allows the engine to run in it's reduced 'atkinson state' for much longer, or more severe than with lower quality gasoline, resulting in much higher mpg, especially noticed on hot summer days.

 

Using high octane fuel, I regularly hit 55 to 60mpg, and also notice an increase in hp when pushing the engine a bit harder. Using regular fuel, I regularly hit 45-50mpg. When using (months) old and stale fuel, I sometimes can barely get 36mpg.

 

That being said, the 33% premium you pay for high octane fuel, isn't going to get you 33% higher mpg, but more realistically closer to 7% at best, depending on what fuel you get.