Really short driving distances...

[BearCat]

I am looking for fuel efficiency. However part of my daily drive is a horrible 1.6 mile drive to work and from work. So 3.2 on the day just for work. Yes, I know...brutal on a car. But because of how the roads are bicycling is out of the question and walking is even worse.

 

Does anybody do this kind of brutal driving? How bad does the MPG dip? I know its not enough time for the engine to warm and EV kick. Just trying to get an idea if I would be better off saving the 3000 price point between a Fusion Hybrid or a Fusion SEL I4.

[DaveM]

I am looking for fuel efficiency. However part of my daily drive is a horrible 1.6 mile drive to work and from work. So 3.2 on the day just for work. Yes, I know...brutal on a car. But because of how the roads are bicycling is out of the question and walking is even worse.

 

Does anybody do this kind of brutal driving? How bad does the MPG dip? I know its not enough time for the engine to warm and EV kick. Just trying to get an idea if I would be better off saving the 3000 price point between a Fusion Hybrid or a Fusion SEL I4.

That short of a distance I doubt if the electric engine will even kick in so you will cover both distances on the gas engine which makes the Hybrid a complete waste of money. And if you live where it is cold it can/does take me a good 4 to 5 miles for the hybrid to kick in and if real cold it kicks out again after a short distance. Remember the hybrid is only good for city driving at speeds below 47mph. I think you will be wasting a lot of money and gain nothing. Most likely lose some mpg.

[Milan_OH]

I am looking for fuel efficiency. However part of my daily drive is a horrible 1.6 mile drive to work and from work. So 3.2 on the day just for work. Yes, I know...brutal on a car. But because of how the roads are bicycling is out of the question and walking is even worse.

 

Does anybody do this kind of brutal driving? How bad does the MPG dip? I know its not enough time for the engine to warm and EV kick. Just trying to get an idea if I would be better off saving the 3000 price point between a Fusion Hybrid or a Fusion SEL I4.

 

 

Bear,

 

I think there's more to the equation than a 3 mile compute to work. That's <1K miles a year on your commute.....an enviable distance we'd all like to have, however, as a percentage of your yearly miles driven, it's ~<10% based on 12K/year. You'll surely benefit the remaining 90% of your miles. I'd guesstimate your MPG the first few miles driven are going to be 20-30ish at best.

 

As a side note, if my battery is 'up', my MMH (now a collector's item), will drop into EV mode before the green temp light illuminates, until the battery goes down. I happen to have a mile of down hill/level terrain sub division driving for a mile out of my driveway, so it's possible to benefit on a short jont. If it were me, I wouldn't hesitate on the FFH. When gas goes back to $4, you'll thank yourself.

 

Jack in Ohio

[Grey]

We consistantly dtive 2 miles or less and half of that time on Battery only. When we see the trip display after the short trips, it usually says 36-37MPG. We have some hills and the speed limit is 25-35 MPH. The vehicle it replaced was lucky to get 15 MPG. We have a very short warm-up cycle in this Georgia weather.

[BearCat]

We consistantly dtive 2 miles or less and half of that time on Battery only. When we see the trip display after the short trips, it usually says 36-37MPG. We have some hills and the speed limit is 25-35 MPH. The vehicle it replaced was lucky to get 15 MPG. We have a very short warm-up cycle in this Georgia weather.

 

Do you startup cold, drive two miles and see that display?

[jay2000]

This morning I checked, about 20 mpg at the 1.5 mile mark. (There's all kinds of variables at play here.)

 

This is bound to be better than a Fusion SE, and not as good as a Vespa. You sound like a good candidate for an all electric car. Can you wait a year? There should be more choices than just the Nissan Leaf by then.

[DaveM]

This morning I checked, about 20 mpg at the 1.5 mile mark. (There's all kinds of variables at play here.)

 

This is bound to be better than a Fusion SE, and not as good as a Vespa. You sound like a good candidate for an all electric car. Can you wait a year? There should be more choices than just the Nissan Leaf by then.

and this past winter in the 20's or below 11 to 14 for a 2 mile ride and this was with it plugged into 110 to heat the water and in a 40 degree garage. I still feel if you're going to do a lot of the 2 miles or less driving to work save the 3K+ of the hybrid.

[BearCat]

Yeah, I am not sure the Hybrid is my best bet, but I wish to exhaust all my possibilities prior to making a purchase.

 

Plus 3K can purchase a lot of gas too. I drove an I4 2010 Fusion and was delighted with the drive. (about 500 miles as a rental). I got 28 MPG while driving about 80+ most of the way and then some very short bad 5 mile drives from the Hotel to the mill.

 

I would be going for a I4 SEL, no SE.

[Oman]

I would have to disagree with this part of the statement: "Remember the hybrid is only good for city driving at speeds below 47mph" - if you meant EV mode then fine, but the hybrid drivetrain gives me 38MPG at 75Mph on the highway. That's pretty hard to get in an automatic mid-size gas sedan with the weight/bells/whistles of the Fusion.

 

Jon

 

 

That short of a distance I doubt if the electric engine will even kick in so you will cover both distances on the gas engine which makes the Hybrid a complete waste of money. And if you live where it is cold it can/does take me a good 4 to 5 miles for the hybrid to kick in and if real cold it kicks out again after a short distance. Remember the hybrid is only good for city driving at speeds below 47mph. I think you will be wasting a lot of money and gain nothing. Most likely lose some mpg.

[DaveM]

I would have to disagree with this part of the statement: "Remember the hybrid is only good for city driving at speeds below 47mph" - if you meant EV mode then fine, but the hybrid drivetrain gives me 38MPG at 75Mph on the highway. That's pretty hard to get in an automatic mid-size gas sedan with the weight/bells/whistles of the Fusion.

 

Jon

Re-read the orginal post. The poster was very worried about his daily drive of about 1.5 miles and only that. He didn't say anything about driving a lot on the highway etc. If all he is worried about is that 1.5 mile drive each way then my post was spot on. He is wasting at least 3K by buying the Hybird. Now if he reposts and gives us a better feel on how many miles per year/week etc. maybe we could give him a better answer.

[Grey]

Do you startup cold, drive two miles and see that display?

 

 

Yes. I am on battery power within .3 miles from cold start - it happens to be a slight downhill run.

[markwilson66]

I have a similar commute, about 2.3 miles each way with 10-12 stop signs/lights. My speed is never above 45 MPH in stop and go traffic. The first half mile is almost always on gas as the car gets to operating temperature. Then it goes in and out of EV mode for the rest of the trip. My average MPG over the first 3,500 miles is 34.7 right now. Sometimes the average for the trip is as low as 20 MPG and sometimes it is above 58 MPG so the short trips are not very accurate when you look at them individually. Where my average really improves is when I can take longer drives without a lot of stopping and starting and maintaining a consistent speed of about 45 MPH or longer freeway runs at 65 MPH. I also debated the return on investment given the higher price tag but with the $1,700 tax credit I received it was an easier decision. It's also nice to only fill up the tank every 6 weeks or so. I also considered that my commute may not always be 2.3 miles and it turns out that my office is moving this summer and my commute will be 7.1 miles so I will probably see some gains in fuel economy.

 

Mark

[lolder]

After the initial ICE run of 30-60 seconds, EV will be available below 14 mph if cabin heat demand is off. If you can accelerate slowly enough to remain in EV, it will stay in EV until HVB charge level requires the ICE. Going below 14 will re-establish EV again. This can be repeated until temperature gauge turns green in "Empower" for normal EV mode. Wait till the "Green" before you call for heat, if able.

[Howie411]

Ford/EPA claims the car gets 41/39 which means it should get better gas mileage on city driving, but in the last 7 months I've noticed the complete opposite. I get about 45-48 mpg HWY driving 65-70 MPH, and closer to around 35 mpg city driving

[Oman]

It was OT for the OPT, but my reply was about a specfic statement as quoted.

 

And going back On Topic... It would seem that very short trips do not see nearly as much benefit as longer trips, and that multiplies if the car is operated in cold climates.

 

Jon

 

 

Re-read the orginal post. The poster was very worried about his daily drive of about 1.5 miles and only that. He didn't say anything about driving a lot on the highway etc. If all he is worried about is that 1.5 mile drive each way then my post was spot on. He is wasting at least 3K by buying the Hybird. Now if he reposts and gives us a better feel on how many miles per year/week etc. maybe we could give him a better answer.