MPG Happy Talk

[Code_Warrior]

Ha! that's great! I will have to remember that this summer. Great advice, keep the extra expensive looking car out of sight when getting prices from contractors. I like it!

It's a real problem. When people see my car they want to know how much it cost. When I tell them less than 30 grand they don't believe me.

[acdii]

It's a real problem. When people see my car they want to know how much it cost. When I tell them less than 30 grand they don't believe me.

Better yet, hand then a card from your dealer. If they get a sale off it, you may get a kickback. Mine does that.

[ace8726872]

I must say that I have been really happy with my morning MPG numbers last week. It's been warm and nice here in SoCal last week in the high 60's in the morning and I saw numbers like 53.4 and 54.7 MPG.

 

However, this morning, It was freezing 50F and i definitely saw a huge reduction the MPG. i can't tell you how disappointed when i saw the MPG numbers when I get to work. I only saw 50.4MPG. ;-)

 

Someone mentioned that we can expect 2MPG drop per 10F decrease in temperature which is dead on accurate in my case. And I really was a bit disappointed at seeing 50.4 because I thought I drove well. Except for the braking score!

 

Funny how one can get spoiled so fast!

Edited March 20, 2013 by ace8726872

[acdii]

50* is freezing? I LOL, it was 11* here this morning, now that is FREEZING! :) Oh how I long for a 50* day or two here!

[tombarker13ffh]

Wish it was 50 here too! Its been 30 with wind chills in the teens. Drove into a 20mph wind today and got 38 mpg over 11 miles. The wind just slows the car down so much you cant get anything out of EV on the highway...

 

[acdii]

Yeah, windy here too and the drive home was right into it. Didnt bother looking, knew it was well under what I normally get.

[ace8726872]

According to fuelly.com, my last tank got me 46.7 MPG. My best morning commute was at 54.7 MPG and my best evening commute today at 47.3 MPG for my 28 mile commute. I think it helps to drive on the tail-end of the rush hour when the speeds are lower than 65MPH+. The SoCal temperature for this tank was also favorable as it was warm for better part of this tank of gas, hitting 90F and staying around 70F.

 

Ad sorry for the guys who have to brave 10F weather. But living in SoCal, 50F is pretty chilly! Love my FFH and SoCal weather! :-)

[tombarker13ffh]

Had a little wind behind me this time. 12 degrees in the wind and wife was making me run the heat, still got 47. Tank average is at 45.5mpg.

 

[acdii]

Amazing how 20* can knock 4 off. Past two days have been 11* in the morning, went from near 40MPG down to 36MPG both days. BRRRR When will this cold end, Where the hell is spring!

[tombarker13ffh]

31° today. High near 45 tomorrow :)

 

[hybridbear]

Wish it was 50 here too! Its been 30 with wind chills in the teens. Drove into a 20mph wind today and got 38 mpg over 11 miles. The wind just slows the car down so much you cant get anything out of EV on the highway...

 

The wind makes a huge difference on highway mileage. Crosswinds are bad too, although not as bad as driving head first into the wind.

 

31° today. High near 45 tomorrow :)

 

Wow! We're still sturggling to hit 32...all next week we're only supposed to see low 30s, we should be pushing 50 right now for the high in MN. Our highs have been where the average overnight low should be and our lows have been close to new record low temps...this is really annoying!!! :angry22: :banghead: but then again, all we have to do in MN is talk about the weather lol

[acdii]

ice ice baby sux sux baby!! My horses are tearing apart their stalls, literally. They have been stuck inside now since early Jan due to ice. The ice is so bad I cant move the barn doors, and all the fields are layered in ice. Even if I could get the door open, its way to risky to let them loose, I know what they would do the moment I open their stall door, and that is race outside, hit that ice and go flying and possibly break something. Oh bring on the warm weather PLEASE!!!

[terryb]

I see this morning that an Ohio DA wants Punxsutawny Phil executed for falsafying the weather forecast.

[jcg1005]

Just based on fuelly number your story is like 99% of us, if you look at fueleconomy.gov its 75% of us, if you check the facebook page for the fusion hybrid its filled with ranting of same thing. Why anyone would create a thread just to chart how wonderful their mpg is but cant say anything bad is bizarre and suspicious. Their either working for Ford or one of their social networking cronies.

 

I have posted information like this elsewhere. My 2013 FFH is ordered, and expected at the beginning of May. I have been driving my 2011 Fusion Hybrid for 2 years. I can tell you this - I DO NOT work for Ford or anything associated with Ford. I completely believe that when I begin driving my new FFH, I will exceed the EPA estimate nearly all the time, until cold weather (below freezing) arrives.

 

My lifetime mileage, calculated by miles/fuel, is 37.8 right now in the car. It is the end of winter obviously. In November, that number was in the low 40's. The first year I had my car, I lived a few miles from where I do now, and my commute changed to be more highway when I moved. Prior to that, my lifetime average was 41.7, and that included an entire winter.

 

Achieving these mileage numbers is easy and just takes a bit of coaching. It isn't magic. I will say this - if you are a bit lead-footed and accelerate hard all the time, you should be lucky to achieve anywhere near the EPA number on any car. This is particularly true in a hybrid, since they have smaller a smaller ICE, and therefore, when you are standing in the gas pedal, it not only taxes the ICE to the limit, but utilizes all of the horsepower available from the electric drive, sucking your battery down, and subsequently, requiring more recharge.

 

The biggest thing you can do is change the way you brake and accelerate. You don't have to do it much, and you won't be obstructing traffic or driving like a grandmother. Give yourself one complete tank or two of maximizing the coaching in your new car, and your mileage will skyrocket. I learned that with my 2011 in about 2 weeks. It was a game to try and get high mileage for a while. I stopped complaining about traffic slow downs during my commute, because when traffic was stuck at 40 MPH, I was happy in electric.

 

When the weather is warm (over 40 or so), I can easily achieve 43 MPG according to the car on each leg of my commute now, and my previous, more city-based commute, would routinely achieve 47-48 MPG per trip by the same method.

 

These numbers are realistic and achievable with slight driving habit modifications, and you will be rewarded with a lower gas bill. (Like my 2 tanks per month with a 325 mile per week in commuting)

[lolder]

The wind makes a huge difference on highway mileage. Crosswinds are bad too, although not as bad as driving head first into the wind.

Actually, the crosswinds are worse. Vehicles are designed to have the lowest drag only for head on winds. A given wind velocity 20 º off center is likely to cause more drag. The vehicle's speed draws the relative wind vector closer to head on. There have been discussions about cocking vehicles 5 º or so into this vector on highways by available technologies like four wheel steering to reduce drag. All that would be needed additionally would be a wind direction sensor and software.

[ace8726872]

Actually, the crosswinds are worse. Vehicles are designed to have the lowest drag only for head on winds. A given wind velocity 20 º off center is likely to cause more drag. The vehicle's speed draws the relative wind vector closer to head on. There have been discussions about cocking vehicles 5 º or so into this vector on highways by available technologies like four wheel steering to reduce drag. All that would be needed additionally would be a wind direction sensor and software.

 

Wow, great info! You sound like you work for Ford!!! Very suspicious indeed. :-)

[lolder]

I don't work for Ford and I read about that on another site that I don't remember. The gains for such technologies are small but even a 1 % gain in highway mileage is a huge amount of fuel reduction in a nation per year. There was comment that there would be a lot of horn honking initially about other drivers worried your were seriously out of alignment. There are few all-wheel-steering vehicles out there but it is a mature technology. It's probably not cost effective yet. Self driving cars will yield much larger gains in safety and economy.

[acdii]

Wow, great info! You sound like you work for Ford!!! Very suspicious indeed. :-)

I don't know, how do we know he is NOT Mel Torme' ?

[Fynack]

I have posted information like this elsewhere. My 2013 FFH is ordered, and expected at the beginning of May. I have been driving my 2011 Fusion Hybrid for 2 years. I can tell you this - I DO NOT work for Ford or anything associated with Ford. I completely believe that when I begin driving my new FFH, I will exceed the EPA estimate nearly all the time, until cold weather (below freezing) arrives.

 

My lifetime mileage, calculated by miles/fuel, is 37.8 right now in the car. It is the end of winter obviously. In November, that number was in the low 40's. The first year I had my car, I lived a few miles from where I do now, and my commute changed to be more highway when I moved. Prior to that, my lifetime average was 41.7, and that included an entire winter.

 

Achieving these mileage numbers is easy and just takes a bit of coaching. It isn't magic. I will say this - if you are a bit lead-footed and accelerate hard all the time, you should be lucky to achieve anywhere near the EPA number on any car. This is particularly true in a hybrid, since they have smaller a smaller ICE, and therefore, when you are standing in the gas pedal, it not only taxes the ICE to the limit, but utilizes all of the horsepower available from the electric drive, sucking your battery down, and subsequently, requiring more recharge.

 

The biggest thing you can do is change the way you brake and accelerate. You don't have to do it much, and you won't be obstructing traffic or driving like a grandmother. Give yourself one complete tank or two of maximizing the coaching in your new car, and your mileage will skyrocket. I learned that with my 2011 in about 2 weeks. It was a game to try and get high mileage for a while. I stopped complaining about traffic slow downs during my commute, because when traffic was stuck at 40 MPH, I was happy in electric.

 

When the weather is warm (over 40 or so), I can easily achieve 43 MPG according to the car on each leg of my commute now, and my previous, more city-based commute, would routinely achieve 47-48 MPG per trip by the same method.

 

These numbers are realistic and achievable with slight driving habit modifications, and you will be rewarded with a lower gas bill. (Like my 2 tanks per month with a 325 mile per week in commuting)

Thanks for the driving tips. But as you can see below on my fuelly numbers. One is rated at 40/39 while the other at 47/47. No other comments ... keeping it happy :)

[tombarker13ffh]

Cruise at 63-65. 40°.

 

[ace8726872]

67F morning commute. My brake score still needs a lot of improvement. Is there any way to reset the brake score? Does it reset when I reset the lifetime stats?

 

[ace8726872]

Gotta love it!

[hybridbear]

I have posted information like this elsewhere. My 2013 FFH is ordered, and expected at the beginning of May. I have been driving my 2011 Fusion Hybrid for 2 years. I can tell you this - I DO NOT work for Ford or anything associated with Ford. I completely believe that when I begin driving my new FFH, I will exceed the EPA estimate nearly all the time, until cold weather (below freezing) arrives.

 

My lifetime mileage, calculated by miles/fuel, is 37.8 right now in the car. It is the end of winter obviously. In November, that number was in the low 40's. The first year I had my car, I lived a few miles from where I do now, and my commute changed to be more highway when I moved. Prior to that, my lifetime average was 41.7, and that included an entire winter.

 

Achieving these mileage numbers is easy and just takes a bit of coaching. It isn't magic. I will say this - if you are a bit lead-footed and accelerate hard all the time, you should be lucky to achieve anywhere near the EPA number on any car. This is particularly true in a hybrid, since they have smaller a smaller ICE, and therefore, when you are standing in the gas pedal, it not only taxes the ICE to the limit, but utilizes all of the horsepower available from the electric drive, sucking your battery down, and subsequently, requiring more recharge.

 

The biggest thing you can do is change the way you brake and accelerate. You don't have to do it much, and you won't be obstructing traffic or driving like a grandmother. Give yourself one complete tank or two of maximizing the coaching in your new car, and your mileage will skyrocket. I learned that with my 2011 in about 2 weeks. It was a game to try and get high mileage for a while. I stopped complaining about traffic slow downs during my commute, because when traffic was stuck at 40 MPH, I was happy in electric.

 

When the weather is warm (over 40 or so), I can easily achieve 43 MPG according to the car on each leg of my commute now, and my previous, more city-based commute, would routinely achieve 47-48 MPG per trip by the same method.

 

These numbers are realistic and achievable with slight driving habit modifications, and you will be rewarded with a lower gas bill. (Like my 2 tanks per month with a 325 mile per week in commuting)

I agree. The cold losses on MPG in this car are hardly any worse percentage-wise than any other vehicle I've owned. I may not be able to exceed the EPA estimates in this car like I have in other cars, due to Ford's programming to ace the EPA tests, but I am optimistic that full year MPGs will get close to 47 average. Although with our unusually long winter we aren't seeing that improvement yet...

 

Actually, the crosswinds are worse. Vehicles are designed to have the lowest drag only for head on winds. A given wind velocity 20 º off center is likely to cause more drag. The vehicle's speed draws the relative wind vector closer to head on. There have been discussions about cocking vehicles 5 º or so into this vector on highways by available technologies like four wheel steering to reduce drag. All that would be needed additionally would be a wind direction sensor and software.

That is fascinating. Certainly makes sense though when you think about how you have to turn the wheel to keep the vehicle straight in strong crosswinds.

 

67F morning commute. My brake score still needs a lot of improvement. Is there any way to reset the brake score? Does it reset when I reset the lifetime stats?

The Lifetime Brake Score will reset if you do a Lifetime Reset.

 

Has anyone else noticed how on the Trip Summary screen the MPG and Brake Score numbers are sometimes blue and sometimes white? Blue means your Brake Score/Trip MPG exceeded your Lifetime Brake Score/MPG, white means you didn't exceed it.

[ace8726872]

So I got whopping 94.4 MPG driving my son to his martial arts class 4.5 miles away last night. It was 100% city driving AND I drove like a jerk, trying to stay in EV as much as possible because its predominantly downhill and there was nobody around. My battery was 3/4 full. Temperature was around 60F. On the return trip, I drove much the same way but going uphill, I only got 40.6 MPG. However, my battery is almost gone so I will suffer bad MPG tomorrow because my engine will run longer to charge the battery.

But my average of this trip was 67.5 MPG which is great.

Edited March 23, 2013 by ace8726872

[tombarker13ffh]

50° today!<br />

<br />

Edited March 24, 2013 by tombarker13ffh