WORST fill-up ever!

[djminfll]

Today, I had the worst fill-up I've had since I first got my FFH :rant2:

Usually, I get in quite a bit of highway driving, especially because I work 31 miles from my house, and do most of that on the highway. I also have a sticker to allow me to use the carpool lane and the express lanes for free.

However, for the past 2 weeks, I have been "telecommuting", and will be doing so for the next 6-8 weeks while my office is undergoing renovations. So most of this fill-up has been numerous very short trips - under 2 miles each way, generally going to the supermarket, pharmacy, post office, etc. I only achieved 33.8mpg :banghead: , which is not only the worst I've ever gotten, but I believe it is the worst I have seen on this forum so far!

[acdii]

Today, I had the worst fill-up I've had since I first got my FFH :rant2:

Usually, I get in quite a bit of highway driving, especially because I work 31 miles from my house, and do most of that on the highway. I also have a sticker to allow me to use the carpool lane and the express lanes for free.

However, for the past 2 weeks, I have been "telecommuting", and will be doing so for the next 6-8 weeks while my office is undergoing renovations. So most of this fill-up has been numerous very short trips - under 2 miles each way, generally going to the supermarket, pharmacy, post office, etc. I only achieved 33.8mpg :banghead: , which is not only the worst I've ever gotten, but I believe it is the worst I have seen on this forum so far!

Short trips, thats all. Dont fret over it. I was doing that kind of crappy miles on 34 mile trips mostly hyper mileing at 55 MPH or lower. There are a couple other owners who also do short trips, and dont get better than 30 MPG.

[terryb]

I've seen 17mpg to the grocery store (1.2mi) and 999 from the bank to the grocery (0.3mi) short trips are total crapshoot for the calculations. Don't worry about it.

[terryb]

Today, I had the worst fill-up I've had since I first got my FFH :rant2:

Usually, I get in quite a bit of highway driving, especially because I work 31 miles from my house, and do most of that on the highway. I also have a sticker to allow me to use the carpool lane and the express lanes for free.

However, for the past 2 weeks, I have been "telecommuting", and will be doing so for the next 6-8 weeks while my office is undergoing renovations. So most of this fill-up has been numerous very short trips - under 2 miles each way, generally going to the supermarket, pharmacy, post office, etc. I only achieved 33.8mpg :banghead: , which is not only the worst I've ever gotten, but I believe it is the worst I have seen on this forum so far!

By the way, how did you even manage to put a dent in a tank of gas in two weeks of micro trips? The tank average should not be crimped by several crappy dispplay values.

[hermans]

By the way, how did you even manage to put a dent in a tank of gas in two weeks of micro trips? The tank average should not be crimped by several crappy dispplay values.

I was wondering that myself. My wife has a very short commute and she gets well over 500 miles between fillips.

[djminfll]

I usually fill up at 1/2 a tank, just a habit I got into to avoid $75 fill-ups on my previous 20mpg car! I had done one trip on the last fill-up where there was a horrific accident, and it took over 40 minutes to travel less than a mile. In that time, my mpg plummeted during that. The remaining trips were mostly short ones as described. So far, I'm in the mid-40's on the current fill-up, so all is well once again!

[acdii]

Oh, that is something I noticed too, small fills can calculate out to some pretty strange numbers. When I drove to FL I had one tank come out to 28 while another came out to 48, and these were also at 1/2 tank mark fills. The fills were all over the place. It wasnt until I started filling at the 1/4 mark that there was any semblance of consistency.

 

 

EDIT: Click on the fuelly badge below and look at the log for December to see what I mean. The one with the blue Fusion.

Edited April 16, 2013 by acdii

[MXGOLF]

I too have short commutes and it shows in my OAL mileage to date. Averaging 33 is not great. Did Ford not advertise 47 mpg all the time? I had a driving seminar with a guy from my Ford dealership yesterday. I drive it the same way he does pretty much and he was supprised at all the informtion I spewed out while trying to get better mpg. acdii and myself pretty much got lemons as far as I can tell. I will be taking my girl in for 3000 mile oil change and will have them check the plugs and see if there is any updates that may help too.

[acdii]

Good luck, hope you get better service from Ford than I did, just remember, the service guys can only do so much, its the CSR you have to be wary of. Keeping my fingers crossed I have no issues with my Flex so I dont have to deal with "Sandy" again.

[milleron]

I too have short commutes and it shows in my OAL mileage to date. Averaging 33 is not great. Did Ford not advertise 47 mpg all the time? I had a driving seminar with a guy from my Ford dealership yesterday. I drive it the same way he does pretty much and he was supprised at all the informtion I spewed out while trying to get better mpg. acdii and myself pretty much got lemons as far as I can tell. I will be taking my girl in for 3000 mile oil change and will have them check the plugs and see if there is any updates that may help too.

 

Mark, you and acdii are not the only ones suffering. I don't have many miles on my HyTi, but the average is <33 so far. I'm not sure how it comes out that low, since most trips are 35-37, but 44+ numbers exist only in my dreams. the "Coach" gives me 100% for acceleration and 98% for braking, but I can't even get close to 40, let alone 47.

I'm glad you said "advertised." Many have pointed out that the 47/47/47 are EPA numbers, not Ford numbers,implying that it's not Ford's fault when people get much worse results. However, Ford has spent many millions advertising these figures and pointing out that they are "best in class," and showing how much better they are than the Camry Hybrid. Because of their actions, I think that at this point, Ford must take responsibility for those figures. While YMMV, your mileage should not be 35% lower than what they're blaring all over the nation.

[DeeCee]

"While YMMV, your mileage should not be 35% lower than what they're blaring all over the nation."

 

Mines not 35% less. Lifetime average after 6500 miles is 44.5 and slowly increasing. There are some FFH's out there that have some kind of a problem. I wish Ford would get on the ball and find out why. I'm convinced its not solely the "driver".

[Riggo]

Just curious. Have those of you that have been getting bad mileage been getting it in warm weather too?

[Riggo]

Just curious. Have those of you that have been getting bad mileage been getting it in warm weather too?

[milleron]

It's pretty warm in the midwest now. There's obviously not any summertime heat, but driving to work in the mornings is usualy in the 50s, and afternoons have been in the 60s. However, I've stopped driving my new Hybrid to work. It's economy is just marginally better than my V6 Accord, and I don't have to baby, coax, and coddle the Accord 100% of the time to get nearly the same mileage. I didn't think the Hybrid would be quite the PITA to drive that it is, but I would have been willing to accept that for the reward of good mileage. As it is, all the pulse and glide, painfully slow acceleration, and the need to pay more attention to the instrument panel than to traffic has taken the enjoyment out of driving the Hybrid for almost no reward.

 

I think one might start to get at the problem by looking for differences in the economy figures for the ICE. Most of the time that my ICE runs, city or highway, it's instantaneous mileage is 15-20 mpg. Finally, as the SOC approaches high, it edges up until it gets close to 40 mpg highway or 30 in city, but it must spend 80% of the time it's running at 20 mpg. You just can't get enough EV miles out of it to ever get close to the 44-mpg numbers that seem so common on this and related forums. The math would say that 50% of my miles would have to be be on EV, and that will never happen.

My question is "What kinds of ICE mileage are those with high averages seeing?" Is it the same as those of us who struggle to get figures in the mid-30s? What percentage of EV miles are those owners seeing on work commutes?

[acdii]

Just curious. Have those of you that have been getting bad mileage been getting it in warm weather too?

Yes! Hence my frustration over the car. On days that were mild, 50-60*, and down in Florida weather, the results were not much different than when it was 30* out. If the results were different and in the 40's as one would expect, then I could admit, OK, its the cold temps and not be concerned, just drive and wait until it warms up. Even with grill covers on, it didn't change much. My feet were much warmer though :)

 

When compared to the 2010, when it was above 20* I was getting better MPG in the 10 than the 13 did when it was 60*. Now that its been above 60* and near 80* I am seeing MPG above 45 in the 10. So, it was not my driving that did it. Like milleron said, it takes all the pleasure out of enjoying the new car when you are trying to get good MPG out of it, and it just wont do it.

 

You do have my deepest sympathies, Been there, Done that, have the scars to prove it too.

[DeeCee]

It's pretty warm in the midwest now. There's obviously not any summertime heat, but driving to work in the mornings is usualy in the 50s, and afternoons have been in the 60s. However, I've stopped driving my new Hybrid to work. It's economy is just marginally better than my V6 Accord, and I don't have to baby, coax, and coddle the Accord 100% of the time to get nearly the same mileage. I didn't think the Hybrid would be quite the PITA to drive that it is, but I would have been willing to accept that for the reward of good mileage. As it is, all the pulse and glide, painfully slow acceleration, and the need to pay more attention to the instrument panel than to traffic has taken the enjoyment out of driving the Hybrid for almost no reward.

 

I think one might start to get at the problem by looking for differences in the economy figures for the ICE. Most of the time that my ICE runs, city or highway, it's instantaneous mileage is 15-20 mpg. Finally, as the SOC approaches high, it edges up until it gets close to 40 mpg highway or 30 in city, but it must spend 80% of the time it's running at 20 mpg. You just can't get enough EV miles out of it to ever get close to the 44-mpg numbers that seem so common on this and related forums. The math would say that 50% of my miles would have to be be on EV, and that will never happen.

My question is "What kinds of ICE mileage are those with high averages seeing?" Is it the same as those of us who struggle to get figures in the mid-30s? What percentage of EV miles are those owners seeing on work commutes?

 

I don't consider mine to be a PITA to drive to get reasonable mileage. I accelerate rapidly to the speed limit and then engage ACC and enjoy the ride. Don't pay that much attention to the gages after that. Just use the + - on the steering wheel to adjust speeds as limits change. My normal comute is about 18 miles and the latest drive showed 68 mpg going (a lot of downhill parts) and 44 mpg returning. I pretty much drive the car like any other I have owned and this is the first hybrid I have owned. A few times I tried to baby it for max EV but that was a PITA and did not yield any significant better results.

[milleron]

I'm learning to do a little better, or maybe it's just that temps are up by 10° over last week. At any rate, I've managed an off-freeway trip around home that averaged 45.5 mpg for ten miles. Maybe the car is not basically flawed. Even though I have a good idea how to drive it and won't change techniques much from here on out, it may become easier to drive as these methods become second nature.

[Riggo]

Could be this why they are going to a 1.5 engine instead of a 1.6 in next year's Fusion? Maybe the 1.5 warms up quicker, I have no clue ha. I'm typically getting around 44 mpg on my 22 mile trip to work and that was in about 50-60F weather. Today it was 65F and I only got 40.3 and the way I was driving it I figured I'd have ended up with 50+. It's a crap shoot I guess.

[keybman]

My question is "What kinds of ICE mileage are those with high averages seeing?" Is it the same as those of us who struggle to get figures in the mid-30s? What percentage of EV miles are those owners seeing on work commutes?

 

Don't know how to interpret these numbers in terms of your questions, but I can share what is displayed. I currently have 4430 lifetime miles. The display indicates 2024.5 EV miles (45.7%) & 237.5 Regen miles (5.4%). And on a typical work commute (17.6 mi), I routinely get around 11.8 EV miles and 1.8 Regen miles.

 

Hope this helps. (I have not previously been able to make any kind of conclusions regarding ICE / EV performance using this information, but I assume its provided for some reason.)

[djminfll]

I know my fuelly signature shows an overall average of 41mpg, but that is not an honest reflection of my actual mileage. My first fill-up was in the mid-30's, I had the one awful fill-up that started this thread (I still haven't figured out how or why it was so low.) Then I had the car in for service during the last fill-up where they must have kept the engine running while they worked on the car, because when I brought it in, I was at 45.5mpg, and when I picked it up, it was at 34.3mpg. I have boosted this fill-up to exactly 40mpg, but it's going to keep my overall average from climbing.

In general, I have had 50% of my fill-ups at over 45mpg, and that is generally achieved by not flooring it when the light changes, gently accelerating to speed and then turning on the ACC to keep me at speed. Finally, when I am going at a consistent speed and the EV switches to ICE, I release the ACC until the EV comes back, then I resume. Whether I am on surface streets or highway, I am generally achieving between 45 and 51 mpg on each individual trip.

 

 

 

[milleron]

 

In general, I have had 50% of my fill-ups at over 45mpg, and that is generally achieved by not flooring it when the light changes, gently accelerating to speed and then turning on the ACC to keep me at speed. Finally, when I am going at a consistent speed and the EV switches to ICE, I release the ACC until the EV comes back, then I resume. Whether I am on surface streets or highway, I am generally achieving between 45 and 51 mpg on each individual trip.

 

I'm finding that when my ICE comes on it's because either there's too much demand for power for the car to continue in EV -- i.e., an upgrade -- or the SOC is too low to continue in EV, so it usually seems impossible to manipulate it into further EV time. Otherwise, I'm making an attempt to do it the way you describe, but it can be a little frustrating. I'm starting to think that much of the differences we experience can be due to the hilliness of the terrain we traverse in daily driving. We can control to some extent for the length of trips and the way we drive, but topology can kill some of us no matter how hard we try. I live in a relatively flat part of the US, but the way our civil engineers elected to construct our freeways back in the 60s proves that they were all roller coaster junkies. I can pretty easily get near 45 mpg as long as the trip's not short and most of it's on city streets. When I'm forced to take our Interstates and freeways, trip mileage drops by about 5-8 mpg because there are almost no level areas. In that scenario, the downgrades cannot make up for the upgrades, where I'm often getting 15 mpg owing to the steepness of the hill and the low SOC when the ICE kicks in. I haven't been able to figure out anything to do on our suburban Interstates but let the ICE continue to churn hard and wait for top of the long, long hills.

[milleron]

 

Don't know how to interpret these numbers in terms of your questions, but I can share what is displayed. I currently have 4430 lifetime miles. The display indicates 2024.5 EV miles (45.7%) & 237.5 Regen miles (5.4%). And on a typical work commute (17.6 mi), I routinely get around 11.8 EV miles and 1.8 Regen miles.

 

Hope this helps. (I have not previously been able to make any kind of conclusions regarding ICE / EV performance using this information, but I assume its provided for some reason.)

 

I meant what range of instantaneous mileage figures do you see when the SOC gets low enough or the power demands are high enough for the ICE to kick in. Does it usually run at 15 mpg, 20 mpg, 25 mpg??

Mine, for example is usually right around 20, and it doesn't matter whether I'm going 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 mph. Once the SOC nears a "good figure," it edges up, and at that point it's a little higher at 50, for example than at 60 or 30, but most of the time it's on, it's turning the generator and stays right around 20 mpg until it's relieved of that task. Usually, once the ICE's instantaneous mileage starts to edge up from 20, the SOC is sufficient that I'm very soon back in EV. That's why I say that my gas engine seems to be getting about 20 mpg most of the time it's running. I wonder if owners who have better mileage figures than I get them because they're getting better ICE mileage than I am. Make sense? If it's not that, then I suppose it must me my failure to get into EV as often and for as long as you guys.

 

This weekend, I'll be on the Interstate for about 60 miles for the first time since I took delivery of the HyTi 8 days ago, and I'll find out what the ICE mileage is like when I'm going too fast for EV mode to kick in very often. I'll post those figures here. I'd love to know what numbers you folks see who persistently get >40 mpg on a fill-up.

[keybman]

 

What you describe sounds pretty much what I experience in city driving. When the ICE kicks in...it displays around 20 MPG, and then back to EV. My assumption (however myopic) is that this is the same Atkinson Cycle engine in the regular version of the Fusion which is EPA-rated at 22 MPG, so it generally has met my expectation.

 

And for highway driving, it does seem like 65 MPH, and keeping it out of EV, yields the best MPG for many drivers here.

[corncobs]

I don't think you can compare the FFH ICE (Atkinson Cycle) with a regular Fusion engine since it's not the same.

The Atkinson Cycle is a bit more fuel efficient the a regular Otto Cycle engine but it lacks the torque on low RPM that's why it's perfectly suited for the combination with a electric motor in a hybrid.

 

Btw I didn't figure this out by myself I read about the Atkinson cycle on Wikipedia once I heard that the FFH will have such an engine and I never heard the term before.

 

Please correct me if I have it wrong.

[acdii]

You are correct sir! The AC ICE leaves the intake valves open slightly at the beginning of the compression stroke so less force is required to get the piston around and up to TDC. So its a lower compression engine which in turn produces lower torque. By itself you would do better with a lawn mower engine.

 

I also found the one I had would do better at 35-40 MPH if I kept the pack at 50% and mixed EV/ICE while cruising. Doesnt work that way on the 10 though, as that car doesnt suck up power from the ICE as much to recharge as the 13 did. I still think Ford put too small an engine in.