MPG improving after 600 miles?

[James Sentman]

Hi Folks,

 

After I rolled over 600 miles my MPG started to improve. Is there a break in period for the battery or the motor or something? I feel like now it’s both filling the battery to a higher degree and using more of it in hybrid mode where the battery will help out the ICE. It wasn’t doing much of either of those things in the very beginning.

 

I started out with milage right around 30mpg I could make it go up if I drove with agonizingly slow acceleration but in the last 200 miles my MPG has crept up to 34 and I’ve been driving more normally. I wonder if the car was babying the batteries during a break in period that is now over?

[Easy Rider]

Several factor are involved.

The gas engine tends to be a little "tight" at first.

The computers need to "learn" your driving habits.

YOU need to learn how to handle the new system in THIS car......even if you've driven a hybrid before.

 

Mine didn't show much improvement until it got to around 2000 miles.

 

If you like to drive FAST on the highway, you shouldn't expect to get anywhere around the EPA 47 though.

 

I seem to be able to get the low 40's if I'm careful around town and don't go above 60 on the highway.

[Waldo]

There is certainly a break-in period, in fact Ford will run their media cars up to 4000 miles before they ever give them out to anyone. But it is likely also confounding with the change in temperatures, warmer weather will make a big difference, so that's likely a factor in what you're seeing, in addition to the factors Easy Rider mentioned.

[acdii]

You are just getting the hang of driving it, that's all. Wait until you get 10K on it, then it really starts to improve. Also what Waldo said, temps help out, and gas is changing to Summer blends, and that right there accounts for a good increase. Mine has over 23K on it now and it is doing much better than when I first got it. It is much easier to drive now and get good MPG than it was last year. 45+ this morning, not even trying.

[James Sentman]

I knew you would all try to blame it on me ;) I’m convinced that 2 things are different though. I’m absolutely sure that the car is using a wider range of the battery now than it was initially and it’s more apt to go into hybrid mode with the engine running and the battery draining driving the milage up into the 40’s with the engine running. I first noticed it on a cool day that I wasn’t running the AC for the first time since I got it. But the temp has returned to normal and even with the AC on now my milage continues to creep upwards. I dont know if we even do winter gas around here in the deep south, but if we did we switched back long before I got the car. In any case, I’m happy and i still love it!

[acdii]

Seems like a lot of those who weren't getting good MPG were granny driving the car. I found this to be not a good thing. Starting out in EV and slowly accelerating to speed uses more fuel, Accelerating at 2-21/2 bars seems to get better MPG. When you first got the car, you said you were doing this and now you drive it in a more normal fashion. Right there is what is helping. I didn't do so well in the Prius when I first got it, but after a few k miles of driving it I was seeing much better MPG too. Same with the 2010 FFH, when I first got it I was only seeing about 34, but after a few months it was routinely seeing 40. I had to relearn to drive in the 13 FFH since it uses a different drivetrain, but that only took me about a week. When I got the HyTi first trip in it I got 47 MPG.

[corncobs]

I do agree 100% with accelerating @ 2 bar level. I do believe as well more importantly is paying attention to the up and down arrows of the HVB.

 

Whenever possible I will ease of the acceleration in case the arrow is pointing down. It doesn't take much to charge the HVB during acceleration which makes a big change in overall efficiency.

[hybridbear]

Hasn't someone also mentioned tire break in as a factor?

[Griswald]

i don't baby mine and get 40's easily. I can get into the 45 range if I really pay attrntion. I have around 600 miles.

 

Heck, on the way home fron the dealer (first hybrid I ever even sat in) I got 44.

 

I don't think I could even get down around 30 even racing around the local dirt track!

Edited May 19, 2014 by Griswald

[milleron]

This time last year, I was under the impression that the consensus was that the break-in period was only about 1-2,000 miles & I did notice improvement at that point.

Today, however, I just drove the 600 miles from central Ohio to NYC @ 45.1 mpg. I was in Eco Cruise @ 65-67 mph with one passenger & Climate on/AC off. Last summer the car had 1-3K miles on it, and it would never have yielded more than 41 mpg on Interstate driving on level terrain, let alone in mountainous areas like I-80 traverses across northern PA. Today, I started with 7,100 on the odometer, and used no techniques like pulse-and-glide -- just set the Cruise and drove without paying much attention to the instrument cluster. I was astonished at the results. My conclusion is the same as acdii's: you may have to get your mileage closer to 10K before it's easy to get EPA numbers

[acdii]

Hasn't someone also mentioned tire break in as a factor?

I did, it takes a while before the treads even out to match the cars travel. The first few K on the tires is where you see the most improvement, then it gradually gets better as they wear down. Right now my car is getting the best MPG it ever got and the tires are about done for.

[hybridbear]

I did, it takes a while before the treads even out to match the cars travel. The first few K on the tires is where you see the most improvement, then it gradually gets better as they wear down. Right now my car is getting the best MPG it ever got and the tires are about done for.

Why are your tires worn out so fast? You won't even get 30k miles out of them based on your comments. That's ridiculous! I would expect 50-60k miles on a set of tires, minimum. Anything less than that and I wouldn't buy those tires again.

[James Sentman]

Yup, the proper technique does seem to be to accelerate normally and then let it switch to electric and not to baby it while the engine is running.

 

My Fuely badge still says 30.4 but the car will be rolling over 35 during my driving today at the rate it’s going and continuing up from there. :)

Edited May 21, 2014 by James Sentman

[Easy Rider]

If you want to know how your are progressing, you really should reset the long term average and let it start over again.

 

I personally see no point in letting the "break-in" interval continue to drag down your average going forward.

[acdii]

Why are your tires worn out so fast? You won't even get 30k miles out of them based on your comments. That's ridiculous! I would expect 50-60k miles on a set of tires, minimum. Anything less than that and I wouldn't buy those tires again.

Its those CrapYear tires that came on the car, they suck. I have rotated them a couple times, the fronts are worn more than the rears.

[corncobs]

Its those CrapYear tires that came on the car, they suck. I have rotated them a couple times, the fronts are worn more than the rears.

I would say stop doing those burnouts along the riverfront. ;)

[GrySql]

Its those CrapYear tires that came on the car, they suck. I have rotated them a couple times, the fronts are worn more than the rears.

My 18 month old Goodyear LS2's are about at 1/2 worn area and have 27,000+ mile on them, the tread wear strips are still quite a ways from the tread surface.

I rotated them at about the 10k mile marks and they are wearing normally.

They ride smooth and quiet, handle mountain roads well and so far have given no reason for complaint.

I carry 42 psi in these 18" tires.

 

I think your extreme weather and pothole filled roads may be a contributer to the excessive wear your are experiencing. When you had the BD you wrote a few tire remarks about how much you liked the GY LS2's - something is different now.

It could be that they changed the quality (or the molds are getting old) after the initial batch met car manufacturers approval and are pocketing the difference. Mine are a very early batch from 2012.

[hybridbear]

Its those CrapYear tires that came on the car, they suck. I have rotated them a couple times, the fronts are worn more than the rears.

I agree with GS, I thought you liked them on the BD. It seems to me like they should still be under warranty then.

 

My 18 month old Goodyear LS2's are about at 1/2 worn area and have 27,000+ mile on them, the tread wear strips are still quite a ways from the tread surface.

I rotated them at about the 10k mile marks and they are wearing normally.

They ride smooth and quiet, handle mountain roads well and so far have given no reason for complaint.

I carry 42 psi in these 18" tires.

 

I think your extreme weather and pothole filled roads may be a contributer to the excessive wear your are experiencing. When you had the BD you wrote a few tire remarks about how much you liked the GY LS2's - something is different now.

It could be that they changed the quality (or the molds are getting old) after the initial batch met car manufacturers approval and are pocketing the difference. Mine are a very early batch from 2012.

This is what I would expect. You're on pace to get about 50-55k miles out of your tires. That would be my expectation.

[acdii]

My 18 month old Goodyear LS2's are about at 1/2 worn area and have 27,000+ mile on them, the tread wear strips are still quite a ways from the tread surface.

I rotated them at about the 10k mile marks and they are wearing normally.

They ride smooth and quiet, handle mountain roads well and so far have given no reason for complaint.

I carry 42 psi in these 18" tires.

 

I think your extreme weather and pothole filled roads may be a contributer to the excessive wear your are experiencing. When you had the BD you wrote a few tire remarks about how much you liked the GY LS2's - something is different now.

It could be that they changed the quality (or the molds are getting old) after the initial batch met car manufacturers approval and are pocketing the difference. Mine are a very early batch from 2012.

Most likely the case, they are horrible compared to the BD. They also thump( I hope its the tires and not a bearing in the trans), and pulls in ruts. I was really surprised at how poorly they did in the snow. I am also seeing feathering on the inner edge of the fronts.

[Hybrider]

My experience has been pretty much the opposite, where I got much better MPGs during the break-in period, the first 800 miles. But that could be very possibly due to the fact I live in the desert, and it was much cooler temps during those first 800 miles. Mild weather definitely seems to contribute significantly to better MPGs.

 

There were only 10 miles on my special-order FFH when I got it, and the MPGs for those first 800 miles, after I had used up half of the initial dealer-filled tank, were around 49-50 MPG. Since then, for the next 2000 miles, it has been averaging between 42 and 45 MPG per half-tank fill-up. So my MPGs during my break-in period were quite a bit better than they are now.

 

One other thing I noticed during these first 3 months of ownership is that the lifetime average MPG calculations don't seem to be straight forward "average" calculations. I say this because when I got my FFH with 10 miles on it, the lifetime average was either in the high 20s or low 30s. But after I had put about 800 miles on it, after those initial 10 miles were put on by the factory and the dealer, with the vast majority of my trips being between 42 MPG and 55 MPG, then the lifetime average should have immediately jumped up into the 40s at least, since 800 miles of excellent MPGs would have totally outweighed those initial 10 miles no matter what the MPGs were during that time. But it has crept up ever so slowly, and currently after putting about 2700 miles on my car, I have gradually reached 44.5 lifetime average. If it were a true average calculation, it would have been up in the 40s or even 50s after only about 200 miles, since those 200 miles of excellent MPGs would have completely outweighed any hot-rodding the factory or dealer could have done in those first measly 10 miles they put on it before I got it.

 

So I have no clue how the lifetime average is calculated, but there is some kind of weird weighting that kept it from rising immediately into the 40s. I must have put about 1000 miles on my new FFH before I broke the 40 MPG lifetime average barrier.

 

But with that being said, my FFH does have several strikes against it's MPGs from the get-go that prevent me from achieving the maximum potential FFH MPGs of 47 or even higher. A few of those strikes against my MPGs are that I have the 18" tires, I have also added a donut spare with the full jack/wrench complement in the trunk and kept the stock air compressor in it as well and added heavy emergency triangles, and I also rarely ever let the gas tank get below a half tank full of gas.

 

So I figured that anything over 44 MPG lifetime average for me would be gravy, AND my lifetime MPGs are still creeping up, but oh so asymptotically slow. I calculate at this rate I should be at 45.0 lifetime MPG in about 2-4 weeks. :)

 

Ford Fusion Hybrids are the greatest. I catch myself staring at my car quite frequently as I walk away because I like its looks so much. And then to get these awesome MPGs on top of it, it's the "bomb". :yahoo:

Edited May 23, 2014 by Hybrider

[GrySql]

But that could be very possibly due to the fact I live in the desert, and it was much cooler temps during those first 800 miles. Mild weather definitely seems to contribute significantly to better MPGs.

Mild weather and not using the A/C will add 3-4 mpg's to my car. Any added weight, evevation changes, different gas blends, higher highway speeds all make changes to the mpg's. However, what other car is this size, has the looks, comfort and amenities that we enjoy and still gives us this high mpg performance.

You're right, these cars are great. :thumbsup:

[hybridbear]

There were only 10 miles on my special-order FFH when I got it, and the MPGs for those first 800 miles, after I had used up half of the initial dealer-filled tank, were around 49-50 MPG. Since then, for the next 2000 miles, it has been averaging between 42 and 45 MPG per half-tank fill-up. So my MPGs during my break-in period were quite a bit better than they are now.

 

One other thing I noticed during these first 3 months of ownership is that the lifetime average MPG calculations don't seem to be straight forward "average" calculations. I say this because when I got my FFH with 10 miles on it, the lifetime average was either in the high 20s or low 30s. But after I had put about 800 miles on it, after those initial 10 miles were put on by the factory and the dealer, with the vast majority of my trips being between 42 MPG and 55 MPG, then the lifetime average should have immediately jumped up into the 40s at least, since 800 miles of excellent MPGs would have totally outweighed those initial 10 miles no matter what the MPGs were during that time. But it has crept up ever so slowly, and currently after putting about 2700 miles on my car, I have gradually reached 44.5 lifetime average. If it were a true average calculation, it would have been up in the 40s or even 50s after only about 200 miles, since those 200 miles of excellent MPGs would have completely outweighed any hot-rodding the factory or dealer could have done in those first measly 10 miles they put on it before I got it.

 

So I have no clue how the lifetime average is calculated, but there is some kind of weird weighting that kept it from rising immediately into the 40s. I must have put about 1000 miles on my new FFH before I broke the 40 MPG lifetime average barrier.

 

Are you using a trip meter as your Lifetime Summary? It should be just a straight average calculation. But, as you acknowledge, as you accumulate more miles the average will react much more slowly to any MPG trends.

[acdii]

I found that if you dont reset the lifetime when you first get the car, it takes forever to go up. The BD started out this way, so when I got the HyTi i reset it just before I drove off the lot. The lifetime on my is full Odometer minus 3 miles. Same holds true for non hybrids, takes forever for the average to go up when fresh from the factory.

[Easy Rider]

 

So I figured that anything over 44 MPG lifetime average for me would be gravy, AND my lifetime MPGs are still creeping up, but oh so asymptotically slow. I calculate at this rate I should be at 45.0 lifetime MPG in about 2-4 weeks. :)

 

 

 

I don't understand this......so I am bringing it up in a second thread................

 

Why would you want to continue to let those first few miles CONTINUE to warp the proper calculation of your "lifetime" average ??

 

I do not believe that there are ANY MPG displays on the '14 that are not re-settable.

 

I think you should reset whatever display that is and get a fresh......and more accurate...... indication of the real performance.

 

And you do know that the displayed figures are always a bit high.......right ??

[Hybrider]

I don't understand this......so I am bringing it up in a second thread................

 

Why would you want to continue to let those first few miles CONTINUE to warp the proper calculation of your "lifetime" average ??

 

That is my point, that the first 10 miles are miniscule in an average calculation when compared to the total of 2700 miles I currently have on my odometer. And in a true average calculation, there is no way those 10 miles could "warp" the total average calculation to any great extent.

 

For a worst case type of an example, say I had only gotten 20 MPG for those first 10 miles, then the average calc for those 10 miles would have been something like:

 

10 miles / 0.5 gal = 20 MPG

 

So say in the next 2700 miles, I had these example results:

 

2700 miles / 57.4 gal = 47 MPG

 

So then the total average calculation for those combined 2710 miles would then be:

 

2710 miles / 57.9 gal = 46.8 MPG

 

So you see, there should be very little warpage due to those first 10 miles of bad MPGs, after another 2700 miles of good MPGs are added into the mix, at least not to any real sigificance. And as you mentioned, having the little affect on my displayed average MPGs should bring it even closer to reality since the displayed trip and average MPGs are on the optimistic side.

 

...

And you do know that the displayed figures are always a bit high.......right ??

 

Yes, sometimes they are significantly higher. I have seen as much as 3 MPG difference between actual pump_tank_gallons_to_odometer calculations versus the displayed trip summary for that fill-up.