MPGs going down?

[DaBarron6]

Hello -

 

Was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Since purchasing my new FFH in Sept 2013, my average MPG has been going up, up up. It topped off at 42.7 MPG. Over the last three weeks, it's been going down and is now at 42.4 MPG. Nothing in my driving patterns have change. Where I go and how I drive have remained the same. I thought mileage was supposed to get better the more you drive.

 

Any thoughts on this? I've really been doing my best to get the best possible MPG.

 

Thanks.

[hybridbear]

Hello -

 

Was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Since purchasing my new FFH in Sept 2013, my average MPG has been going up, up up. It topped off at 42.7 MPG. Over the last three weeks, it's been going down and is now at 42.4 MPG. Nothing in my driving patterns have change. Where I go and how I drive have remained the same. I thought mileage was supposed to get better the more you drive.

 

Any thoughts on this? I've really been doing my best to get the best possible MPG.

 

Thanks.

Air conditioning use? On the MyView screen you can display how much electricity is being used by the A/C. When you first turn the A/C on the power demand is quite high. Short trips in the summer with A/C on result in a fairly large MPG penalty because of how much electricity is needed for the initial cooling.

[DaBarron6]

You know hybridbear, that didn't even dawn on me. This is my first summer with the car, so that could very well be it. Thank you. Makes me feel much better. It's amazing how vested you get into increasing your MPGs.

[Skydogz]

This was posted elsewhere, don't remember who, but set your A/C temp to 73 or higher and you will see some improvement in summer mpg.

 

Remember before getting in to your hot car that holding down the unlock door button on your remote will lower ALL your windows prior to getting in and let that hot air out!

 

Good luck!

[lolder]

Summer tips. Park in the shade, crack the moon roof if you have it and the side windows if security level permits, use a windshield sun shade. Drive the first block with the windows open. The car will cool even faster with less energy use.

[DaBarron6]

All great suggestions. Thanks All!

[Easy Rider]

crack the moon roof if you have it and the side windows if security level permits,

What is "if security level permits" ?

 

Leaving the windows cracked in the deep south is NOT a good idea sometimes......maybe most of the time.

In Atlanta in particular, in the spring the car might fill up with pollen.

In the summer, bugs.

 

In most of Florida, there are the ever present "afternoon showers".

Edited June 9, 2014 by Easy Rider

[lolder]

You can open the doors through a cracked side window with a burglary tool or less. I live in a small town with little crime.

Edited June 9, 2014 by lolder

[acdii]

This was posted elsewhere, don't remember who, but set your A/C temp to 73 or higher and you will see some improvement in summer mpg.

 

Remember before getting in to your hot car that holding down the unlock door button on your remote will lower ALL your windows prior to getting in and let that hot air out!

 

Good luck!

Probably in a long buried thread. It said set the temp to 80, then gradually lower the temp as you go along, it reduces consumption of the compressor. I had actually forgotten that tip. Venting the car before getting in is also a good practice.

[hybridbear]

You can open the doors through a cracked side window with a burglary tool or less. I live in a small town with little crime.

The 2013+ FFH has a function called "Switch inhibit". That makes the interior door locks inoperable when the alarm is active to prevent someone from reaching in an open window and unlocking the car to steal it. If someone reaches in an open window and opens the door by pulling the handle from inside the alarm will go off. Does the 2010-2012 FFH not have this feature?

[lolder]

Yes but there's a beeping warning before the horn goes off. The point is with an open window they can get inside the car to steal anything of value and be gone before anyone properly responds to the horn. If you don't have anything of value, you can leave the windows open except for the threat of rain. I think it's hard to steal the car.

[Easy Rider]

If you don't have anything of value, you can leave the windows open except for the threat of rain.

How long have you lived in Florida ?

Not long it would appear.......because coming back to your car and finding it infested with love bugs is NOT a pretty site.

 

The threat of theft is not the ONLY reason it might be a bad idea to leave the windows cracked.

[lolder]

35 years and never had love bugs inside the car.

[Skydogz]

Wow! I left. Houston 22 yrs ago and had completely forgotten the existence of love bugs, what a mess they are

[djminfll]

In addition to what everyone else has said about the air conditioning, I would recommend NOT using the automatic climate control. I live in So. Florida, and if I put the A/C on automatic, it blows really hard for a really long time. If I keep the windows open for literally only a minute, and leave the A/C on 72 degrees but turn the fan down, I can put the windows back up and I'm perfectly comfortable. Not suffering in the heat for the sake of mpg, but perfectly comfortable. Also, if you haven't already done it, tint the windows and use a metallic sun shade. The both work together to keep the interior much cooler.

 

 

 

This was a recent trip to work, 36 miles to work on the highway, using the carpool lane, maintaining 45-60mph most of the way.

Edited June 11, 2014 by djminfll

[machoman1337]

Correct, A/C use in the summer and heating use in the winter takes a toll on fuel economy, whether it's a hybrid or not. For me, I was getting 13.2L/100km (18 mpg) even without A/C use in my old V6 fusion, so the lower mileage with A/C on (about 6.0 L/100km or 39 mpg) in my hybrid still feels phenomenal to me! Of course, that was in Ontario with 30 degree summers, and I just moved back to the considerably milder climate of BC, so I won't use A/C half as much as I used to.

Edited June 11, 2014 by machoman1337

[Easy Rider]

In addition to what everyone else has said about the air conditioning, I would recommend NOT using the automatic climate control.

 

That depends on HOW you use it.

 

It is much simpler and easier to leave it on automatic and just adjust the temp as needed.

That is, start at 72. If it gets comfortably cool and is still blasting away, turn it up a degree or two until the fan speed goes down.

 

Simple, easy and I think you can even do that from the buttons on the wheel.

[Easy Rider]

Correct, A/C use in the summer and heating use in the winter takes a toll on fuel economy,

How do you figure that heating takes a toll.

Doesn't this model heat with excess engine heat like most all of the others ?

If so, that costs you just about nothing......just to make the fan run.

[hybridbear]

How do you figure that heating takes a toll.

Doesn't this model heat with excess engine heat like most all of the others ?

If so, that costs you just about nothing......just to make the fan run.

Read this post: http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/7788-preparing-for-winter-with-a-comprehensive-strategy-to-improve-mpgs-including-grille-blocking-more/?p=68748

And this thread: http://priuschat.com/threads/why-mileage-gets-worse-in-winter.99492/

Edited June 11, 2014 by hybridbear

[Easy Rider]

OK, I got it.

 

Under EXTREME conditions the ICE will run ONLY to keep the coolant temp up when it really doesn't need to for propulsion......but won't it actually BE used for propulsion while it is running ?

Would seem rather stupid NOT to do that.

And thus even in extreme "normal" winter weather (not -30 F) wouldn't the extra energy use be pretty small ??

[lolder]

Cabin and engine heating take a lot more energy in the winter. Also colder air is denser creating more air resistance. Lubricants are thicker, winds are higher and because the car's speed causes 70% of winds to have a headwind component, drag is higher. All vehicles take a winter hit but the same amount of fuel used to heat is a larger fraction of a hybrid's use so the mpg loss is bigger.

[hybridbear]

OK, I got it.

 

Under EXTREME conditions the ICE will run ONLY to keep the coolant temp up when it really doesn't need to for propulsion......but won't it actually BE used for propulsion while it is running ?

Would seem rather stupid NOT to do that.

And thus even in extreme "normal" winter weather (not -30 F) wouldn't the extra energy use be pretty small ??

Read this article: http://green.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/greenlings-why-does-mileage-drop-in-winter/

 

In addition to the factors mentioned in the article linked above, cold air is more dense which increases the amount of energy required to push the air out of the way and cold tires have higher rolling resistance because the compounds stiffen.

 

Reading this thread will help you understand another aspect of why MPGs get worse in winter, longer warm-up times.

 

MPG seems to drop in stages. Below 50 F is the first big drop, then another one below 30 F and again below 10 F. The MPGs seem pretty much the same at 5 F or -15 F.

 

In a hybrid that runs the ICE as little as this car does there isn't really excess engine heat even in the summer. The coolant temp rarely reaches 200 F even when it's 90+ outside. When the ambient temp is in the 40s with no heat on the ICE coolant temp struggles to get to 175 F. If you turn the heat on it will struggle to stay above 150 F. When the ambient temp is in the 30s the coolant will struggle to reach 160 F without heat on when driving in the city. Even on the highway will grille blocking the coolant wouldn't reach 200 F in the winter. Without grille blocking it struggles to hit 180 F on the freeway. This ICE makes so little heat that the cabin heat suffers without running the ICE non-stop.