[thereisnospoon]

I have owned this thing for 3,333 miles now (just saw the reading when I was coming home). I am getting TERRIBLE mileage on this thing. I drove her like I was in NASCAR for the first two or three days but then backed off and have been driving her like a regular car since then. I have a K&N but have not yet installed it. I wish I could do the air box mod (does anyone have a link to instructions for this?). I have done a simple search and saw people talking about it, but nothing that I could find that had instructions.

Oh yeah, the mileage.......16.2 seems to be the average, but it's been as bad as 15.5.

Yes, you're reading that right - 16.2.

Does anyone have any suggestions? The service guy at the dealership says that he won't "flash" my car until 10,000 miles since that's supposedly how long it takes for the V6 to "break in." I say BS The service guy says that he doesn't like the K&N filter, but I had one on my F150 and it worked just fine.

I'd like to install the filter, do the box mod, and see where that gets me, but I somehow think that resetting the computer might help as well. Can anyone help me with doing that??

 

[Cross Bolt]

  Jack the air pressure up, raise the air temp up on the air cond and drive with a light foot. I have the I-4 AT and have had it up to 35mpg and my Wife has had it as low as 15.5mpg.This oxygenated fuel is not going to help matters.
Back in the old days, if a Manufacture’s Engine produced one horsepower per cubic inch, they were really doing something. Now, these days far exceed those old numbers but at a cost. The only thing that I am saying is, this I-4 that I have is rated at 160 hp and if I put my foot in it, I will see fuel consumption like a V8. :csweeney:

 

[cos]

Something is definitely wrong IF  your not driving hard. Bad sensor, EGR, PCV problem? What type of driving do you do? All stop and go? 50% hwy/50% city? The key to good MPG is to accelerate e-a-s-y. Have ya ever read the car mags? The MPG they get during their road tests is terrible because they're lead-foots. Have you changed the oil? Are you sure you have a good 5W20 (or 0W20) oil in there? What's your tire PSI? Try running 37 PSI (Fusion manual specs 34). Open your airbox and inspect your air filter - make sure there isn't anything blocking or covering it.

 

[waldo]

Are you basing this off actual measurements or on what the trip computer says? Have you reset the trip computer at any time since you bought the car?

 

[bartman1]

Fill up the tank, drive it until it is nearly empty, and then refill it from the same pump. Check the mileage this way. My display shows as low as 22 and as high as 25, but the mileage is generally different when I use the pump reading divided into the miles driven.

BTW my V-6, with a blend of city/hwy, gets about 24 MPG. I drive at 75-80 on the highway, and accelerate at least once a day to 4500 RPM allowing the speed to build to about 80. Around town, I can drop the mileage to 22 or so. If I do all highway driving, I can get up to 26 or 27 MPG. I have just under 10000 miles on my V-6.

There is at least 2 more mpg available if I drive below 70 and don't stomp the gas to pass. But I'd rather enjoy the ride than get that extra 2.

If your mileage doesn't reach the 22-24 range and you use the gas pump reading to calculate it, the dealer should check the car out.

 

[UltraViolet]

..whoa. I have the v6 and my MPG is around 22 and my MPH is up to 34 now.

 

[SoCalFusion]

Well the fact that you drove a brand new car for the fist few days like you were at NASCAR probably didn't help!  :dur: It's a FUSION not a FERRARI.
Give it some more time....3,000 miles isn't that much....and if you want really good gas mileage drive like you have a egg underneath your gas pedal and you don't want to crack it.
My V6 has just over 6,000 miles...I get about 21-23 combined city/hiway and between 27-31 all hiway depending on how fast I'm driving and weather or not I have the A/C on. I drive between 70 and 85 on the freeway.
I've found that using the A/C takes away about 4 to 5 miles per gallon off your MPG.

 

[thereisnospoon]

[quote author=UltraViolet link=topic=53822.msg880711#msg880711 date=1155321457]
..whoa. I have the v6 and my MPG is around 22 and my MPH is up to 34 now.
[/quote]

You are damn lucky sir. I have an appointment on Monday at 7:30 so that they can investigate the problem. My regular service advisor wasn't there (which was probably a good thing). They're going to reset my computer, see if there is an upgrade or something (since I found that my car was sitting on the lot for about 7 months before I bought it). One of the technicians told me that they've had to replace about 5 MAF sensors already due to bad gas mileage, so I'm counting on mine being one of the ones where the MAF sensor was defective. I'll let you know what they tell me.

By the way, ever since those first few days I've been driving like a grandma - 0-60 in about 20,000.0 seconds - and it does NOTHING to help. Someone told me that it was better on the new type cars to accelerate quickly (but not like a racecar) to about 50mph and then ease off and drive like a grandma when you are over 50. I've done this and noticed SOME improvement, but not a whole lot. I run my Ac in the afternoons, but usually don't have to in the mornings when I drive in since it's usually not very hot outside (yet).

I am going to hold the K&N for until I get her back from the stealership.

Just this PM when I was coming back home, it was reading that I was getting 14.3 mpg on the computer. I just refueled and ended up getting about 15.2 mpg via the old pen and pencil calculation method.

 

[cos]

It does help to accellerate harder then "normal" when breaking-in a motor to ensure the cylinder walls don't get glazed and that the rings seat properely, etc...

 

[confusion]

I've read the gas mileage reviews and have always had the same nagging question in my head. What type of gas is being supplied in your area? Real Gas (what I call it), E-10 or E-85. In the Tidewater area we can only purchase E-10, a complete change over took place in May and since then my mileage is crap, basically a 5 mpg drop from 28 to 23 mpg in town. Highway is not as dramatic,down from 33 to 31mpg. Power is also very effected, from what I've read the unit of power from a alcohol blended fuel is around 35% lower than that of conventional gas. My seat of the pants dyno estimates a loss of around 8-10 hp under WOT and torque is as much. To test the therory I've taken several out of town trips recently in which west and south of the immediate area, conventional gas is still sold. In fact there are no plans at the moment to switch over which confuses me why we did. I can say without a doubt that power, torque and mileage is dramatically effected by the use of E-10 compared to the real stuff.
To help combat the problems with E-10 I use a fuel modifier from Lucas Oil Products, it's a injector cleaner and stabilizer which helps the combustion burn hotter and cleaner, it states on the bottle that it is formulated to improve the negative effects of blended fuels. It does help improve power and reduces the lower gear surging I've felt with E-10. As for improving the mileage, no that still is bad but at least it's not bad mileage and power loss. Now I'm just trying to find a gas station that sells no ethanol fuel close by.
But I would still be interested in what fuel is available in your area, this type of information may go a long way into determining how Tuners should be programming their files for performance gains.

 

[BlackI4se]

This weekend I was doing some highway driving and my avg. mpg on the onboard display went up to 40.8 wow. I was loving it. went driving in town and it stayed around 32.2. I'll wait and do the math and see if it really was true the next time i get gas.

 

[Guest]

I don't know what you are doing wrong but your average should be 22 MPG for the V6 and 27 for I4. I would only know because I own both V6 and I4 and all of my friends are getting the same MPG.

 

[ColdFusion]

Re: MPGs HORRIFIC!! ME TOO!!

When I first got the car in May (SEL V6), I was getting between 14-16 mpg in the city. My commute is 7 miles from home to work. I shift between 3-4K because I would get run over if I shifted around 2500. However, I don't just WOT until I get there. Now that I have about 3,500 miles, my average mpg's went up to 18.....at least it's a little better! When I'm on the highway, I get between 24-26 mpg's. I attribute my bad mileage to the E10 gas that we have now. Cheaper my ass!!!!! It makes me have to get more of it!

I'm going to give it until 5k and an oil change before I get too worried. It sucks because my 03 Accord was the V6 with 20 more horsepower and was 22 mpg's in the city right off of the lot.....I hope it get's better for you and for me!

 

[swoop1156]

I just did a trip at 75mph with the A/C set on 69 and I averaged 26.4mpg in 95+ degree weather for 67 miles.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Well, as for the gas in our area, it's a mixture of those that carry E-10 and those that carry conventional gas. I believe that all the QT's and the cheaper gas stations have all put E-10 in their pumps because they even have the sticker that disclaims them from liability and all that crap. I actually noticed a HUGE decrease in mileage with my F150 when the E-10 fuels came out around here. As a matter of fact there were some times when I was lucky to break 12mpg (even the dang ranch truck gets 16mpg!). Whenever I see that I'm filling up with E-10 gas, I will spend the extra 7-10 cents per gallon and will fill my car up with 89 but I try to avoid E-10 like the plague and will drive somewhere else if I see that sticker on the pump. I am very conscientious about what I put in the tank. I have used a fuel injector cleaner already but am very hesitant to do it with every fueling because I've heard that can actually have a negative impact. My first oil change was done on this car at 2,200 miles because 1. My first oil change was free and 2. I didn't want oil that was already probably sitting in my car for 7 months to go the full 5,000 miles with engine shavings in it before it was changed out. I was going to reset the computer myself but, again, this is the first car I've had where taking the cables off the battery and touching them together while turning on the HID's DIDN'T do ANYTHING to reset the computer. This car is worlds smarter than my '75 F100 ranch truck and any Chevy or Toyota I've ever come across.

I took her into the dealership today and was given a raging bull as a rental car (Taurus). Funny how the Taurus' mpg gauge was reading 20.9 when I picked her up and had risen to 22.9 by the time I dropped her off. But I digress. They put my car through a full analysis and supposedly were able to reset the EFD and MAF parts of my car without resetting the entire computer (again, this car is MUCH too smart for me). They state that after the reset, I was getting 21.6 mpg on average as they were varying speeds from 45 to 65 mph, but they even told me that they didn't include starts and stops on the calculation. Apparently "city driving" according to the EPA doesn't mean "stop and start" driving, it means "driving slower than 50mph." I can live with 21.6 for sure, but they stated that since I only had about 3,500 miles on the car, it was probably even going to rise more than that. Time will tell I guess....I'm not holding my breath. But, in the long run I guess I also don't care because this car is so dang sexy that I'd probably drive her if she got 10mpg.

My service guy was adamant about not taking my car, but when he saw they actually had to do some work, and I showed him with pump receipts that I was getting the mileage of a Hummer H2, he sort of realized that something was wrong even if it only had 3,500 miles. Just to spite him I almost want to put 20" chrome rims, some high flow deep sounding mufflers, a supercharger, and a chip on the car and take her back next week and say that I'm still having the same problems just to see what he'd say. :rofl:

 

[bpmetalmilitia]

I live in Los Angeles [email protected]#*ing California and my drive on the stop and go Freeways gives me a 21-23 MPG for a mere 14-mile drive (25-minutes) to work. These are summer numbers (A/C is on), winters numbers give me 22-24 MPG. And I only use Chevron Regular Unleaded (Cost: $3.22). I do notice the longer milage I drive the better MPG.

 

[Scape2]

Whoa!! yeee ouch on the mileage. There is something going on here. I would try to keep you foot out of it for a while and drive as normally as possible. See if you MPG improves. I have an SEL V6 and my average is between 26.2 and 27.4 MPG on average. Most of my driving is freeway so I guess I'm lucky. Let us know if anyting improves.. if not, take it back to the dealer and have them run a complete diagnostic check..

 

[thereisnospoon]

See, it's so hard to keep my foot off it at times. For whatever reasons, there are so many Chevy Silvercrapdo's and Chevy Cobalts that want to show me how cool their vehicles are, and I just have to put them in their place.

But, I've gotten much more subdued with all of that. The dealership put her on the machine and said that varying between 45 and 65 mph, I was getting 21.6 mpg.....OOOOOOOOOO.....wow - I'm just breaking all kinds of records with that one!!!!! I knew that they would tell me that they didn't find any problem. Yeah, so I know I have low mileage - 3655 is what the odo read when I took her into the shop. They told me that I shouldn't even be in for an oil change for another 1400 miles, basically sort of writing my issue off. Ba$tArd$!!!!

Now I am scared to put the K&N back in the car after what the service guy has told me. I think I just need to put the thing back in there and drive her. 21-23 is good for summer numbers - I like 22-24 a lot better. I haven't really taken her on any really really long drives (i.e. more than 150 miles), but I hopefully plan to within the next few months.

 

[Metallicat]

21.6 doesn't sound right for that speed range. I think you should be closer to the 29mpg rating between 45 and 65mph. I know on my I-4, I am well above the 31 rating for my car at those speeds (like around 35mpg), but above 75mph my mileage drops quite a bit since the I4 manual is geared so low. At 80 I can only pull around 30mpg. Best thing to do is to keep track of your mileage by actually calculating it at the pump, over a 400 mile period or so. My average mpg has risen from around 25-26 when new to over 30, now that I have almost 8000 miles on it - same driving conditions. Part of that increase comes from the the performance tune that I am running, but I also think it is running better now that it is fully broken in.

 

[SoCalFusion]

[quote author=thereisnospoon link=topic=53822.msg895989#msg895989 date=1155869753]
The dealership put her on the machine and said that varying between 45 and 65 mph, I was getting 21.6 mpg.....OOOOOOOOOO.....wow - I'm just breaking all kinds of records with that one!!!!!  I knew that they would tell me that they didn't find any problem. [/quote]
So what is the dealership doing about that crappy mileage? I get 30-31 mpg with my SE V6 at those speeds!!
If the dealership is clueless (which they probably are...one of the problems of buying a first year car!) I'd try another dealership first then I'd demand to talk to the FORD area Saes Rep, don't be RUDE/LOUD but be FIRM say like "I NEED to talk to the Ford Rep, or I HAVE to talk to the Ford Rep. or I MUST talk to the Ford Rep ect.....start to look into Lemon Laws in your state just in case.

Dealers oh man I could tell you some stories! For me, this is what turns me off the most...it's not the problems but the dealerships inability to FIX the problem and the customer coming back time and time again wasting his time! Man I hate that!  Or how many times have you taken your car into a dealership for Warranty repair and they say it's done and you get in and it's DOING THE SAME THING!! It's like they think you're an idiot and you'll believe them if they say it's fixed! I really think they do that sometimes when they don't know what's wrong and they just send you on your way HOPING you'll live with it and not come back!!
Ok I feel better now!! 
To be fair though, it may not ALWAYS be the dealerships fault. If for instance FORD doesn't have a "fix" for the problem yet (another problem about first year cars) that may be why the dealer is clueless!