Terrible gas mileage!

[Finnster]

Questions for the OP, @nielfcars:
Are you still a member of MTC?
Has your mileage improved since you started this thread 5 months ago?

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[24hrsun]

I recall when I first started looking at the Hybrid Maverick and the reports on this forum about really poor fuel economy in colder months and thinking that sounded exaggerated. But I can attest that they didn't exaggerate. In the colder temps my truck fuel economy did fall substantially. I am a slow driving hypermiling sort and drive for fuel economy so it was quite depressing to see a huge hit to the economy in the cold months. I really didn't think that would be the case since Ford does have a heat exchanger on the exhaust to potentially heat the battery, but whatever the operating parameters are for that heat exchanger it does not do the job of keeping the battery temps in the sweet spot. The ICE is much more quick to come on and run more. On the warmer days it returns to normal MPG. Winter MPG really does stink even if you drive like I do.

I don't know if the OP has noticed this yet or if you learned the driving techniques to help get better economy. Slowing down is a big deal. I am lucky most of my driving is on 2 lane country highway roads so I can keep my speeds down and get respectable fuel economy most of the time. Interstate travel at higher speeds and cold are the enemy of good fuel economy. I hope you found your sweet spot and are happy with your truck. So far mine has met my expectations for the most part.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

Questions for the OP, @nielfcars:
Are you still a member of MTC?
Has your mileage improved since you started this thread 5 months ago?

Looks like he was a one & done.

HRG

 

[Finnster]

Looks like he was a one & done.
HRG

I didn't notice that he was last seen here 1-22-26!
hopefully he will show at some point and give us an update.
I hope he didn't dump his hybrid, mine didn't start producing impressive MPG until it hit 4,000 miles!

 

[imboden013]

Drive more conservative- ie, don’t floor the gas when accelerating at green lights and don’t brake at the last moment but let the hybrid regenerative braking do its job. I have a little over 7000 miles and averaging 40 mpg for all those miles. I got 45.9 yesterday on my drive home

It should get better after a few thousand more miles. You’re still in the break in period. Make sure your tires are properly inflated. Where you live may still be using winter mix of gasoline which will cause lower mpg.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

New cars made since CAD/CAM was instituted in about 2000 don't really have much "break-in" to do. The machining tolerances are already very high, so there are few to no high spots to wear down with use. Any mfg defects in the machining and assembly are quickly worn down and correctly seated. If a vehicle is not operating at optimum levels after 500-1000 miles, something is wrong with it.

 

[HeyBales]

New cars made since CAD/CAM was instituted in about 2000 don't really have much "break-in" to do. The machining tolerances are already very high, so there are few to no high spots to wear down with use. Any mfg defects in the machining and assembly are quickly worn down and correctly seated. If a vehicle is not operating at optimum levels after 500-1000 miles, something is wrong with it.

Ford's recommendation and statement and several youtuber's testing and seeing the same thing may mean this is for the hybrid system specifically.
Not ICE-only vehicles.

 

[kevinmccune]

New cars made since CAD/CAM was instituted in about 2000 don't really have much "break-in" to do. The machining tolerances are already very high, so there are few to no high spots to wear down with use. Any mfg defects in the machining and assembly are quickly worn down and correctly seated. If a vehicle is not operating at optimum levels after 500-1000 miles, something is wrong with it.

well I used to think that a well,when my wife first acquired her CRV mileage ran around 32( mixed) now it's stabilized at around 35 mixed,my Ecoboost was well broken in when I acquired it,but did notice around 35 mpg driving sanely on the pretty much level land.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

well I used to think that a well,when my wife first acquired her CRV mileage ran around 32( mixed) now it's stabilized at around 35 mixed,my Ecoboost was well broken in when I acquired it,but did notice around 35 mpg driving sanely on the pretty much level land.

I wonder how much is the equipment, and how much is the driver becoming accustomed to the equipment?

 

[MaverickDragon]

I wonder how much is the equipment, and how much is the driver becoming accustomed to the equipment?

That was likely a lot of the result, but we may never know.
Driving conditions can have a significant impact, and not only the driver being accustomed, but actively using methods that optimize the hybrid to get better mpgs.

The primary saver is limiting the Atkinson, which will run in order to use the cabin heat in the cold.
Of course when it's freezing, you don't have much choice unless you have seat heat.
Constantly running at a constant high highway speed is not where the hybrid shines either.

Getting the regen energy at a stop makes a big difference, as does reducing speed and rapidity of acceleration. I've found the coach functions help a lot to get you into the technique to recover most of the energy rather than heating up the brakes. That adds up.

I can routinely get 40+ if I stay off the interstate, get most or all of the regen and pretend there is a egg I don't want to break on the skinny pedal.

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