Car and Driver: Ford Maverick Hybrid Misses Its MPG Estimates, but We're Not Surprised

[Aherpa]

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a39539233/ford-maverick-hybrid-fuel-economy-tested/

I've done mostly highway drives over the 800 miles I've put on. Seeing consistently 38-40 mpgs. City driving has been outstanding. Even if they missed the EPA estimate by a few miles, still seems like they're pretty disappointed. Guess Ford didn't throw them the $ they wanted for a more positive headline.

I've had satisfying vehicles inspite of the fact I have not read Car&Driver in over 40 years. Real drivers on this forum are far more interesting to me.

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[8211badger]

Unless they were driving up a grade or into a serious wind 30mpg is a really low number. I consistently get around 34 doing 70/75 pure highway and nothing else. Most of my tanks are probably 65/35 rural highway with fast freeway mixed in. Then the rest city/suburban. Averaging right at 37 now that it's warming up a bit. My first tanks in Feb. were around 35 combined.

 

[tonyinsd]

I see articles like this and all I have to say is:

It's. A. Truck.

 

[JASmith]

Were they driving 75mph up Pike's Peak?? 30mpg is a ridicules low number for the Maverick Hybrid. Mine gets over 34mpg's going 80mph..... My mostly highway commute gets me nearly 55mpg's.

Measured 55mpg at the pump, or the lie-o-meter fuel economy on the dash?

Over hundreds of vehicles tested, we have only seen the display be accurate a handful of times. Most of the time, the MPG display you see in your dash display is telling you your mileage is about 10 to 15% better than it actually is. Source: https://www.torquenews.com/1083/dig...of vehicles tested,better than it actually is.

 

[Ricstar]

Were they driving 75mph up Pike's Peak?? 30mpg is a ridicules low number for the Maverick Hybrid. Mine gets over 34mpg's going 80mph..... My mostly highway commute gets me nearly 55mpg's.

I would love to know how you are getting that milage. That screen you shared is not from doing 85 mph more like 55. I have tested different speeds and never got better than 28mpg at 85mph

 

[Spiffster]

These magazine tests are a joke. I know first hand. My wife and I had a 2012 Hyundai Elantra and a 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco. Both EPA rated at 35MPG avg at the time. I was telling everyone who would listen (forums and car website comment threads) that I was getting vastly higher MPG from the Cruze and people generally said I was wrong (some more politely than others). Months later Hyundai MPG-Gate happened. This is after it was awarded car of the year and many magazines corroborated the Elantra's bogus MPG figures. Some of these articles are simply paid adverts.

 

[stick]

These magazine tests are a joke. I know first hand. My wife and I had a 2012 Hyundai Elantra and a 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco. Both EPA rated at 35MPG avg at the time. I was telling everyone who would listen (forums and car website comment threads) that I was getting vastly higher MPG from the Cruze and people generally said I was wrong (some more politely than others). Months later Hyundai MPG-Gate happened. This is after it was awarded car of the year and many magazines corroborated the Elantra's bogus MPG figures. Some of these articles are simply paid adverts.

add to that car and driver tester are the most biased in the world, they love what they love and hate what they hate, and they have already made up their mind when they begin 'testing'. then they write to match their bias. Really sad that they think the average critical thinking reader buys their BS.

 

[Bikeric]

Measured 55mpg at the pump, or the lie-o-meter fuel economy on the dash?

Why would anyone ever measure mpg's at the pump after driving 11 miles? If the dash "lie-o-meter" is off by 15% that means I probably only got 46mpg's. That's it. Burn the Maverick with Fire....

 

[Bikeric]

I would love to know how you are getting that milage. That screen you shared is not from doing 85 mph more like 55. I have tested different speeds and never got better than 28mpg at 85mph

Here's a quick 2.2 mile lunch run that got me 107.5mpg's.
1: Drive in ECO mode.
2: Get your cruise control ready, it works at 20mph and above.
3: Pulse and Cruise. Means accelerate from a stop fairly quickly then hit the cruise control. Maverick can be all-electric at 70mph if you're going down hill.
4: Weather has been perfect, so I haven't been using the heater or A.C.

 

[Griswaldo906]

I love when they say that it missed the mark, when they don't use the same testing parameters.

This is exactly my thoughts. Ford didn't rate their vehicle on Car and Driver's standards. They rated on the required government standards. They didn't miss the mark on the required government standards because, as many will recall, the government recently spotted checked Ford on their fuel economy claims.

Car and Driver's test isn't a bad one, per se... Their headline, however, is click-bait at best and at worst it is slander. This is why Car and Driver isn't a particularly trusted resource for me.

 

[WesM]

I wonder if they got one of the vehicles with a fried catalytic converter, due to the idling issue. I know the folks who had fried cats were getting much lower MPGs than normal.

 

[bombast]

It appears they did the testing in January or February.

In Michigan.

Based on my experience in the last 2 weeks in Pennsylvania, where the temperature dropped 30 degrees almost overnight and my battery output was perceptively worse along with mpg, I suspect that's part of the reason they're posting such awful numbers. The other part being their testing the Maverick Hybrid under literally the worst conditions possible for an aerodynamic brick.

 

[Ln42]

Agree with the already stated fact that using a different test parameter (under ‘ideal world’ conditions) and having the Mav not perform the same (in real life) under a different parameter is kinda dumb.
That said, they don’t even seem to fully understand the drivetrain of the vehicle. It’s not a direct lift from the Escape. Assuming Motor Trend didn’t get it all wrong then I’m left with not a lot of respect for the journalism of C&D.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022-ford-maverick-hybrid-motor-technology/amp/

 

[Ricstar]

Here's a quick 2.2 mile lunch run that got me 107.5mpg's.
1: Drive in ECO mode.
2: Get your cruise control ready, it works at 20mph and above.
3: Pulse and Cruise. Means accelerate from a stop fairly quickly then hit the cruise control. Maverick can be all-electric at 70mph if you're going down hill.
4: Weather has been perfect, so I haven't been using the heater or A.C.

but that's not real world driving, we have been talking about long trips and normal every day driving

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