Poor fuel mileage

[Maverick Man]

Same thing happen to me, except, I'm NOT in traction mode. I was averaging 41 MPG. Now I'm getting 34 MPG. The dealer tells me "winter temps and change in gasoline in the winter months. Seems like a big change or am I wrong?

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[KeinoDoggy]

Same thing happen to me, except, I'm NOT in traction mode. I was averaging 41 MPG. Now I'm getting 34 MPG. The dealer tells me "winter temps and change in gasoline in the winter months. Seems like a big change or am I wrong?

Think about it for a moment. Winter time you are cold so you want heat in the vehicle so as to keep warm. You set your temperature at 72 degrees in your Maverick. There is only one way to produce that heat you are asking for. The ICE must run to heat up the circulating antifreeze mixture to pass through the heat exchanger and provide the heat you have requested. Engine runs, uses gas, mileage goes down. Simple facts.

 

[NJBob]

I am getting 28.2 MPG on ecoboost 4k tow. 1500 miles on the truck. Drive on rural roads and highway not to much city driving. I keep my eye on the MPG bar and try to optimize it the best I can. I am pretty happy with that.

 

[Ckrivi]

CHECK YOUR TRACTION MODE!!!

I drive in eco and normal mode and was getting great mileage in my hybrid. I was going 65-80 on the highway and getting mid 40's for mpg during a 2500-mile trip. When I got home in April 2022, I took it to a dealer for an oil change. My mpg's dropped to the mid 30's. The dealer said it was the difference in summer VS winter gas, another said I needed to get tier 1 gas. No matter what gas I bought... no difference. A couple of weeks ago I was playing with the knobs and saw it was in a traction mode(not the same as the eco, normal mode etc) Now almost a year and 13,000 miles later I am back to getting mid 40MPG on the highway, and low 50mpg in town.

How did you find the traction mode? The only mode I can find is the drive mode and I always put it in eco

 

[OpieGoneBad]

I have two hybrids and I was getting MPG's in the mid 40's all summer and fall. Winter it has dropped to the mid 30's Pretty normal in the cold. As for all of they insanely high MPG numbers you see here, ignore most of them. I have come to the conclusion that we all drive differently and we all live in different driving condition areas. I am also convinced that a lot of these "75 mpg" numbers you are seeing are highly inflated and/or cherry picked. Heck I can easily say my truck is getting 75 MPG if I look at it on a new tank of gas and freshly reset trip meter on a 3 mile drive downhill in 70 degree weather, I mean after all the computer said so!

From my experience, the EPA MPG ratings are pretty close to what I am actually getting with both of my Mav's.

 

[GPSMan]

Also if you can tolerate driving in winter with the cabin heat off, your mpg will be very close to summer after the first 5-10 minutes.

It's the creature comfort for the human behind the wheel that is lowering MPG more than anything.

I fully understand you NEED heat to melt frost sometimes. On a day you don't, dress for it and try no cabin heat, just once.

I'm above 32 deg 99.5% of the time.
So wiper blades w/o heat are usually fine.
If I wear a coat walking to the truck on a 35 degree Morning, I may as well keep the coat on IN the truck. I'm gonna want the coat on in 30 minutes anyway leaving the truck.

MPG is only 1 or 2 lower at 35 deg than 75 deg, IF (big IF) you can keep climate control off.

Do what you like!

 

[atomguy245]

My hybrid after an afternoon of Ubering.

 

[MJ Heat]

We picked our 23 Hybrid up last Thursday. Eight days & 460 miles later we are averaging 46.2 mpg on the dash (We still haven’t put gas in it yet.). Weather has been about 40 degrees Fahrenheit & rain for the last week. I expect to get 50mpg when it warms up & dries out. We drive like we are old, because we are.

 

[GPSMan]

My hybrid after an afternoon of Ubering.

That's really great!

 

[NJBob]

Also if you can tolerate driving in winter with the cabin heat off, your mpg will be very close to summer after the first 5-10 minutes.

It's the creature comfort for the human behind the wheel that is lowering MPG more than anything.

I fully understand you NEED heat to melt frost sometimes. On a day you don't, dress for it and try no cabin heat, just once.

I'm above 32 deg 99.5% of the time.
So wiper blades w/o heat are usually fine.
If I wear a coat walking to the truck on a 35 degree Morning, I may as well keep the coat on IN the truck. I'm gonna want the coat on in 30 minutes anyway leaving the truck.

MPG is only 1 or 2 lower at 35 deg than 75 deg, IF (big IF) you can keep climate control off.

Do what you like!

Don't cabin heat come from the waste heat of the engine that would just go out the radiator anyway. Unless you are talking about a hybrid where the engine has to run just to supply heat. Or if the ac is running but would think a negligible drop in mpg using the heat.

 

[GPSMan]

Don't cabin heat come from the waste heat of the engine that would just go out the radiator anyway. Unless you are talking about a hybrid where the engine has to run just to supply heat. Or if the ac is running but would think a negligible drop in mpg using the heat.

More so in Hybrid.

But doesn't EB have "auto stop" at stoplights?

So same idea there, if you spend a lot of time not moving, it will burn gas just for heat.

 

[Waterick]

I bought a fwd 2.0 eco back in November...... My commute is 100 miles total and all highway. I keep my cruise set at 72 and in eco mode and haven’t seen anywhere close to 30....

I have found on modern cars, that I always can improve my MPG by not using the cruise control (especially if it's hilly, but not necessarily). It seems, many vehicles don't "freewheel" or just coast going down hill and with cruise on but, will use engine braking to keep you at the set cruise number. May not help in your situation, but worth a try.

 

[GPSMan]

I have found on modern cars, that I always can improve my MPG by not using the cruise control (especially if it's hilly, but not necessarily). It seems, many vehicles don't "freewheel" or just coast going down hill and with cruise on but, will use engine braking to keep you at the set cruise number. May not help in your situation, but worth a try.

Yes!

"Conventional" wisdom says flat roads will net higher MPG than hilly roads, in a conventional vehicle. These are not conventional vehicles.

Since the first hybrids came out about 20 years ago, people, including myself, have noted with hybrids, you can net higher MPG in hilly terrain, especially if you game the system to take advantage of its added features.

 

[Waterick]

Yes!

"Conventional" wisdom says flat roads will net higher MPG than hilly roads, in a conventional vehicle. These are not conventional vehicles.

Since the first hybrids came out about 20 years ago, people, including myself, have noted with hybrids, you can net higher MPG in hilly terrain, especially if you game the system to take advantage of its added features.

This is true especially for hybrids, but I was not just referring to them here. Since the days of computer controlled fuel injection, cruise control doesn't really help your MPG as much as it does to keep your speed more precise. You are less likely to benefit from coasting down hills and an even throttle control. On cruise control, a vehicle will really power on going uphill to maintain your speed rather than using a lesser setting to gradually get your speed back this saving fuel.

 

[Deleted member 1483]

On cruise control, a vehicle will really power on going uphill to maintain your speed rather than using a lesser setting to gradually get your speed back this saving fuel.

I've noted the Hybrid in Eco Mode only will actually be fine to bleed speed off using cruise control. It doesn't in any other drive mode.

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