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Ford Focus: MPG-Real World Numbers

77 messages,  Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 9:05 AM

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What is this discussion about? Ford Focus, Ford Focus SVT, Fuel Efficiency (MPG)

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#47 of 77 2000 ZX3 by rincon1840 Apr 16, 2008 (3:00 pm)
Usually between 27 and 31. Pretty good for a 124K car.
#48 of 77 2007 Focus SE Great MPG by gearslammer1 May 05, 2008 (5:09 am)
I bought my 2007 Focus SE 2.0l about 2-3 months ago when it had about 1200 miles on it. I have been getting about 34-37 MPG with about 80% highway. I had one trip on the interstate where I did get 40 MPG. I have a little over 4000 miles on it now and I wonder what kind of mpg I will see in the future. This is a big improvement over my 2003 Ford Ranger I was driving it was getting around 18 mpg. Since I drive over 80-100 miles a day this car is paying for itself in gas savings alone. Its always nice to give your money to someone else or save it instead of giving it to the oil companys. I am also a big guy and having a car that gets good gas mileage and is comfortable I thought was going to be a challenge but not with this car it has plenty of room.
#49 of 77 Low Fuel Light ?? by randomness May 27, 2008 (7:24 pm)
Do ALL the focuses have the "low fuel" light?   I always refill my tank around 293 miles because that's when it's practically on the E. Once I let it get lower and at one point while driving it seemed like it was going to run out soon it was acting werid.   Also I average about 26mpg with my 05 Sedan...mostly highway driving and I tend to speed but I don't do a lot of braking or stop and go.
#50 of 77 Averaging 37.5 by carlt1 Jul 04, 2008 (2:09 am)
My 08 Automatic SE has 3500 miles on it and gets better and better mileage. On a 60 mile trip to New Haven (mostly I-95 rolling hills) I hit 50mpg at the end of the trip just as I got to the slow down at the usual construction slow down outside the city. I drive very carefully to maximize efficiency. Passing up a Prius ws not that bad an idea since most of my trips are short. carl
#51 of 77 MPG: San Diego to Detroit... by 0311vn Jul 05, 2008 (8:47 am)
I just put 3800 miles on my 01 Focus wagon that had 101K on it when I left San Diego two weeks ago. I had never surpassed 34 mpg before in it, but on a stretch of Rt. 50 going east from Reno toward Ely I got a tad over 38 mpg. I clocked every tank on the trip and averaged 34 to 36 mpg on each one.   I noticed, however, on one tank in South Dakota with 87 octane blended with ethanol that the mpg dropped to 32 on all Interstate driving in terrain much flatter than where I had been more west of there. Does anyone else notice that with ethanol blended gasoline than the mpg drops off a bit?   In Colorado I went over some passes eight to eleven thousand feet while staying in the 33 to 34 mpg range.   I kept the tires a pound or two over the recommended 32 psi. I also kept the cruise below at around 65 mph. I only drove over 70 when passing as I wanted to save fuel and not push a seven year old car with 101K plus on it.   Also, at most up hill grades, I shut off the AC. Does this save much on mpg, or does it merely give the engine a bit of a break?   I told my neighborhood mechanic that the mileage had dropped off on the Focus after he did the 100K tune up on it. He said he had put 20w oil in it because it was an older car. Before I left he replaced it with 5w20 as recommended by Ford, which he said might be an mpg factor; I never heard of oil being much of a mpg factor.   The cheapest gas I came upon was around Cheyenne, WY at 3.85. Mapquest.com lays out 2300 miles San Diego to Detroit. I did the equivalent of Detroit to Anchorage on this trip. My only complaint for a car this old with over 100K on it is that when temps hit 90ish the AC struggled to cool the car. I suspect a wagon with more glass and more interior volume involves more cooling than a sedan. Replies to this message: dromedarius (Jul 21, 2008 5:56 am)
#52 of 77 Re: MPG: San Diego to Detroit... [0311vn] by dromedarius Jul 21, 2008 (5:56 am)
Replying to: 0311vn (Jul 05, 2008 8:47 am) There is most definitely a drop-off in mileage for ethanol. I've tracked mileage on our last three vehicles (CR-V, Prizm, Focus) and have noticed a drop of 1-2 mpg on a tank of 10% ethanol. Our 2000 Focus is pretty consistent, getting around 31 mpg in mixed driving. When my wife drives that drops 2-3 mpg, which is pretty standard as she drives more aggressively stoplight to stoplight.   We purchased this 00' Focus ZTS w/91k miles in April after I totaled my '01 Prizm, and while the mileage isn't as good, the ride is far superior, so much so that we use it as our primary vehicle from time to time, depending on the situation. I NEVER had my little boys in the Prizm; it was just far too small.
#53 of 77 '07 Focus still came in wagon model?... by 0311vn Jul 27, 2008 (7:28 am)
Replying to: jupp (Aug 25, 2006 4:06 am) I have an '01 Focus wagon. Several people have asked about it and I told them it no longer come in wagon model. Heading east on US 50 from Reno recently I was surprised to clock a tank at 38 mpg, the highest I have ever achieved with this car. Driving with the wind may have helped as I have noticed before that sometimes driving west to east with a noticeable wind coming from the west that I got better mileage. Dropping from the elevation near Lake Tahoe may also have been a factor.   On US 50 from Reno to Gunnison, Colorado I consistently clocks tanks at 34 to 36 mpg. I kept the cruise at 65 mph and cut the AC when going up grades.   The NY Times of 26 Jul page B1 has an article about how ethanol may reduce mileage with car with smaller engines. I suspect in Nevada and Utah that I was running 100 percent gasoline that got me those 34 to 36 mpg tanks. In South Dakota running with "corn pone" (as I call it) blend a tank dropped to 32 mpg.
#54 of 77 Scientific Fact by mschmal Jul 29, 2008 (7:52 am)
1 gallon of E85 has less energy than a gallon of regular old gas which has less energy than a gallon of diesel.   Fact is that there is less energy in a gallon of E85 than was spent turning dirt and seeds in to E85 and getting it to your tank.   Corn farming requires fertilizer made from Oil. Corn farming requires tractors that burn oil. Corn has to be transported to an Ethanol plant by trains or trucks that burn Oil. Ethanol requires production in a plant that uses Electricity made from Oil/coal Ethanol then has to be transported by a truck or in a tank car by rail again burning OIL!!!!!   At every stage of production, Ethanol is less efficient than plain old OIL. Corn can't be transported in Super Tankers or pipelines. and neither can Ethanol.   Ethanol is a GIANT SCAM!   Mark
#55 of 77 Update on 2005 Ford Focust ST at 65,000 miles by basiliskst Aug 04, 2008 (9:20 am)
I previously reported mileage after about 2,000 miles of experience with my used 2005 Ford Focus and 27,000 total miles. At that time I was getting about 27 MPG. Now with 65,000 on the clock, it is time to update that report.   It's all good. Over the 40,000 miles of driving, I'm averaging slightly better than 30 MPG. The ST is still rock solid and a joy to drive. I decided to update today after realizing just how much fun the Focus ST is on a beautiful morning drive. It still makes me grin. No squeaks, no rattles. Perfectly composed handling and steering. Zero unscheduled maintenance costs. It still looks and performs as new. I've gone through P6 tires at about 30,000 miles for each set. I've used Valvoline pure synthetic oil. I've performed all factory scheduled maintenance. And that's it. Absolutely great car. I've since bought a 2008 Mercury Milan Premier with the same engine for my wife's primary car and it yields 27.7 MPG average in the bigger car with a 5-speed automatic. Very impressive. My experience matches the recent quality and reliability surveys that suggest that Ford is now on par with Toyota. The Focus is remarkably competent for an affordable economy car. The purposeful styling hides a driver's car that is truly a blast to drive and is still easy on fuel, more important now that gasoline is a $4.00 per gallon. I thank my lucky stars I test drove the Focus. I think it had languished on the dealer's lot because not that many people can drive manual transmissions any more. It fit me perfectly and was fun then. Nothing else I was looking at then would be saving as much money today and still be as much fun. Thank you Ford. Replies to this message: wjtinatl (May 08, 2009 5:11 am)
#56 of 77 Re: First gas check on my new 04 ZTW 2.3L, AT [fapar47] by tlworkroom Aug 07, 2008 (4:45 pm)
Replying to: fapar47 (Sep 15, 2006 4:36 pm) I know that 34K miles isn't that much, compared to when these cars can go over 200,000 miles easily on their engines if taken care of properly. I'm a firm believer in using oil cleaners and gas additives to make sure engines are properly clean.   I used to drive for courier company in New Mexico, USA, and we use Focus ZX3 with 5 sp manual tranny. When brand new, they were rockets!! I was lucky that I wasn't caught checking how fast it would go on interstate, like some of other drivers did. But most of these cars were driven HARD, and I was able to make 33-35 mpg at 75 mph speed limit on freeway, which is where I always drove my car, with very little city driving. But that was because I always used gas additive to clean engine. I also changed oil myself many times, occasionally using "Motor Flush" to clean out oil completely. Some might feel I wasted my money, but I got the mpg I desired from it.   But even your car probably wouldn't gain great benefits from what I've described above. Seems like something else might be the problem, possibly mechanical. I know that automatic transmissions don't get as good mpg as 5 sp tranny's, but I've gotten my beatup 1991 Geo Prizm with 240K miles on it to go from 28 mpg to 35 mpg highway by cleaning up engine inside and out.   Only other suggestion I might make is to try Bosch "+2" plugs. They burn the gas mixture more effectively, and is what allowed my junker to finally achieve the 35 mpg on highway.

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