echonav

Last week I bought a new 2013 F150 FX4 5.0L. The truck is loaded with just about every option available. It's nicer than my 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. I love this truck!

So far I've put on about 200 easy around town miles (easy acceleration, no heavy foot) and the computer shows that I am getting about 11.1 MPG average (36 gallon tank is full, computers reset). This concerns me because most people say they get about 15-16 MPG average. Is it safe to assume that as I accumulate more miles I can expect to see average MPG to move up towards 15 MPG? But that doesn't make sense to me unless the amount of fuel used in the average MPG calculation is based on a crude fuel gauge reading rather than actual consumption. In that case I can see where the average MPG would go up as you consume a full tank of gas. Has anyone else noticed this in their new F150's?

Thanks!

dieselhunter44

With the truck being so new, the computer has very little data to rely on to determine an accurate number of what your fuel consumption is.

Sometimes MPG will increase over time as the engine breaks in.

Have you tried hand calculating your MPG? Just to be sure the lie-o-meter in the dash isnt lying to you lol?

RLXXI

What he said and you need to wind it up a bit, don't baby it or you'll wind up with a smoker. I took a road trip shortly after I got it, put 400+ miles and had cruise set at 70mph and got 20.7 mpg, granted mine is 2 wheel drive but still.

Jjayf

You should see some gains as your engine frees up a bit. As mentioned, don't baby it too much after 300 miles.

User-One

Could be: the computer lying, tire combination, low tire pressure, ethanol in fuel, accessories on truck, outside temperature, etc, etc. Drive a thousand miles easy on the gas and see what the mpg is.

And I am serisouly not buying what people say about the ecoboost and even the 5.0 that it needs 5k miles or more to be "broken in", its more like 300.

Bluesummers

If I only drive 4 to 6 miles everyday then I get horrible gas mileage.

If I am on a highway for 10 minutes or longer my mileage goes up. I live in an area where it is all stop and go and the highest speed I get up to is 45mph to get to work. I'm only at that speed for a mile and have to stop and accelerate again a few times.

Take a highway trip to see what your peak is and if it goes beyond what the sticker says then your truck is fine. It's your area that you drive in that sucks.

2002FX4

As soon as you left the dealer lot, you should be putting the truck through its paces all through the rpm range. Don't baby it! Gas mileage shouldn't even concern until after you've got a couple hundred hard miles on it. I'm probably not going to find many that agree with me and that's Ok. I've built a couple of motors. Just my 2 cents

seannh

I test drove an Eco a few weeks ago with 97 on the clock, and it was sitting at 4.9MPG for the 15 miles I drove it. Stands to figure, whoever buys it has to deal with that 100 miles at 5MPG to start. Could've happened to you, too.

Coho

ok this might sound really too obvious, ....

is there any chance the truck display is set to Liters/100 kilometers ? 11.1 L/100km is almost the EXACT number our trucks run at. lol

echonav

As we all know MPG is a simple calculation: fuelconsumed/miles driven. It follows that Average MPG is simply the average of several instantaneous MPG calculations over a period of time. The miles driven variable in the MPG calculation is very accurate as per the digital odometer; so I think we can count on this variable being reasonably accurate. However, fuel consumption is a bit of black magic. One way to determine fuel consumptionat any point in time is to use fuel gauge readings over time and average them. But if the fuel gauge is a simple averaging analog float based system, I can’timagine this is by any means accurate, and would prove accuracy only after consuming many tanks of gas. Maybe this is why the computer in my new F150 FX4 showsonly 11.1 Average MPG after 250 miles. Another way to determine fuel consumption is to incorporate some sort of digital flow meterthat accurately measures gas consumption as it flows from the fuel tank to the engine. A digital flow meter would provide very accurate fuel consumption data resulting in very accurate instantaneous MPG calculations.

My question to Ford is, what mechanism is being used to determine fuel consumption used in MPG calculations? Is it a best guess method based on inaccurate fuel tank readings, or is it based on a more accurate reading from some sort of digital flow meter? I would hope with all the fancy software and graphics used in today’s digital instrumentation that very accurate methods of data collection are incorporated into those systems. My guess is Ford probably doesn’t want to spend the money on hardware needed for accurate data collection. Hence 11 Average MPG on my new F150 with about 250 miles on it. I am banking on thecomputer eventually reporting 15-17 Average MPG after I run through a few tanks of gas.