I have a 2015 4x4 Super Crew XLT with a 3.5L Ecoboost. I have almost 66K miles on it. I keep a spreadsheet and track my mileage. My cumulative MPG over the life of the truck is about 20.08. That being said, much of my driving is highway/suburban roads in hilly southwest PA. I've gotten as high as 27.1 mpg on a trip from my office north of Pittsburgh to Mentor OH, most of which was pretty flat. Yeah, I drive like a grandpa to get that kind of mileage. I get much over 65 MPH my MPG's drop. So the other thing is, the onboard computer underestimates my gas consumption by anywhere from 5 to 7 percent. So that 27.1 MPG trip actually was more like 25.5 MPG, which I'm still thrilled with for a full size crew cab 4x4 truck. Weather also makes a big difference in my mileage. I can't fit my truck in my garage so it sits out all winter. Cold temps drop my mileage on an average fill up by 2 mpg or more. The other thing I've done is used Muscle Products MT10 metal treatment as an oil additive. I think that's helped a little. I'm needing new tires soon and am anxious to see what effect new tires will have. Anyone here run Michelin Defender LTX M&S2 tires?

 

Hey, I'm looking for some opinions. Sorry if didn't search hard enough for the info i need.

I just bought my first F150 a few months ago and i'm a little concerned about the mileage i'm getting thus far. The truck is a 2018 f150 stx with 2.7 Ecoboost. It had 15 miles on it when i picked it up and since then i've put a little over 1200 miles on it. I drive about 80% city and 20% highway.

I'm averaging 13 MPGs which seems a little low to me based on ratings as well as reports from other F 150 owners.

Is this normal? Is something wrong?

 

Just returned from a 4200 mile drive through OH- IN - IL - WI - MN - WY - NE - IA - IL - IN - OH.

2018 3.5 eco, 145" Screw, max tow, 4x4. Family of 4 in the truck and bed full of luggage, coolers, etc. Truck had 1000 mi on it at the start of the trip.

Tracked each tank best was 22.3, worst was 18.9. Best was driving predominately through yellowstone and the grand tetons. My bad tanks (2 @ 18.9) were in the 80 MPH WY highways.
Overall trip average was 20.2 MPG.

A few questions / observations:
Speed has a big impact (as widely discussed). 10 - 15 MPH headwind has the same impact.
I was wondering about ethanol blends (10% - 15%). Does that hurt mileage? Nebraska advertised their 15% ethonol blend and Super 87. Not sure I agree.
Does a tonneau help or hurt mileage?
Altitude did not seem to make a noticeable different.

 

Speed and/or headwind = less MPG
Ethanol has less heat content per gallon so mileage will suffer.
Supposedly Ford designed it for best mileage w/o cover. YMMV literally.
My 2011 seems to get better mileage at altitude. Esp noticeable >10,000 ft. Less power too.

 

New to me lease return truck, 15,000 miles...just sold off my 2007, almost identical truck.
Did a 4 day visit to the Calgary Stampede, about 638 mile drive..Filled the truck eastbound in Armstrong BC, at $ 1.349 still in the flatlands and headed up into the Rockies.
the MPG s read 21.6 so I'm happy with that, coming from my'07 5.4 that could RARELY get 15 mpg on the highway,
On the way back, filled up first with gas at Costco Calgary at $ 1.209 per LITER.
Probably not surprisingly, the MPG was the same on the way back 21.6
The BAD thing was that gas in BC has gone up to $1.479 a LITER..a quart mayonnaise jar - full, thats about $ 5.56 per US GALLON. HIGHWAY robbery !
That said, I sure like this truck (more than my wifes new '18 Cadillac XT5..girly car.) Since I'm 70, this ride will outlive me, Im sure

 

duplicate post..oops

 

I've got the Defender LTX M/S on my 2011 SCREW 5.0 FX4. They are a shade noisier than the original Scorpions. I'm up to about 15 months on these thus far, and they show minimal wear. Mileage is about the same as I got with the Pirellis, but I think the tires are tougher, overall. I've driven on some rough dirt roads, and they've not given me any problems, whatsoever. I don't mind the slight increase in noise for the reliability I've gotten. Hope this helps.

 

Marty: A few things you didn't mention: The rear end, whether it's 2WD or 4WD, and the terrain in your area. If your truck has the 3.73 rear, you'll automatically get less mileage than, say, a 3.31 rear. The 4WD gets slightly lower mileage than the 2WD, assuming the same engine, rear end, driving conditions, and load. The terrain and your foot also has a notable effect. When I bought my '11 FX4, I was living in NC, where we get some significant changes in terrain. My mileage was averaging about 15 MPG for my city driving initially, While I was working in Savannah, which is pretty much flat, it jumped to about 19 in town. All that said, I've found in the F-150s that I've had over the years, that, for whatever reason, they take about 1500 miles to break in properly. Make sure you're varying the speeds as you drive, but don't get overly enthusiastic (AKA lead foot). If by, the time you hit 1500 and your mileage still sucks, take it in to the dealer and have him check the programming. Your 2.7 should definitely be doing better. Programming could be off. If it'll make you feel any better about long-term, my '11 FX4 is a SCREW 4WD, with the 5.0 and the 3.73 differentials, and I still get over 19 MPG around town, after 100K miles. Highway mileage is about 22 MPG (65MPH is my norm). I have an Airaid dry air filter on it (don't put an oil-type filter like the K&N on it; engine temps causes some of the oil to evaporate, get on the MAF sensor, making it think it's at 10,000 feet; doesn't run well), run my tires at 5 psi over the door sticker, and I'm running the factory synthetic blend 5W-20, with Royal Purple in the transmission and differentials. Hope this helps.

 

Depends on vehicle. While your energy comment is on the mark, it's not taking into consideration about the octane effect of higher ethanol blends. My anecdote is that I'm using 30% ethanol gas and getting the same mileage as 87 octane 10% ethanol gas in my '07 5.4 ffv. 87 octane isn't enough for these engines, but the e30 puts me about ~93 octane or so, which is just about perfect for this engine. Spark timing and exhaust gas temps are definitely improved running the higher octane ethanol blend, showing better engine thermal efficiency. Thermal efficiency can overcome (or make up for) lowered energy content.

I'd suspect the turbo trucks would really like running on a 30% blend. I'd probably prefer running one without ethanol at all, and a good tune with progressive water/methanol injection... but that's just a hallucination.

 

Engines today will retard timing and add fuel in response to knock but I don't know how many will advance timing and cut fuel until they get knock thus adjusting for optimum mileage. My next car will probably be electric anyway.
Running a turbo engine on 85% ethanol for more performance is common but I don't think you get more mileage.

From Google (Wikipedia):
"Ethanol and fuels like E85. 1.5 gallons of ethanol has the same energy content as 1.0 gallon of gasoline. A flex-fuel vehicle will experience about 76% of the fuel mileage MPG when using E85 (85% ethanol) products as compared to 100%gasoline. ... Pure ethanol provides 2/3 of the heat value available in pure gasoline."

33% is a lot to make up.
So 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol has 96.6% the heat value as gasoline.
80% gasoline and 20% ethanol has 93.2%
70% gasoline and 30% ethanol has 89.8%
So to equal the mileage, you would have to be about 10% more efficient overall. Seems like the car makers would be all over getting 10% more mileage for CAFE.