Megamole

This probably been beat up a million times but I am new to the ecoboost and noticing how slow the AVG MPGs climb on the dash and how fast they can fall. Is mine the only one? It feels like it takes 2 miles with the green bar at 30mpg to increase .1 mpg, but it can drop .1 mpg by accelerating evenly to 25mph from a stop sign.

Last week I had 17.0mpg on my normal commute about 100 miles on the tank, shut the truck off and restarted it the next morning (15* F all week in NJ) truck warmed up for 3 min, it dropped to 16.8 avmpg before I drove off very light footed keeping the green line as high as possible it dropped another .2.

After a little highway driving arrived at work 16.7 avmpg then restarted truck after 8 hours in the cold under 20* got home after same drive mixed city/highway with traffic 16.6 avmpg when I pulled into the driveway. This happens every day. Now, we also had a snow storm. But didn't use 4wd drove really slow in traffic 2 hr drive average speed 5mph-10mph, truck had a 15.4 avmpg when I parked it.

Is this normal or does this truck really not like cold and traffic? My other truck never seemed to drop this much in traffic and with cold weather.

I was also thinking if starting in 2nd gear would help when in crawling traffic 5mph or so? Any thoughts on economy driving?

General Pain

No, you're not the only one. I have a 2013 xlt ecoboost and it does the same thing. It’s kind of annoying actually. I started to doubt it, so I did manual calculations on fill ups. To my surprise, the truck's computer average was dead on. I did this 3 fill ups (less than half a tank left) in a row and it was pretty much dead on all 3 times, so now I believe it.

Like it has been stated many times on the internet, these trucks’s mpg fluctuates wildly from the following: wind, cold weather, winter blend fuel, and hills. I know there are more, but these are the ones that come to mind right now.

TexasEd

It's simple math.

Amount of Gas used divided by miles traveled. That's how the Miles Per Gallon (MPG) ratio was named.

If you're idling in the driveway how many miles have to traveled? Not very many, right? So the MPGs will drop because you're using gas but not moving. This applies to any vehicle.

With regard to ecoboost specifically apparently the turbo chargers kick in somewhere over 1500 RPMs. I don't know where but it doesn't really matter, just realize that starting from not moving to getting up to 50 miles per hour takes more work than maintaining 50.

Ideal conditions for getting the best gas milage would be cruising in 6th gear on a relatively flat or downward slope at about 45-55 MPH and a tail wind. Any time you have to adjust your pedal you'll get more. None of these trucks are very aerodynamic.

If this is your first vehicle with instant feedback it may be more of a shock what the second to second throttle response can do. It is more twitchy after you've reset it recently and stays flatter with more miles since the last reset. This goes back to the math and the number of miles on the bottom of the equation levels it out as they get bigger.

To get the best fuel economy accelerate slowly and take your foot off the gas early and coast into the stop lights.

k-stater88

I feel your frustration. my 5.4L, when reset on a full tank, takes over 3.5 miles at 45 mph to recoop the mpg (from the lie-o-meter) that I lost from accelerating very softly (under 2000 rpm) to get up to that 45 mph. Obviously with more miles, it's a bigger average, so it takes longer to move that mpg number, but it definitely seems like it drops faster than it should.

Keep the faith. These are great trucks, and in my case, it's not my truck's fault that i have sooooo many stoplights to contend with.

acadianbob

Mileage really suffers in the cold weather. Think about bearing grease in 15 degrees, differential lube, the transmission that will not lock up until temp hits 107 degrees. If you are on surface streets that can take a very long time to hit operating temperature. I live in MN and have an Eco. It can take 10 to 15 minutes on the highway before mileage starts to get decent. If you are short-tripping, it is going to be ugly.

Ricktwuhk

A couple of points. First, avg is since the last reset. If you reset it each tank full, the avg will fluctuate widely and then settle down as the denominator (miles driven) gets bigger, as explained prior.

After driving a Fusion Hybrid for the past few years, I keep the bar graph display up (Fuel History), which shows the last 5, 10, 30, or 5 resets average. I usually have it on 5 so I can see how my driving is affecting the average. A 3 minute warmup, besides being unnecessary, will kill your mileage. Low temps, sitting at a traffic light, all kill mileage.

I haven't hit 600 miles, and on my second tank my average is in the low 14s.

ChrisC74

You are inline with what I have seen also. I have tried to just stop watching it b/c the damn MPG is on the same display as range to E. I wish Ford would add the distance to E to the screen that just shows the odometer. Then I could put MPG in the back of my head and enjoy driving the truck more. My EB gets better MPG than my 2010 Expedition but I still do not like the constant reminder that it is not getting close the expected MPG...


Sorry for the rant...

Wanted33

Don't be sorry brother, I feel the same way. I wish Ford would have put a miles to empty screen also so I would continually look at the mpg's. After three years one would think I would quit, but noooooooooooooo.

cthusker

I use the remote start in this cold weather so I know it's going to kill mileage. Sitting idling for 15 mins going absolutely no where… lol.. Oh well! It is what it is……….

johndeerefarmer

Yeah but that warm truck and especially the warm leather seat feels nice.