New Focus seems to drink it, then magic petrol out of thin air.

Michaeljcox24

Michaeljcox24

Michaeljcox24

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Last week I traded in a 2010 Fiesta Titanium for a 1L 2013 Focus Zetec 125bhp Econetic.

I am convinced something isn't quite right with the mpg usage. The number of miles goes down at least 1 every couple of mins, even when you are changing gear when it asks and keep the revs below 2000.

For example:

I live 9.5 miles away from my workplace. Friday, I got in the car, and it said 122 miles of fuel left. By the time I had got home (driving perfectly normally), the gauge said 81 miles left. So I had used nearly 40 miles worth of juice to go 10 miles. I got back in it on the night, and the available fuel was 107 miles.

You can sit there, and watch it. 107, 106, 105, 104 every minute or so. No joke.

The fiesta was never that bad, and the mileage went down steady as a rock, you knew where you were with it.

Do I get it hooked up to the computer at Ford? Surely it's not normal. MPG round the streets is around 35, and on a run maxes at 40.
 
What sort of driving are you doing with a max MPG of 40? The 2013 Focus 1.0T is meant to be quite good on fuel, however it might improve as the engine gets run in. For reference I can get over 40MPG in a 2001 Focus 1.6, the new 1.0T is meant to be considerably better on fuel.
 
According to the trip computer on my Ford, I quite often have a greater range left when I get to work than when I set off from home. I think it's because I park on a gradient.

Anyway, you can't really trust those "miles left" figures. They are just estimates. A bit like the Windows file copy time left estimate.

Use an app (or your head) and measure fuel usage at fill-ups to get your true mpg figure.

I used Road Trip which is quite good.
 
I park on a flat both at work and at home, and it seems to happen every where I park. You gain an extra 20 odd miles when you get back in the car. I'm not flooring it, when I first had the car I spent the day flooring it obviously, but it's been two weeks now and the digital fuel usage rockets down like the countdown on a shuttle launch.
 
It probably needs more than a week to work out your typical mpg / driving style etc. See what it's like in a couple of weeks.

If you want to measure the mpg accurately you wouldn't normally rely on the computer reading in any car. I'd measure it manually by recording mileage and fuel added to see if you think there is really a problem.
 
Im currently sitting on 52.1 MPG on a 2013 1.6 Econetic 115, I reset the trip ever month and I am on 2300 Miles so far, I notice when I fill up it Shows 580 Miles for a good 40 Miles before it starts to work out my MPG to Range, you need to do a full reset on the MPG counter and Miles done on the trip and give it around 40 Miles to work things out,

If you are seeing a constant drop it usually means the trip computer has just been reset, try not to reset it much if you are doing this as I made this mistake on every fill up, The range would drop loads for instance if I parked up at 250 miles showing, turned the engine off then back on boom 40 miles missing it would show 210 till empty, I found only resetting the trip counters every month rather than every fill up and let the car work out a steady MPG it usually helped loads.

Hope any of that makes sense?
 
Computers can only estimate your fuel usage. I have a congested drive to work, and a clear (and much faster) drive home from work. As a result, I usually arrive in the morning with more miles remaining than when I left, and get home at night having used double the miles I've actually driven.
 
Michaeljcox24 said:
Last week I traded in a 2010 Fiesta Titanium for a 1L 2013 Focus Zetec 125bhp Econetic.

I am convinced something isn't quite right with the mpg usage. The number of miles goes down at least 1 every couple of mins, even when you are changing gear when it asks and keep the revs below 2000.

For example:

I live 9.5 miles away from my workplace. Friday, I got in the car, and it said 122 miles of fuel left. By the time I had got home (driving perfectly normally), the gauge said 81 miles left. So I had used nearly 40 miles worth of juice to go 10 miles. I got back in it on the night, and the available fuel was 107 miles.

You can sit there, and watch it. 107, 106, 105, 104 every minute or so. No joke.

The fiesta was never that bad, and the mileage went down steady as a rock, you knew where you were with it.

Do I get it hooked up to the computer at Ford? Surely it's not normal. MPG round the streets is around 35, and on a run maxes at 40.
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When you were sitting there, was the car running or not?

The car will be calculating your distance to empty using the last few trips you've done and probably up to about the last 50 miles of driving, so with the ignition on (and engine off) the car's counting in time, but your technical average speed is dropping too so the range of the car will drop too as the car will be less efficient at certain speeds. Trip computers are pretty stupid/simple, as they can't predict the future perfectly, only give you a rough idea based on what you've done over the past few hours of driving.

Nothing wrong with the car from the sounds of it, I know the 1.0 turbo is pretty shocking for fuel economy, so 40 sounds pretty good for it.

I know it's a silly questions, but when you say the number of miles go down every couple of minutes, it isn't because you've actually driven a couple of miles in those minutes is it?!

As Mr_White said, measure your mpg properly, car computers typically lie by 0-8% anyway depending on the manufacturer. Brim the car, reset MPG, fill up when needed, brim again, note down fuel, compare to what car has told you.
 
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Start using either an app like roadtrip or a website like fuelly.com, track for a couple of tank fulls and then see where you are.

I've never trusted on board MPG read outs, our works van is usually pessimistic by about 4mpg but my old focus was optimistic by about 4.

But those 1.0T engines are fairly renowned for being terrible on fuel, if you're actually getting 40 out of one of them i'd be very very happy.
 
A 1-litre engine, turbocharged or not turbocharged, is going to have to work fairly hard to shift a car weighing at least 1.2 tonnes around. This, in the real world, is not going to net you MPG figures much more than simply "quite good", which 40MPG is.

I wouldn't be too upset at 35MPG around town, however. This is pretty good.


This engine sounds like it is far better suited to cars like the Ka and Fiesta.
 
Howard said:
A 1-litre engine, turbocharged or not turbocharged, is going to have to work fairly hard to shift a car weighing at least 1.2 tonnes around. This, in the real world, is not going to net you MPG figures much more than simply "quite good", which 40MPG is.

I wouldn't be too upset at 35MPG around town, however. This is pretty good.


This engine sounds like it is far better suited to cars like the Ka and Fiesta.
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Yeah I agree, my 1.6 is IMO better suited in the Focus but in the Fiesta the 1.0T is better.

At new mine was quite terrible getting mid 40s now with 20k on the clock its much better dont ever see below 50 MPG.

Have to sit 65 - 70MPH anything over and the turbo seems to be on spool so hampers MPG. Make sure stop start is on during town driving as it does help having the engine off in traffic and stopping at lights.

Not the quickest but perfect cruising on the motorway.
 
sovietspybob said:
The old 1.6 - 39MPG real world average
vs
The new 1.0T - 40MPG real world average

Yep that 1mpg was well worth designing a whole new engine from the ground up!
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It's not just about MPG though. IIRC, the EU sets an average Co2 emissions target for each manufacturer. I'd expect the 1.0 Eco to be lower than the 1.6 so it helps towards that target.

I also can't see a better way to come up with "list" figures for MPG without doing them in a lab. You need a formula that can be re-produced consistently every time. IMHO, it's about getting consumers educated that they aren't going to see the official MPG figures.
 
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