Am I being unrealistic in my expectations of fuel consumption from a 1.8 Focus? For some years I have driven Vauxhalls. two 2.0L Cavaliers and more recently a 2.0SRI Vectra. My first 2.0L Vauxhall was pre cat and I always returned in the region of 8.5 miles/litre (39 - 40mpg)on a mixture of motorway cruising at 85 - 90 and driving to work on semi rural roads. A 2.0 with Cat then followed which did typically 8m/l (36mpg) then a Vectra with between 30 - 34 mpg and now a focus with 30 -33mpg. The focus is a nearly new model bought from the local Ford dealer and has covered 6k miles. The tail pipe looks quite black and in the good old days of carburetters I would be looking to make some adjustments.
The car appears to warm up very quickly and drives perfectly well.
As I mentioned it is 'nearly new' so may well have sat in a field for a while. Has anyone any suggestions as to possible faults which could develop in these circumstances. Do lambda sensors deteriorate if not used? Is it worth having my ECU interrogated or is this what I should expect from this model.
Thank you for your help
SR
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I wasn't happy about the fuel consumption of my Ford Mondeo, which was noticeably worse than the identical model that I'd hired the previous year from the same Main Dealer.
At the first service I mentioned this fact and asked them to connect it to the Ford Computer to see if anything was wrong. It wasn't. They just said it might improve as the car continued to run in (after 10,000 miles, I don't think so!)
I found the fault myself when I went to buy new front tyres at just over 20,000 miles. The tracking was out, and well out, too. I'm convinced it had been like this from new because after adjustment the fuel consumption improved noticeably.
So, before you start playing with the ECU, or anything else, for that matter, my suggestion would be, based on my own experiences, get the tracking checked. Make sure you take it somewhere who know how to do it, and I am not convinced that this is set particularly accurately when cars are new. It's probably left to Main Dealers to check and/or adjust before the car is delivered to it's first owner, and, needless to say, they probably don't bother!
Good Luck,
Galaxy
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Galaxy - did you know from driving the car that the tracking was out or just get it checked as a matter of course? Reason I ask is that my 01 1.8 Mondeo front tyres have been replaced at about 14k and 32k (Contisport) When they were changed at 32k one of them (the driver's side) was bald on the inside edge. Tyre dealer suggested main dealer steering geometry check as I had no tracking problem symptoms eg experience of car pulling to one side, wheel vibration at certain speed etc etc. Not keen to get this done at a cost of about £100
I'm disappointed with the mpg on this car. Not sure on the exact mpg but it uses more petrol than my old Merc 190E 1.8 on the same daily motorway commute. But then Fords always have been juicy IMO
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Marc,
I didn't know for sure that the tracking was out until I had it checked when I bought the new front tyres, but I had my suspicions:
1. The front tyres appeared to have worn in a feathered fashion, worst of all on the outer shoulders.
2. When braking I had always felt a slight turning movement on the steering wheel. After having the tracking adjusted this effect disappeared.
However, I have to say that the front tyres still wear in a feathered fashion, particularly on the outer shoulders. Apparently Mondeo's are noted for doing this, as a search on the subject on this website will verify.
I strongly suspect that this effect is caused by suspension problems. I don't consider the standard suspension to be anywhere near firm enough, not compared with other cars that I've driven. Also, I suspect that I might well have a defective shock-absorber on the offside, which is causing strange tyre wear patterns. I reported this 3 times during warranty but was told it was OK. Either it is OK or they just didn't want to do anything about fixing it.
I have never had 4 wheel tracking done, only two, which proved to be quite a long way out. As far as I'm concerned I hadn't done anything to the car to cause it to be this far out, which leads me to conclude that it wasn't (or isn't) set up all that well at manufacture. Perhaps 4 wheel tracking might reveal some further secrets. Perhaps I might have it done when I buy the next set of tyres.
I hope this info is of some help to you.
Galaxy
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IIRC, there have been previous threads/posts about the Focus having a drink problem. The mpg hasn't been to people's expectations.
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I had a 1.8 on hire for a fortnight and the fuel consumption was horrendous, luckily i was not paying for the fuel.When i returned the car the receptionist said it was a well known problem with the 1.8.
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In my experience of 1.8 petrol Fords, Mondeo, Focus and Escort, they all seem to return low to mid 30's from 'urban' use.
I've had 40mpg from a 1.8 petrol Mondeo on a daily motorway commute, not exceeding 70mph i may add.
I'd suggest a redex treatment as this seemed to improve my fuel consumption by 3 or 4 mpg on a 1.8 petrol Mondeo last year.
I don't think there's anything amiss with your Focus, that's just the way they are unfortunately.
PP
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We have just gone from a 1.4 Ford Escort (F reg) which gave a pretty constant 35 mpg to a 2.0 Ford Mondeo (V reg) which seems to give the same. Is this good or bad?
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Sounds pretty good to me, considering that's what my 1.4 fiesta manages!
To think I could get the same mileage from a 2.0 Mondy makes me want to cry!
Blue
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Of course, you have to take into account the fact that the Escort cost us £200 and the Mondeo £4000!
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Hi,
I get anything from 32 to 36 in my 1.8 petrol focus, i did find that redex helped but not sure whether you should use it all the time.
GC
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My V reg 1.8 LX used to get about 30-35 on my 7 mile trip to work - mainly urban driving - but it did get as low as 25mpg over the winter. On a run it would return between 40 and 45 mpg. Sold it for a diesel Audi earler this year as I was sick of getting such low mileage.
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I reckon you've been spoiled by the Vauxhalls. Not scientific I know, but when I had a company car, there was a mix of Fords and Vauxhalls on the fleet. We claimed business fuel on a pence per mile basis, so there was interest in the economics!
All the Cavalier/Vectra drivers reckoned a 2.0 litre would average well over 35 (I was one and kept a log for many thousands of miles and averaged over 37 in a 2.0 Vectra SRi) whereas the Ford Mondeo drivers were typically getting 3 or 4 miles/gall less.
Now these were all figures from high annual mileage cars, long runs, and therefore few cold starts, so perhaps not a normal family use, but there were enough cars in our 'survey' to certainly indicate a clear trend in favour of the Vauxhalls.
Regards
John S
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Can't comment on 1.8 Focus, but I've done a total of 160k in two 1.6LX Focus's and always seemed to average 33mpg, irrespective of whether I was heavy-footed or mild in my driving technique.
Mind you, my current transport is a Laguna 1.9Dci Dynamique Sport Tourer (2nd this year) - I have these on hire and keep them for 10k miles (12 weeks) per car (delivered brand new). I get only 37mpg overall on these as well...Must be my driving style then!
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