My car has "suddenly" become ultra fuel efficient, I don't understand why. Is the weather spot on for max fuel efficiency at the moment I wonder ?
I'm now getting over 70+mpg at a steady 70mph or any dual carriageway or motorway, and 77+mpg on A roads with varying gradients etc. (GPS and speedo verified).
These figures are around 10% more than I use to get. I've check the trip computer, fuel fill up tank to tank and mileage etc.
The car is a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi 109 and using BP ultimate diesel.
Is anyone else getting these kinds of economy returns from their TD's ? Any ideas ?
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You must be driving like a vicar! ;-)
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Not sure about that......my father-in-law is a vicar......he drives like a nob!!!
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I notice an improvement in my diesel fuel consumption for normal off motorway driving from about 55 mpg to nearer 60mpg as the weather gets warmer. There certainly is a temperature effect but I would be surprised if all that you are seeing is just down to that
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Somebody told me once that after a certain mileage the ECU is programmed to 'let the engine do things' that wern't possible before, in order to run it in properly.
Cobblers maybe but this person works for FMC.
Maybe it's this?
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If it's a Focus 1.6 tdci it's obviously quite a recent car. Has the engine perhaps bedded in now? What's the mileage?
That, combined with a change in formulation from summer to winter diesel - winter diesel resists congealing better but burns less efficiently - could explain it.
However, if you are getting 70+ mpg that's an exceptional result and I'd just be pleased about it rather than seeking an explanation.
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70+ mpg? Is this what the fuel computer is telling you, or what you've worked out using brim-to-brim calculations?
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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I am very sceptical that your car would manage over 70mpg at 70mph. I susepct that there must be some miscalculation involved here.
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If the figures are coming from the on borad computer I suspect a fault, if they are coming from brim-to-brim calculations I suspect an error in the conversion of litres to gallons, with great respect to the OP of course
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getting over 70+mpg at a steady 70mph or any dual carriageway or motorway, ...The car is a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi 109 and using BP ultimate diesel.
not surprising at all, at a steady 70mph and using a premium brand "ultimate" fuel, that you are now getting close to the manufacturer's official extra-urban figures which are for worse conditions than your test:
70.7 mpg obtained by not driving at a steady 70mph, but "half steady speed and half varying speed driving, maximum 75mph "
for those with phd doctorates, in csee they are interested, the source is: www.busseys.co.uk/uploaded_files/Focus_GBR.pdf
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This link you have posted appears to be for a brochure about the Ford Focus?
Extra-urban cycle is not relevant. Extra-Urban is a 7km test at average speed of 60kph (about 40mph) - IIRC. There is a brief 'spike' to 120kph (about 75mph). It is not a test of steady-speed highway driving.
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a brochure about the Ford Focus?
yes, as it is the ford focus we are talking about. page 35 gives the official consumption figures.
i.mo. ; steady 70mph should give better results than the extra-urban procedure which involves non-steady driving.
www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/fuel-consump...p
Extra-urban cycle
This cycle is conducted immediately following the urban cycle and consists of roughly half steady-speed driving and the remainder accelerations, decelerations, and some idling. Maximum speed is 75 mph (120 km/h), average speed is 39 mph (63 km/h) and the distance covered is 4.3 miles (7 km). The cycle is shown as Part Two in the diagram below.
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>> a brochure about the Ford Focus? yes as it is the ford focus we are talking about. page 35 gives the official consumption figures. i.mo. ; steady 70mph should give better results than the extra-urban procedure which involves non-steady driving. www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/fuel-consump...p Extra-urban cycle This cycle is conducted immediately following the urban cycle and consists of roughly half steady-speed driving and the remainder accelerations decelerations and some idling. Maximum speed is 75 mph (120 km/h) average speed is 39 mph (63 km/h) and the distance covered is 4.3 miles (7 km). The cycle is shown as Part Two in the diagram below.
What?? The Extra-urban is mostly low-speed work (granted its accels and decels). Its done in a lab on a rolling road - very different situation to running on highway at 70mph. Extra-urban is not supposed to replicate high-speed highway driving, its supposed to replicate suburban 'clearway' driving with brief burst up to 120kph.
Wind resistance is a major factor in high-speed highway driving - that's where most of your fuel goes.
I would still maintain that OP's 70+mpg at 70mph and 77+mpg on A-roads is a miscalculation....
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The Extra-urban is mostly low-speed work (granted its accels and decels).
and is done in a very short time overall as their graph shows, starting from idling to picking up speed, maintaining 70km/h for two short periods, but otherwise accel & decel plus finally idling fora few seconds(i.e. infinite fuel consumption rate, as zero miles travelled).
I would still maintain that OP's 70+mpg at 70mph and 77+mpg on A-roads is a miscalculation....
yes, quite possible. but again i.m.o, not a certainty that it is that inaccurate or impossible.
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The composition of deasel changes summer/winter. Someone did explain to me once why this was and how it affected ekonome. It was a very tedious conversation of which I have little recall.
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I've used my Focus fuel computer to try to record steady speed fuel consumptions and it is impossible. The value varies from one reading to the next, and these occur at intervals of a second or two. Every little variation in speed, slope of the road, or throttle position results in a (sometimes large) difference in the reading. I'd be interested to know how the OP actually obtained the steady speed readings from his fuel computer.
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L\'escargot.
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ONe resets one average trip computer to zero, and then one watches the readout over the next mile or so.
70mpg @ 70mph just aint gonna happen on any focus of any breed, unless it got a fat tailwind or its down hill
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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70mpg @ 70mph just aint gonna happen on any focus of any breed
On the over-run mine gives 99.9 mpg!
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L\'escargot.
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It's a Focus 2, 05 reg Zetec TDCi 109, with just over 20k on the clock. Calculations were taken over a frequently used route using brim to brim and the trip computer which on a brim to brim basis is within 1-2% accuracy. It may well have something to do with the engine now being properly run in and from what I understand ECUs are smart enough to take into account a drivers driving style plus numerous other factors such as fuel etc. and compensate accordingly, coupled with the change from winter to summer diesel and weather conditions for April being ideal.
I must say I'm really pleased with the results and thanks for the encouragement guys.
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Check your tyre pressures, a soft driven wheel will inflate readings by up to 10%
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It's a Focus 2 05 reg Zetec TDCi 109 with just over 20k on the clock. Calculations were taken over a frequently used route using brim to brim and the trip computer which on a brim to brim basis is within 1-2% accuracy.
This is what I said about my Focus fuel computer about 9 days ago.
"If you have confidence in the accuracy of your fuel computer just carry out this simple test.
Immediately before you fill up note the number of miles (from your odometer) since the last fill and the number of miles the computer says you have left in your tank, and add the two together. This will give you the (theoretical) capacity of your tank in miles. Immediately after you have filled up note how many miles the computer says you have left in your tank and compare this with the aforementioned calculated figure. Do this every time you fill up. Let us know the results.
Mine consistently comes to about 500 before filling up compared to about 440 afterwards."
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L\'escargot.
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Perhaps the odometer is incorrect, therefore the trip computer is being fed the incorrect distance and your working out the MPG manually using these same incorrect figures.
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The speedo can legally overread by 10%. Even so, amazing mpg.
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OP says he's verified it with GPS.
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My old Golf 110BHP managed over 700 miles between tanks if I drove really carefully. I guess this is somewhere in the 60's in terms of MPG.
Not a lot of fun though...
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Well I managed to get nearly 50 mpg out of my old 330d on an early hours trip along the M62 many years ago....it not what you drive but the way that you drive it sims it up.
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Well the OP is either being misled or is wrong.
There is NO way ANY focus will do sustained 70mpg at 70mph as a proper measurement. I dont care what state of tune its in or how run in it is.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Anyway thats nothing. the touran can display 138mpg at 70 mph from time to time - I even had 192mpg at 65 mph once.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I do admit I find it difficult to believe. On a recent trip down the A14 in my TDCi 110 Focus (which is an 06 with 15,000 miles), I averaged only 50mpg, and that was lightest I've ever driven, and keeping at a very steady 70mph. I myself, have actually been somewhat disappointed with the general economy of my Focus, much as I was with it's petrol predecessor.
That said, I don't think it's impossible, and they do say Ultimate diesel is very efficient.
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...That said, I don't think it's impossible, and they do say Ultimate diesel is very efficient.
hj's comment on bp-ultimate-diesel:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=46
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the op said:These figures are around 10% more than I use to get.
he implies he was getting 64+ mpg before, and now in the warm weather he says he is getting 10% more to take the figure to 70+mpg.
tvm says:Well the OP is either being misled or is wrong.
so how do we find out the truth?
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On the subject of fuel computers, it is possible to adjust / calibrate the fuel computer on a MK 2 Mondeo, for example and I?m sure this is possible on other vehicles.
On the (MK 2) Mondeo trip computer, you should press and hold both the larger buttons and then switch on the ignition, after a short delay ?FLOF? along with a number beside it will appear. Adjust the number up or down with the left ?S? and ?R? buttons.
If your computer figure is too high (compared to the real world, brim to brim figure), then increase this number, to adjust down the displayed MPG figure to a realistic one and vice versa.
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If your computer figure is too high (compared to the real world brim to brim figure) then increase this number to adjust down the displayed MPG figure to a realistic one and vice versa.
Is this in the owners manual or a trick that you've discovered? My FC in my S-Max is out by about 12-14% and I'd love to be able to self-adjust it. Any tips most welcome.
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Is this in the owners manual or a trick that you've discovered? My FC in my S-Max is out by about 12-14% and I'd love to be able to self-adjust it. Any tips most welcome.
I discovered it on the Mondeo Enthusiasts Group, MEG, www.fordmondeo.org. It's not in the manual. You could do a search for details like this there. It is possible your S-Max has a similar FC to the MK 3 Mondeo and there should be some info there about that version. I have read that other fuel computers have this type of hidden menu.
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Thanks. I've looked around but can't find anything so if anybody knows how to calibrate an S-Max trip computer, I'm all ears.
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I'm always amazed at the fuel consumption figures people here claim for their diesel cars. I've never bettered 6l/100km in a Focus when I've had one as a hire car in a mixture of city stop start and Autobahn. Maybe the driving conditions are fundamentally different in Germany, or maybe it's my rather heavy right foot;-)
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6l/100km, by the way, is 47mpg.
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>>.. I've never bettered 6l/100km in a Focus when I've had one as a hire car in a mixture of city stop start and Autobahn. ..
the official figures quote between 6.2 and 7.4 l/km for the type of driving you describe, depending on which model focus diesel you had.
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"Autobahn. ."
Pooh, thought I'd caught you going all upper case !
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Pooh, thought I'd caught you going all upper case !
maybe it is time for me to start using upper case, if only to stop annoying mapmaker and l'escargot but then i will change my username to see how many people spot the difference ( a la "oldman" who became "bell boy" ).
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You're right! I'm too used to writing German where all Nouns start with capital Letters.
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Tyre pressures are spot on. When filling up the trip computer usually shows between 650 to 700 miles remaining to empty after a fill up. I've a degree in maths and have double checked and checked again the results. I use advance driving techniques which includes anticipating driving conditions so it's rare for me to use the brakes much and use gentle acceleration and change up as soon as conditions allow which I know helps a lot towards driving fuel economy. I can confirm the speedo reads about 2 to 3mph higher than the GPS reading so I'm only going on the accuracy of the equipment I'm using, but even allowing for 2 to 3% error the fuel economy is pleasing.
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"These figures are around 10% more than I use to get."
Whatever the figures are, you could have got a 10% improvement by the change in driving style which you describe
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..you could have got a 10% improvement by the change in driving style which you describe
i thought the only thing that the op said he knows to have changed is the ambient temperature.
afaik his driving style is the same as it ever was. as it ever was. on the road to nowhere.
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afaik his driving style is the same as it ever was. as it ever was. on the road to nowhere.
:^D
He could always walk it down, that would improve the economy, that's if his lady don't mind. ;o)
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Dalglish - my apolgies! I read this "I use advance driving techniques which includes anticipating driving conditions so it's rare for me to use the brakes much and use gentle acceleration and change up as soon as conditions allow which I know helps a lot towards driving fuel economy." and got it into my head that this was a new technique but I see that he says this is how he drives all the time. The figures are still a mystery!
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I used very advanced techniques and can go for 30 miles on the motorway without using the brakes.
According to my trip computer I get 135 MPG.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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According to my trip computer I get 135 MPG.
I don't believe a thing any of them say. Their just toys to while away the boredom on long journeys.
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L\'escargot.
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Don't see much point in having a 3 digit read dynamic fuel reading, just lifting the foot off the throttle at any speed saves fuel.
What matters is the information transmitted to the driver is as accurate as possible and hence actually useful, how the driver chooses to use that information is up to them. A modern car usually has a number of computers in various parts of its electronics. The ECUs internal calculations use some fairly complex algorithms to calculate exactly how much fuel to inject, air mass metering, temperature, drivers style, engine load, pollution control, predictability intelligence and so on at any given moment based on these and various other factors.
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Unless you're down to your last fiver I suggest you fill up when it's nearly empty, enjoy the drive and to hell with the consumption.
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