Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption

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Wed 23 Feb 2011 12:02
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - cover77
I have a 1999 ford focus 1.8 petrol I put in aprox 16 litres of petrol and got 80 miles of mainly (90%) driving on motorways at aprox 60 mph seems a bit heavy. Car is well maintained, tyre pressure correct and I drive as light footed as possible and drive in very light traffic. What do you think?
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Wed 23 Feb 2011 12:28
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - Peter.N.

That's about 3 1/2 gallons I think, so that would be about 25 mpg, if its manual I would have thought it should have done better, a diesel driven at a steady 60 mph would give about 60 mpg. You need to do a proper check by filling the tank to the brim, doing the same the next time, you can see pretty accurately how much you have used for a given mileage then.

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Wed 23 Feb 2011 15:56
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - mikej

I used to get around 32mpg from my 1999 1.8i on my 8 mile commute and that would rise to mid-late 30s on longer journeys when driven carefully. I never got as low as 25mpg - IIRC, that's lower than the 'urban' book figure for that engine (27mpg ?).

The petrol gauge on the Focus isn't that accurate - the only way to get a reasonably accurate mpg figure is to do as Peter.N suggested - brim the tank, zero the odometer, drive until the tank is near empty, then fill back up and record the amount of petrol used and miles driven.

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Wed 23 Feb 2011 17:00
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - starfield

Ok i have got the mkII with a 1.8L petrol.

I average 38mpg combined and25 mpg urban.

My advice is not to believe the trip computer, they are not very accurate. Mpg calculations has to be done using your intellect.

Try to fill up at Shell, i find they tend to give better mpg. Supermarket petrol tends to lower your mpg, i find.

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Wed 23 Feb 2011 17:18
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - Miller

I owned a 98 Mondeo with the same engine for six years, never got above 30mpg.

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Thu 24 Feb 2011 00:49
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - Focus_Driver
I have the same car too and I'm also disappointed with the fuel economy. It got down to as low as 20-22mpg during the cold weather doing short journeys. Now I get about 25mpg driving locally.

On the motorway I have achieved 45mpg doing 60-70, but I mainly get 39-40mpg. Driving through the peak district - some stop start driving through towns but mainly 40-60mph, and 70-80mph on the motorway I got 34mpg which was quite disappointing.

I do find the focus to be extremely reliable though which more than offsets the poor mpg if you dont do high mileages.
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Thu 24 Feb 2011 07:34
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - cover77
I will try that filling the tank to the brim the only thing is I'm surrounded by supermarket petrol stations but there is a shell garage on the outskirt of town and maybe try a fuel injector cleaner. Also I've notice the temperature gauge takes ages to move (after driving 20 miles) and then only goes as far as the first green square and the heater only blows warm air. I'm thinking either an airlock or the thermostat stuck open leading to the ECU thinking the engine cold still and pumping more fuel in. So I thing I might try a new thermostat go from there. Thanks for the advice.
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Thu 24 Feb 2011 12:55
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - mikej
I used to fill my Focus up with both supermarket and non-supermarket petrol and never noticed a difference in fuel economy.

People can be very quick to blame supermarket petrol for their problems, when the real causes can lie elsewhere.

I used to drive my Focus 'enthusiastically' (!) most of the time and never got below approx. 30mpg, so I would say anyone getting mpg in the low 20s from a standard 1.8i has got a problem somewhere that probably needs sorting !
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Thu 24 Feb 2011 12:57
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - mikej
I would also say that your temp guage should be reaching the half-way mark (where it should sit) well before 20 miles.
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Fri 25 Feb 2011 10:26
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - Chris M

The thermostat would be a good place to start, but also consider other factors. Has the car been serviced recently? Blocked air filter? Binding brakes?

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Fri 25 Feb 2011 14:22
Ford focus 1.8 petrol - Petrol consumption - Peter.N.

If fuel consumption is of serious concern to you, I would seriously think about getting a diesel next time.

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