Fuel Economy

[chriskelly]

I own a 08 plate focus zetec 1.8 petrol 3dr with facelift which has the 125bhp duratec engine and currently I average at approx 30mpg due to short diststance running and living in Scotland its full of hills. I have tried to look into remapping but have had no luck, ive tried people like bluefin but had no success.

Can anyone help me to lower my fuel costs appart from the usual comments such as leave the car at home i have in the past managed to reach 52mpg but the roads where straight empty and flat with no traffic. Any help will be greatfully appreciated

cheers

chris

[jeebowhite]

the 1.8 petrol is quite heavy on usage. The best thing you can do is remove all unneccessary weight, ensure tyres are pumped up efficiently and be gentle on the pedals.

Best technique I have learned is get up to the speed you want then take your foot a tiny fraction off the pedal, that will then maintain speed, but your MPG goes up.

Other than that, give your car a good service, check fluids, filters and replace as necessary, quality of fuel has a lot to do with the MPG also, so use a decent grade fuel at the right price.

These are the easiest and quickest ways to increase MPG :)

[artscot79]

the 1.8 petrol is quite heavy on usage. The best thing you can do is remove all unneccessary weight, ensure tyres are pumped up efficiently and be gentle on the pedals.

Best technique I have learned is get up to the speed you want then take your foot a tiny fraction off the pedal, that will then maintain speed, but your MPG goes up.

Other than that, give your car a good service, check fluids, filters and replace as necessary, quality of fuel has a lot to do with the MPG also, so use a decent grade fuel at the right price.

These are the easiest and quickest ways to increase MPG :)

ive got the mk1 1.8 around town in scotland too i get 35mpg short runs, on backroads i get 44mpgnormal slighlty heavy footed 48mpg if im not so heavy footed the simple answer is if you want reduced fuel costs buy a smaller car not what you want to hear but its the fact no sugar coating it ignore asda tesco fuel and use Shell its dearer but youll find you get more mpg from it a lot more trust me ive tried them all and i get far more mpg from satndard Shell fuel and the cars much happier as well

[chriskelly]

I dont want to go down the route of buying a smaller car as I love my car and I try to keep all the junk out of the car to keep the weight down. As far as fuel is concerned I use Shell 90% of the time and bp the rest of the time. the tyres I check regularly and keep at 40psi. I generaly drive fairly economecally but just a wee bit frustrating when you see figures just over 30 mpg. I was hoping to get some where closer to 40mpg, is that unrealistic???

thanks for the comments

chris

[elephantman]

Hi Chris!

I own a Focus with the same motor and so far the economy is slightly disappointing. I mean I'm a little bit heavy footed and on the back roads I get even less than 30 mpg (around 28) but when I go on a longer journey and keep my foot away from he floor the consumption goes to about 38 mpg. The throttle response is fantastic though isn't it. ;)

[chriskelly]

Hi Matt

The throttle respone is sweet, when I bought it I was between the 2ltr for power and the 1.6ltr for the economy and there was only one option for me :) The only thing i dont like about it is its too quiet. I mean ive had soo many people around town walk out in front of me because they cant hear me. I probably wont help since the car i have previously was a 1995 rs2000 mk6 which had been modified appart fron the exhaust. The purr that ccame from that was perfect. I really need to upload the pics of the two motors

watch this space!!!

thanks for your comments!!!

chris

[andy_1984]

might want to consider LPG. at 69p a litre im well chuffed as ive still got problems with my engine and consumption on petrol being at roughly 18mpg, 25mpg on LPG. It would be better if engine was running perfectly.

though be cautious, some installs dont always go well with bad installers cutting corners or less effective on petrol (runs a bit rougher) with that, i doubt you'll go for it. check with approved installers not bob the builder if your thinking about it.

[chriskelly]

I never gave it a thought using lpg, I think its something im going to have to research :) The only reason I thought about the remap was its simple to do, quite cheap and also has some good benefits such as fuel ecomont smother and slight increase in acceleration. So an all round win win choice. I had not intended to spend too much as I am saving for a depost on a new house and with the cost of living on the rise I need all the help I can get.

thanks for the comments

chris

[greggp]

to be honest Chris Kelly (OP) I think that this is about the best you will see for MPG on the 1.8

I too have this engine in my titanium and generally get the sort of figures others have posted above. I drive not too heavy footed and would have liked to get more MPG.

I do however get more MPG than I use to as I had Ford do a PCM update on the car (under warranty) a few months back and this seemed to lift the consumption.

Motorway driving as always seems to lift the MPG a bit but I do carry weight when I travel on motorways mainly because I have a young family and drive north every few months to visit family so cart quite a bit of weight i.e. carting travel cots, puschair etc.

[chriskelly]

to be honest Chris Kelly (OP) I think that this is about the best you will see for MPG on the 1.8

I too have this engine in my titanium and generally get the sort of figures others have posted above. I drive not too heavy footed and would have liked to get more MPG.

I do however get more MPG than I use to as I had Ford do a PCM update on the car (under warranty) a few months back and this seemed to lift the consumption.

Motorway driving as always seems to lift the MPG a bit but I do carry weight when I travel on motorways mainly because I have a young family and drive north every few months to visit family so cart quite a bit of weight i.e. carting travel cots, puschair etc.

Thanks greggp for your post :) Sorry if I sound a bit thick but I don't understand what you mean by the PCM update?? What does this modify? My ford warranty has expired so do you know if Ford will carry out the update free or would it be expensive to get this procedure done?

Thanks for you input, its greatly appreciated !!!

[artscot79]

Thanks greggp for your post :) Sorry if I sound a bit thick but I don't understand what you mean by the PCM update?? What does this modify? My ford warranty has expired so do you know if Ford will carry out the update free or would it be expensive to get this procedure done?

Thanks for you input, its greatly appreciated !!!

to be honest i cant understand why the newer 1.8 is so poor on the fuel mines a 2001 1.8 older design more unrefined than the newer ones yet i get better mpg around town than most do on long runs at present i get around town 38.6mpg now for work i do 9.3 miles there alond a b road with 2 big hills and i still get 43-45mpg and im not driving like a granny either 70mph there and i am a bit heavy footed though

[greggp]

Hi Chris,

Basically it is a software update to the PCM module (Basically the PCM is the brains of the engine..controls fuel parameters etc).

If it is out of warranty Ford will be able to still do the PCM update for but will charge you for the privilege (Not sure how much but doubt it will be anything below £100 if a main dealer – don’t quote me on this mind).

I had a brand new engine fitted to my Titanium back end of last year whilst under warranty and having driven it after for a few months I wasn’t happy with a few things so went back in to Ford numerous times before they finally agreed to a PCM update – This seemed to help but I still think the 1.8 is a little thirsty and MPG is very average – maybe I will buy the diesel TDCI next time.

Another thing which I found improved my MPG was that Ford when setting up the engine management system had inputted the wrong tyre size (I have the Sports Pack on mine – 18” alloys – Privacy rear windows etc).

Hope this helps

[chriskelly]

to be honest i cant understand why the newer 1.8 is so poor on the fuel mines a 2001 1.8 older design more unrefined than the newer ones yet i get better mpg around town than most do on long runs at present i get around town 38.6mpg now for work i do 9.3 miles there alond a b road with 2 big hills and i still get 43-45mpg and im not driving like a granny either 70mph there and i am a bit heavy footed though

Hi artscot79 I think the older focus gets better milage as the new style focus weighs in at 1824kg not exactly a light weight as the old version weighs in at 1333kg and there is only about 10hp more to lug it along the road. Not that im complaining as its very comfortable and has greater ncap saftey rating :)

Thanks for your comments

[chriskelly]

Hi Chris,

Basically it is a software update to the PCM module (Basically the PCM is the brains of the engine..controls fuel parameters etc).

If it is out of warranty Ford will be able to still do the PCM update for but will charge you for the privilege (Not sure how much but doubt it will be anything below £100 if a main dealer – don’t quote me on this mind).

I had a brand new engine fitted to my Titanium back end of last year whilst under warranty and having driven it after for a few months I wasn’t happy with a few things so went back in to Ford numerous times before they finally agreed to a PCM update – This seemed to help but I still think the 1.8 is a little thirsty and MPG is very average – maybe I will buy the diesel TDCI next time.

Another thing which I found improved my MPG was that Ford when setting up the engine management system had inputted the wrong tyre size (I have the Sports Pack on mine – 18” alloys – Privacy rear windows etc).

Hope this helps

Thanks it all makes sense now :) I will need to make a few call and see what ford say about the update.

I dont mean to be nosey but what happed to your engine that it needed replace? I think deisel is the way to go but i had one as my first car and vowed never to go back but they have come on a long way since then, maybe next time.

tThanks for the reply

[greggp]

Yeah basically I had it serviced and they changed the spark plugs....(rather naughty as car only had 20k on the clock) - one of the new plugs basically faulted and caused engine miss-fire! Piece of the plug broke off flew around the engine and punctured a valve! They stripped the engine and attempted a repair and rebuild but God knows what they did because about a week later my engine completely died on me – They condemned the engine and hence fitted me with a new one all under warranty!

[chriskelly]

Yeah basically I had it serviced and they changed the spark plugs....(rather naughty as car only had 20k on the clock) - one of the new plugs basically faulted and caused engine miss-fire! Piece of the plug broke off flew around the engine and punctured a valve! They stripped the engine and attempted a repair and rebuild but God knows what they did because about a week later my engine completely died on me – They condemned the engine and hence fitted me with a new one all under warranty!

Not good at all greggp...

Just makes you think as my car is due a service. It has only covered 20k and when I bought the car last year and it just had its first service having only covered 5.5k at 2 years old. Usually my friend who is a forklift service engineer does all the work on my cars but I have been in two minds wither to put to Ford or get my friend to carry out the work. Im not too bothered about having a full Ford service history as I have a folder which contains everything that has been spent on the car.

I hope everything runs the way it should!!!

[Preee]

I did a round trip of 380 miles , half motorway and half A roads , 1.6 100bhp Tit loaded with kids and suitcase's

Avergae MPG was 40.8 which i thought was not too bad.

[paramaniac]

I would also add that if you are going by the MPG on the trip computer, this isn't very accurate. If you want to know what MPG you are really doing, then do this next time you fill up:

• Fill the tank up to the point where the fuel pump clicks off.
  
• Zero your odometer.
  
• Next time you fill up, make sure you fill up to the same point where the fuel pump clicks off.
  
• Make a note of the amount of fuel you have just put in.
  
• Make a note of the mileage on your odometer.
  
• Use the number of litres and mileage to work out your MPG: http://www.mpg-calculator.co.uk/
  

I have a 2009 1.8 petrol and get about 30-35mpg, I don't drive particularly slowly or economically. I might see if Ford will update the PCM firmware on mine as it's still under warranty.

[chriskelly]

I would also add that if you are going by the MPG on the trip computer, this isn't very accurate. If you want to know what MPG you are really doing, then do this next time you fill up:

• Fill the tank up to the point where the fuel pump clicks off.
  
• Zero your odometer.
  
• Next time you fill up, make sure you fill up to the same point where the fuel pump clicks off.
  
• Make a note of the amount of fuel you have just put in.
  
• Make a note of the mileage on your odometer.
  
• Use the number of litres and mileage to work out your MPG: http://www.mpg-calculator.co.uk/
  

I have a 2009 1.8 petrol and get about 30-35mpg, I don't drive particularly slowly or economically. I might see if Ford will update the PCM firmware on mine as it's still under warranty.

I will need to work out to see how different it really is so just need to top up :)

Isnt it amazing how much we rely on computers and alarms to give us even the simples of information...

Thanks for your coments