Hi all,

I'm a new member here, this is my first post. Go easy on me!

I've been driving my 56 plate focus titanium for a couple of weeks now.

I noticed that I was stopping for fuel a bit too often. Looking at the dash display I noticed the fuel consuption was showing around 13 l/100k. Doing a quick look at a conversion calculator this came out as around 18MPG?

I certainly didn't expect it to be drinking this much juice. Am I missing something here?

I don't know a whole bunch about cars in general so if anybody needs more info please let me know.

Thanks in advance everybody!

Quick update: engine size is 2.0 by the way and it's petrol.

Can you not alter the trip computer to read in MPG?

Anyway, 18mpg does seem very low if that's correct, even for a 2.0 petrol. My Dads 2.5 V6 Mondeo gets better mpg than that lol!

Are you doing a lot of cold starts and short journeys? And does the car drive ok?

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Yes, I'm going to fiddle with the display and see if I can get it to display MPG instead, that would be ideal, but of course my main concern is the rate of consuption.

You're right, 18MPG does seem very low, that's what I thought.

I'm doing fairly short journeys, just to work and back each day, half hour trip each way. The car drives fine, no problems at all.

The tyres were a little underinflated yesterday so I brought them up to 32 PSI each - it's probably too soon to tell if this has made any difference on consumption although I definitely noticed an imporvement in the steering. In any case, I wouldn't imagine slightly underinflated tyres would have that much impact of fuel, right?

Weather's been a bit cold recently, so a few cold starts here and there although I wouldn't say it's been lots.

When I say cold starts and short journeys, I mean like a 2 mile school run everyday or a delivery driver, half an hour journeys should be plenty for a petrol to warm up.

Underinflated tyres will have a noticeable impact, but not that much! Does the temp gauge show it getting warm after a while, probably 5 miles or so? If the engine is always cold that will have a major effect and potentially be a stuck thermostat.

Thing is with these fuel computers they go up an down at the drop of a hat I reset mine on every top up average mpg average speed and trip you will then get a more realistic idea of what you are getting I can sit on the motorway doing 50 mpg average but as soon as I come down the slip road and say around a roundabout that will suddenly drop int the mid fortys and even lower if in the town but will rise again once on a run so I'd start with your next top up resetting the lot and see how you go money on it will not be 18 mpg

Hi steads, thanks for weighing in.

Tomsfocus, the temp guage isn't displaying any issues, the engine seems to be warming up just fine after 5 mins of driving.

STEADS, you might be on to something there, I reset the reading after topping up. Before it was stuck on one figure, the reading wasn't going up or down at all. Since resetting both average speed and MPG the MPG is now bouncing around between 22MPG and 24MPG. Much better, but still a bit lower than I would hope. What should I be seeing ideally? I was expecting around 35MPG when I first got it but is that unrealistic?

I always keep the AC off, and I've also decided to avoid using the auto headlights as well - not sure if this has anything to do with anything but still worth a try.

Just had a thought - would the steering setting have an affect on MPG? Currently set to comfort stering mode.

Cheers all for your help.

I would expect around 30mpg average with that engine, so still seems a bit low. When was it last serviced? Any brakes binding?

Using AC will have an effect on MPG, but auto lights and steering weight won't have a noticeable effect.

Also, is it auto or manual?

It won't have been too long ago that it was last serviced, but it had a 128 point inspection before i started driving it.

Brakes binding? Is that like sticky brakes? No, nothing like that.

That's good to know, I can put the auto lights back on now as well :-)

It's auto. Sorry, it completely didn't occur to me that that would have an affect. Of course it would. #facepalm

I may have to take this into a garage - it's a relief to know i'm not being paranoid and the MPG is actually lower than it should be. Hopefully is fixable. Like I said, it drives just fine, it's in very good condition. No issues or causes for concern that I can notice besides the MPG.

Ah, being an auto will have the biggest effect!!

In fact, that may even be normal mpg for an auto unfortunately.

Gargh!

Okay looks like I may have to make my peace with it then!

Thanks for all your help and advice, I appreciate your time.

:)

No problem. Hopefully someone else on here has the same 2.0 auto that can compare to yours though.

Best way to do an exact mpg average is manually by yourself. although I have to say mine on the ST is pretty accurate.

My obc is showing 12mpg at the moment on the ST. But that wont be right, I hope, Although it wont be far off as the car has been only used in very short journeys lately and the very cold mornings don't help the fuel consumption. although the car itself loves the cold air.

On average though when the ST is in regular use I average around 24mpg

I would tank it. reset the mileage and then either after a 100 miles retank it and work it out from there. or retank it after the fuel warning light comes on then retank it.