First 50MPG TANK!!!!! (2011 Ford Focus, 5-speed manual)

[Miller88]

Went 136 miles on 2.660 gallons of gas in my 2011 Focus!!!

My previous best round trip in this car was 47MPG on a round trip to Rochester and back.

With the exception of what I would consider to be bad for the car (EOC, shutting off at stop lights), I did every hypermiling trick I could think of.

-Stayed off the interstate, stuck to state highways and didn't go over 50
-"Hill driving" - playing the ups and downs in the hills to try to use as little on the hills as possiblel
-Coasted on long stretches
-DFCO'd and downshifted anywhere near stoplights.

I drove to my parents and back - I did NOT take the same route both ways, but it was a complete round trip.

On the way there, I stuck to a state highway that has a lot of small, rolling hills. My car has always done extremely well in this situation because average speed is usually around 45 or so. As long as i can time the stoplights, I can usually hit 48MPG going to my parents on this road UNTIL I get to Utica, NY.

There's a very steep, long hill, heading out of utica on 12n. Fuel economy went down to 45 after this. Then, on the road to my parents, there's a long stretch of highway that goes down a gradual hill into their town. From the top of the "hill", I can cost most of the 13 miles to their house. Which I did. Fuel Economy on the dash was 47.3 in their driveway.


Where i Live : 472 feet
Where they live:676 feet

I took a different route back. It's mostly downhill, but 55mph state highways where people like to go fast. I started out taking the backroads and P+G'd (with the engine on) as much as I could. Once i hopped on the state highways, I kept doing so, but kept a good eye on the rearview mirror so I wouldn't be holding up traffic. Once people would catch me, I'd keep up a good 55mph until they'd pass me, then resume to the usual 45-50.

Managed to get 51 by hand, and 49 according to the computer. Not too shabby!

I was expecting the computer to be optomist, so I though it would be around 3 gallons. Pump clicked off the first time at 2.4xx gallons, I tried it a little more, got 2.5xx. I tried it a third time and it spilled out the top at 2.660

Pretty impressed!!!!!

I also drove for about 10 miles with the car bucking and coughing pretty bad. Apparently at some point on the trip, my MAF sensor came unplugged. The car doesn't run too well without that ...

[Frank Lee]

Error margins on small "fills" can be huge. Keep a log and look for a trend.

[MetroMPG]

Impressive!

You should keep a fuel log here & show other Focus drivers what's possible.

[moorecomp]

+1 on the short fills advice. You need to rename the tread to 50+ trip not tank.

[TheIVJackal]

50mpg nice! But you said you filled the tank to the point it spilled out of the top? Not good... I usually slow-fill the tank so that I get a more precise fill. What kind of margins of error are we talking about? I get a consistent 29-30mpg so I can't imagine it being that far off.
- Aaron

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by TheIVJackal

50mpg nice! But you said you filled the tank to the point it spilled out of the top? Not good... I usually slow-fill the tank so that I get a more precise fill. What kind of margins of error are we talking about? I get a consistent 29-30mpg so I can't imagine it being that far off.
- Aaron

I use the lowest setting to fill, with the exception of the Focus (all of my other vehicles are older) I've never been able to fill any of them on the faster setting.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Impressive!

You should keep a fuel log here & show other Focus drivers what's possible.

Every vehicle I have I keep track of EVERYTHING - that includes fuel fillups. Up to about 15k miles, this car didn't get great mileage (average was around 32) but I was travling in the city for work. Once I got my new job, I'm usually able to hit 38 or so per tank.

I know there's a system to track it here ... but does that have a way to add the last 1.5 years of use this car has? Or do I have to start from this point?

I've been able to hit 45, 46 on this trip numerous times.

I'm really impressed with the car. I am very tempted to get rid of it in the spring though, to find something significantly cheaper so I can get out of a car payment.

[slowbro]

The fuel logs here are quite extensive. If you have all your data from the last 1.5 years like you said, I would add it to the fuel log. If you're feeling lazy, you can even add the sum total of the last 1.5 years as one fill up, but it's nice to see the variations throughout the year if you enter them in separately along with the dates.

[Mustang Dave]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Error margins on small "fills" can be huge. Keep a log and look for a trend.

Yeah, I've had a few fills which seemed quite impressive at the time. I've since surpassed them with legitimate fills (same station; same pump). Small fills under 1/2 tank prove nothing.
One fill over 31 MPG with a Ford Mustang doesn't prove anything. Four consecutive fills over 31 MPG (at the same station/pump) with a Ford Mustang may have some validity. YMMV

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by Mustang Dave

Yeah, I've had a few fills which seemed quite impressive at the time. I've since surpassed them with legitimate fills (same station; same pump). Small fills under 1/2 tank prove nothing.
One fill over 31 MPG with a Ford Mustang doesn't prove anything. Four consecutive fills over 31 MPG (at the same station/pump) with a Ford Mustang may have some validity. YMMV

Good point! I strictly did this trip to get a good number figure. If I were to commute to work (usually around 39mpg), I'd lose a lot of it and drop back to mid 40s.

[user removed]

I have done short fills to see what a certain trip produced as far as mileage under more specific conditions, or to take advantage of particularly cheap fuel prices, but in most of my log I go a considerable distance under all circumstances between fill ups.

regards
Mech