2011 Fiesta mileage from cold start

[user removed]

This morning when I left my home I reset the MGP (factory) gauge. My driveway is 80 feet long and a 10 foot rise. My neighborhood is .3 mile from my home to the main road. route 143 which is 4 lanes, not divided and 45 MPH speed limit which goes to 55 MPH in less than .5 mile headed east. No traffic lights for 5 miles going east.

At the top of my driveway the reading was 7 MPG. At the end of the neighborhood it was 20 MPG. I coasted about half that distance. By the time I had travelled 2 miles total at the bottom of a slight downgrade and 3 glides after leaving the neighborhood, I was indicating 40 MPG. It was at 43 when I got on the Interstate 2 miles further down the road. It dropped as I sped up to merge on the Interstate, but it soon recovered as I glided down 3 more downslopes (probably less than 2% grades). I got behind a group of cars following a school bus and my speed was 55 MPH. At 14 miles from the beginning as I coasted off the Interstate the mileage peaked at 52.3 MPG.

It was still at 49 MPG when I reached my destination after filling the tank and one other stop.

My Fiesta has the 6 speed automated manual transmission (Powershift).

This drive also benefitted from a 20 MPH tail wind.

When I left my destination coming home I reset the MPG meter again. Friday traffic can get bad at 1:00 PM and the same tailwind now was a headwind that was obvious with coasting speeds hit hard by the headwind going home. The car had cooled off for about 1.5 hours before I began the drive back home.

I was up to 33 MPG within the first mile. In the next miles I had it to over 40 MPG. It peaked at 45 MPG and I was not able to get it any higher fighting that strong headwind the last 10 miles home as well as a total of 23 traffic lights, which I timed almost to perfection. I coasted frequently and I would guess the coasting was responsible for at least 6 MPG improvement even with the wind. The last coast before I turned into my neighborhood I saw my speed drop almost twice as fast as it normally does, due to the severe headwind.

In conclusion, coasting with the engine on works very well even with a cold engine. The ambient temperatures were right at 44 degrees when I left my home and they did not increase significantly due to the cold northwest winds.

My wintertime fuel mileage has averaged about 42 MPG. Last summer it was around 45 MPG. I did not turn on any accessories or run the heater during this test, so accessory loads were non existent.

regards
Mech

[BHarvey]

My cold start from 44f will have me netting 38 mpg by the time I get to work, which is a 50 mile trip. The first 8 miles are in town and the next 39 are interstate followed by 3 miles of rural. Good bit of coasting the first 8 miles but that usually puts me at 30 mpg by the time I hit the hwy.

[user removed]

Tonight we went to the Mexican Restaurant for Texas Fajitas. Its about 2 miles each way with close to 1 hour spent in the restaurant. 5 mile round trip with two cold starts, second one probably not quite as cold as the first.

When I pulled in the driveway I was reading 35 MPG. EPA highway is 38 for the Fiesta and the factory MPG gauge is about 5% optimistic.

regards
Mech

[BHarvey]

My same route in the summer will give 44-46 mpg. Warmup kills my mileage so I do everything possible to limit my cold starts.

[gone-ot]

Engine "warm-up" time is *why* I recommend people use an engine warmer of some sort all year long...trade cheap electricity in advance for expen$ive ga$oline later.

[roosterk0031]

I just got back from a cold start with the Cobalt, in attached garage with floor heat in front 1/3 of floor so maybe 50dF. 7 miles trip with a few blocks of town driving on each end. 42.4 going. 42.8 coming home. didn't go much over 50 mph. Wind would have helped going not returning.

On a side not driving the Impala, stopped to refuel. Outdoor air temp about 30, thought I'd try speed vs mpg with it. Set cruise at 40(1100 rpm) for 3 miles, instant mpg only dropped below 50 twice that I noticed, flat road, didn't realize strong tail wind unti I turned. After turning tried setting at 45mph never saw it go over 40mpg while flat. Once home after 20 miles 35 mpg trip.

[user removed]

Hit my "ideal" route today, averaged 47 MPH with MPG meter reading 50.7 when I got home. Total of 95 miles.

regards
Mech

[RiderofBikes]

Long story short, 10.5" snow fall in 5hrs, Getting stuck 2mi from work(twice), 3hrs overall idling/rocking/abuse to get unstuck, 26psi in fronts, dragging half ton of snow for a mile (literally) before getting stuck again, then ditching my entire NEW Belly pan... i mean snow shovel!!(rear diffuser servived very well) heat full blast and radio blaring.. Having already racked up miles before hand with speeding/acc on and 15f temps that day/night.

I still came out just under 38mpg for the tank, and ive been averaging 40-41mpg this winter overall

[Miller88]

Getting stuck takes the fun out of it.

In the winter, I usually average about 32MPG in the Focus commuting to and from work. We had a snow storm a few weeks ago where I managed to get only 25MPG going home from work.

I didn't take the interstate home from work (afraid of a pileup) and instead took the surface streets. There are always a lot of people stuck on the surface streets in the snow ... for some reason.

[roosterk0031]

Really like the Fiesta and Focus, probably the replacement for the Cobalt in a few years. Saturday took 90 mile drive North to oldest college, into wind 35 mpg, since bucking a headwind drove 60ish mph. Trip home still not driving the best, 48 mpg. Like the Fords, but the Chevy's doing pretty good.