Ecoboost 1.0 3 Cylinder - 2015 Ford Focus

[BarryKillahWhale]

Hi Everyone,

I used to own a 1992 Civic VX, and my best ever tank was 58 mpg. My goal is to beat that with my new car.

I spent a while away from this site playing with Mustangs while my commute was short the past few years. Recently I moved and my commute went to 60 miles/day. I considered a Prius, but my commute is mostly highway, and Wisconsin has a $75/year additional registration fee on hybrid vehicles. This additional fee would cut into the fuel savings on that car vs a non-hybrid. Besides these factors, I prefer a manual transmission and better handling than a Prius would provide (without modifications at least).




As such, I picked up a new (to me) car. It's a 2015 Focus 1.0 Ecoboost 6 speed manual. The same engine was available in the Fiesta, but with a 5 speed manual transmission (and 300lb lighter curb weight). From what I have found, the 1.0 ecoboost Focus weighs in around 2850 lb. Some highlights on the FE tech on the Focus:

-999cc displacement
-3 cylinder
-123 hp @ 6000 rpm/148 lb ft between 1400-4500 rpm
-Iron block/aluminum head
-Direct injection
-Turbocharged (manifold cast into cylinder head)
-Variable cam timing on both cams - configured for late intake closing under light load (approaching atkinson cycle)
-Low friction timing belt in oil for cams and oil pump (150k claimed maintenance interval
-Variable displacement oil pump
-Split engine cooling system for faster warm up
-Engine block heater
-Auto engine stop/start
-Active grill shutters
-Front wheel skirts
-Front aero underbody panel
-6th gear @ 60 mph = 2250 rpm

So far, it has been cold outside but I have seen mid-40 mpg tank averages. So far all I've done is keep near the speed limit, and coast when possible. No pulse and glide and the engine has been keep on during coasting. The car is rated 30 city/40 highway.

[Daox]

Sounds like a fun car. It'll be interesting to see what kind of mileage you get out of it after really getting used to it and over time. Thanks for sharing and keep us in the loop!

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by BarryKillahWhale

. No pulse and glide and the engine has been keep on during coasting.

P&G doesn't work with these small engines.

[BarryKillahWhale]

Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile

P&G doesn't work with these small engines.

Why not? It seems like the same principles would apply to any IC engine vehicle.

[Ecky]

P&G didn't work well on my original Insight engine. I could gain some average MPG when engine-off costing down hills, but for normal driving on flat roads the gains were virtually zero. My assumption is that with the tall gearing and low displacement, normal cruising was basically already near the perfect BSFC zone for the engine already. That engine didn't have turbo enrichment and timing retardation to deal with.

[Vman455]

I like these cars--I thought about getting one when I bought my Prius, and sometimes I wish I did just to have a manual transmission again.

Originally Posted by BarryKillahWhale

-Front wheel skirts
-Front aero underbody panel

Just a terminology note: "wheel skirt" usually refers to a covering over the outside of the wheel arch; what you're referring to are usually called wheel strakes or wheel air dams or similar.

I looked back through my pictures and remembered that I had inspected the underside of the Focus at the 2018 Indianapolis Auto Show. It uses the same wheel strake design as the Fusion and C-Max Hybrid of the same year, which is larger than most cars', made of flexible material rather than rigid, and segmented:



The C-Max has additional fairings on the front and back that would be an easy retrofit to your car:

]



They're cheap, too--$12 for the front and $18 for the rear. Ford introduced these in the second year of C-Max production in an attempt to improve the C-Max Hybrid's actual MPG compared to its EPA rating (which owners complained about when the car was introduced--the EPA investigated and the ratings were subsequently lowered from 47mpg combined to 40mpg).

[BarryKillahWhale]

Thanks for the post, Vman455! You are right that "skirt" not the correct term. I have attached a couple of photos from my car. It looks like the front wheel air dams are larger on the cmax, but similar enough that they could be retrofitted (maybe even a direct bolt on). Also, the additional deflector holes look like they may already be present in the front. I'd guess you are correct that it would be pretty easy to add those cmax parts to my car. I will have to look around to see who has the best price on those parts.

Another thing I noticed when my wife was following me in the focus last weekend is the rearview mirrors are huge. I think some gains could be found by replacing them with either smaller external mirrors or internal units. Research into that idea is ongoing. I'd prefer to keep the car looking like a "normal" focus, so I'd like to keep any aero changes low key. The C-max parts are very interesting to me from this standpoint.

In other news, my last fill up (half tank) average calculated to 46.1 mpg, which was somewhat close to the computer readout of 45.1. My first fillup came in at 40.1, with an indicated 44.5 on the computer. I'm not sure what is going on there, but I will use the same pump every time in the future when possible.

I also tried the block heater this morning, as it was ~10 F this morning. I put it on a timer for 3 hours before i left this morning. I would estimate the engine was up to temp in about half the time of usual. I am going to experiment with the timer to see if it needs the full 3 hrs. The trip computer said 44 mpg over 30 miles on my way in to work.

Originally Posted by Vman455

I like these cars--I thought about getting one when I bought my Prius, and sometimes I wish I did just to have a manual transmission again.



Just a terminology note: "wheel skirt" usually refers to a covering over the outside of the wheel arch; what you're referring to are usually called wheel strakes or wheel air dams or similar.

I looked back through my pictures and remembered that I had inspected the underside of the Focus at the 2018 Indianapolis Auto Show. It uses the same wheel strake design as the Fusion and C-Max Hybrid of the same year, which is larger than most cars', made of flexible material rather than rigid, and segmented:

The C-Max has additional fairings on the front and back that would be an easy retrofit to your car:

Ford introduced these in the second year of C-Max production in an attempt to improve the C-Max Hybrid's actual MPG compared to its EPA rating (which owners complained about when the car was introduced--the EPA investigated and the ratings were subsequently lowered from 47mpg combined to 40mpg).

[Lemmy]

Mrs Lemmy has this engine in her new Ecosport, albeit in 140hp form. 44ish imperial MPG, feels and goes much like a NA 2 litre of 10 or 15 years ago. I love it.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by BarryKillahWhale

Why not? It seems like the same principles would apply to any IC engine vehicle.

Also to add when not in boost the turbo is in bypass mode avoiding the around 25% efficiency loss through it. When in boost, you have to spin the turbine on top of fuel enrichment so you're probably getting the 75% efficiency multiplier off the turbo plus the reduction from fuel enrichment going from 35% efficiency ish (?) outside of boost to 26.25% spinning the turbo, then to maybe a 10% enrichment going to 23.625%.

For full effect you could go crazy and delete the turbo and get someone to retune your car for lean burn. lol
Add in a super long final gear and you'll now have the Ford Focus VX :P

[Tahoe_Hybrid]

Originally Posted by roosterk0031

My guess is to get the engine load high enough to get to more efficient BSFC range the ECM with kick in turbo enrichment reducing the effectiveness of P&G, and some people think that its hard on the turbo to stop and start the oil supply especially after a 90% burst of acceleration.

I wouldn't EOC with my1.4t Cruze if I got to drive it much even if it had a manual. P&G with engine on coast is hard to beat steady speed at the average speed of P&G IMO.

8 banger 6.0L SUV 379HP still get 25mpg highway
3 banger 1.0L sub-compact barely gets 46mpg


for having 1/6 the amount of displacement it still only get less then 40% more fuel mileage?

also the best MPG i have gotten was 31MPG in the city with the 6.0L

this battery only has like 15 or 20% capacity left too 11 years old