ecoboost mpgs

[aerostealth]

Thanks DAO for the helpful advise on how to set up my fuel log.

[KingZiptie]

Ill be interested to see where this project goes. I understand the haters honestly- its frustrating when they see a big truck mention 30mpg since they may have similar totals but over an entire tank. To them, its a misrepresentation since they know the truck cant do that well over a whole tank in the same conditions as theyve driven their eco-friendly ride. At the same time, I think the OP laid his intentions out clearly. Cant we all just get along

Prolly even moreso the case with the F150, but wind, hills and start/stop is a murderer of truck mpgs. Ive got a little 4 banger manual supercab ranger- it gets right at 30mpg at 60-65 flat pretty easily. First time I broke 30 was this trip im on now where it turned in 31.3 over ~500 miles. But that was all highway...

When im in town in Austin, my mpgs are closer to 23mpg. I have no doubt the winter will prolly bring it down to 20 even.

What is city and highway really? We can safely say highway is long periods of cruising, but what is city exactly? If im stuck in traffic jams with the A/C on going from stop light to stoplight with not even a mile in between them, I doubt my Ranger would get 15mpg- the weight KILLS my mpgs. Even city driving means some cruising in stretches with no lights (or green lights), or "highway-like" cruising. My truck will get 25 hwy if im riding hills in hill country (if I did EOC I could bump that up im sure)- again due to weight.

Im sort of babbling here. I guess where im going with this is we have to understand that a poster with a truck really needs to focus on highway as a barometer for how well mods work- trying to do it in town even with an in depth fuel log has so many variables he can get lost trying to discern what works and what doesnt.

[mcrews]

That's the same approach I took w my Q45. I did a lot of highway driving so my goal was to maximize that. Around town I adopted an easy going driving style but knew the MPG's went really rhat great.
But I found that I drive better in general because of my concern for mpg above hp....

[aerostealth]

Thanks Kingziptie. I found your post interesting. I would have to disagree with you, in a more perfect world city driving could be more energy efficient then highway driving. If you think about it a bit you would have to agree that most vehicles get their best fuel mileage at a steady speed of 35 to 45 mph. Even my big truck (Ford F 150 XLT) gets well over 30 mpg at these steady state speeds. My truck doesn't get into 6th gear until it is going over 40 mph.

The problem in the city is as you pointed out having to stop, start, and idle at lights. If cities we're redesigned to make non stop driving at these speeds possible then we could literally reverse the standard metric that normally says that hwy is the highest mileage. Today I was seeing 32 mpg at 40 mph, 27 mpg at 55 mph, 24 mpg at 65 mph and 21 mpg at 75 mph. These were steady state numbers so you can see how non stop city driving would be my best mpg return.

[KingZiptie]

Originally Posted by aerostealth

Thanks Kingziptie. I found your post interesting. I would have to disagree with you, in a more perfect world city driving could be more energy efficient then highway driving. If you think about it a bit you would have to agree that most vehicles get their best fuel mileage at a steady speed of 35 to 45 mph. Even my big truck (Ford F 150 XLT) gets well over 30 mpg at these steady state speeds. My truck doesn't get into 6th gear until it is going over 40 mph.

The problem in the city is as you pointed out having to stop, start, and idle at lights. If cities we're redesigned to make non stop driving at these speeds possible then we could literally reverse the standard metric that normally says that hwy is the highest mileage. Today I was seeing 32 mpg at 40 mph, 27 mpg at 55 mph, 24 mpg at 65 mph and 21 mpg at 75 mph. These were steady state numbers so you can see how non stop city driving would be my best mpg return.

I failed to make my point clear. I agree with you 100%. In a perfect world, city driving would be more efficient. Ive seen my ultragauge show a consistent 40-42mpg at 45mph- highways are less efficient as we have to push through that air faster. What I was trying to drive home as you mention later in your post is that highway is the best barometer for many mods because our cities arent that perfect world and have starts/stops, idiot drivers, etc. At least with a highway- even though its less efficient- its more consistent. Consistence/highways is good for testing mods (especially aero) and techniques (p&g, etc).

Good you mentioned it otherwise others might have taken the same meaning away from my above post.

[hillbilly83]

Originally Posted by mcrews

chill guys!!!!
It's a stock 4X4 ($X$) Truck.
At least he gives a sxxx and is making an effort to drive 55.
Aerostealth, keep up the good work!

Where's the like button?

Like

[mcrews]

Hillbilly, thank you! (It's the blue THANKS button at the bottom right of each post)

[UltArc]

Any updates to the fuel log? I am excited to see your progress. In May of 2012 before I got my Mustang, my father deemed my car too unsafe to drive and let me take his 4.6 2012 Extended cab 4x4. Nice warm temps, and careful route planning got me 19 MPG consistently. Not amazing, and a good motivator to get me back into a car a I could really drive!

On the "big truck, little engine, oh no I need to tow" topic, so what? The ideal way to tow or haul for those who only do so on occasion is to borrow or rent a vehicle. Well then there is an argument of no option, needing that quarterly tow, and one vehicle. So if I NEEDED the utility, and could average 25+ MPG, then drop to 5 when I tow- that sounds like the right direction. Smart? Meh. Best option? No. But let's face it- people aren't going to be efficient with their vehicle choices, or don't care. Honestly, we would all be pi**y pants if all our nice and under appreciated choices are gone.

So no, we aren't there yet, but it is nice Big Auto is going in the direction of making a truck reasonable. Little 2.7 iddling in the city, [relatively] efficient on the highway, and chugging in those few towing situations seems reasonable (great, honestly) for the new car culture of big truck = commuter car.

[aerostealth]

I believe the 2.7 L Ecoboost in the 2015 model Ford has start stop technology along with active grill shutters. The 2x4 is capable of 26 hwy. With 320 HP this is a no brainer for people who want a new truck.

[mcrews]

"The problem in the city is as you pointed out having to stop, start, and idle at lights. If cities we're redesigned to make non stop driving at these speeds possible then we could literally reverse the standard metric that normally says that hwy is the highest mileage. "

It wouldn't be a'city' without stop and go!?!? It would be a village.
How would you 'redesign' it?