My 'old' 2002 Ford Focus

[gsimpson]

It's official, I love my ScanGuage II.

I have already reached and exceeded my original goal of breaking the 40 mpg mark with driving modifications and limited changes to the car. Having just completed a tank that was very representative of my daily commuting use at 43.82mpg, I think that the SG should now be pretty well dialed in. It was showing me better FE than actual, so my previous posts should be taken with a grain of salt, but the effect is the same. MUCH better technique, and much better FE to go along with it.

My previous BEST TANK EVER was just over 600km, long before I knew about hypermiling techniques. This tank was 705km, and I know that there were some times that I could have been doing better.

I think I'll run through a few tanks before I do more mods, to make sure it's not just a fluke thing.

With fuel prices around here starting to rise again (~$1.03 /l CDN), I'm certainly liking the idea of using less.

Thanks EM and all contributors for helping me get this far!

[Daox]

Very nice! Congratulations.

[fishaholic]

When I was 20 (mid 80's) I had a 71 Plymouth Road Runner with a 383 Magnum. A Dodge 2+2(turbo 4 cylinder) pulled up beside me at a stoplight and reved its engine. When the light turned green we both stepped on it. I as still spinning my tires at the start when the little 2+2 passed the stoplight 2 blocks away. I've been a convert to little cars ever since. I guess you could say I am more Focused today.

Any new updates on car modifications? MPG? I didn't see if this car has an automatic or a manual. I have a '02' ZTS 2.0 Zetec w/auto, '06' ZX4 2.0 Duratec w/auto, and an '09' SES 2.0 Duratec w/manual. I have estimated the two older cars get about 32 by averaging fuel use to mileage. The 09 have a neat feature that shows fuel use. I have a one time one way 54 mile average of 40 MPG. I plan to use some of the techniques you have presented. I love these little cars.

[jcp123]

Grats on the good mileage, gsimpson. I see from the photos you have the SPI motor which is a nice efficient unit from the get-go, though even the Zetec isn't bad when driven correctly (had several highway tanks over 35mpg in my SVT doing nothing at all but setting cruise at 60). Anyhow, enjoy the car, if not for all the problems I had I would have loved my two Foci that I've had.

[mikeross]

It's a great thing that your ford is finally up and running the way you want it. I have one too but still needs ford focus parts because some of them already needs replacement.

[jake6486]

Looks like a old thread but I wanted to see if you had any updates.

[vao]

Seconded-

Anything new going on with the focus?

[fishaholic]

These cars came with a partial front pan. I bought mine new but it was damaged in an accident and the body shop never replaced it. I didn't know till later. You might find one in a junk yard. I built a new one out of a piece of roofing steel I had. It added 3-4 MPG.



While I was hanging around the front of the car with my camera, I lay down and got a picture underneath showing the drastic need for a partial belly pan (at least).


I think I shall follow the herd on this one and go with coroplast (any local elections coming up?), but I am thinking some aluminum or sheet tin would be better closer to the hot bits. From those of you with experience with these things, would alum rivets be a good method for attaching aluminum to coroplast? or would they pull through the plastic over time? Perhaps washers to spread the load?[/QUOTE]