2.0L MPG Fuel Mileage

[Wyo]

This is entirely plausible to me. I tracked mileage for the EcoBoost Mustang I traded for the Badlands on a trip out west one year. The best recorded mileage was across I80 in Wyoming. The speed limit for most of that section of interstate is 80 mph, and I had the cruise on the Mustang set at 89. Despite that, I saw over 32 mpg, the best achieved for any segment of the trip.

I attribute the stellar fuel economy (despite the higher speed) to the fact that most (all?) of that section of interstate is above 6,000' elevation. The turbocharged engine is unaffected by the elevation, but the air is much, much thinner than at sea level, so wind resistance is also lower. For a boxy vehicle like the Badlands, a reduction in wind resistance will have a greater effect on fuel mileage than for a more aerodynamic vehicle like a Mustang.

And I've always seen good mileage with the climbs and descents in the higher elevations. You don't lose that much going up if the wind is light and you more than make up for it going downhill. Elevations like you said were mostly in the 6-7K range. I've also found ethanol free gas to give me an extra 1-2 mpg.

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[Escape2Bronco]

My gas mileage has always been better in the mountains. I’ve always attributed it to fuel/air mixture.

 

[Mark S.]

My gas mileage has always been better in the mountains. I’ve always attributed it to fuel/air mixture.

With a modern, normally aspirated engine the PCM will lean the mixture at higher altitudes to account for the lower air density—that's why normally aspirated engines seem anemic at altitude. The PCM for turbocharged engines does the same thing, but to a far lesser degree because the turbo artificially increases air density by compressing it—that's why turbocharged engines lose far less power at altitude.

 

[Ridn Dirty]

I drive 300 miles a day, mostly highway. My speeds are 70-80 mph. I average 23-24 mpg on 87 octane with tire pressures at 40 psi.

 

[Warpious]

I drive 300 miles a day, mostly highway. My speeds are 70-80 mph. I average 23-24 mpg on 87 octane with tire pressures at 40 psi.

40 psi...yikes! Spec is 33

 

[Mark S.]

As promised, here's the update:

CONDITIONS:

• Following a 1,000-mile engine break in, and oil change.
• Hand-measured over three tanks for each fuel type.
• Mix of highway/city driving (60/40).
• Trip meter not reset between tanks for each fuel type.
• Trip meter reset when switching from premium to regular.
• Typical late winter/early spring temperatures for the Saint Louis, MO area.

PREMIUM FUEL

GALLONS	MILES	INDICATED	MEASURED
14.0​	340.7​	26.4​	24.3​
11.5​	285.3​	26.3​	24.8​
13.0​	341.6​	26.3​	26.3​
38.5​	967.6​	26.3​	25.1​

REGULAR FUEL:

GALLONS	MILES	INDICATED	MEASURED
13.1​	332.3​	26.4​	25.4​
13.9​	350.8​	26.4​	25.2​
14.4​	358.5​	26.4​	24.9​
41.4​	1041.6​	26.3​	25.2​

CONCLUSION:

• My car's fuel economy figures align closely with the EPA estimate of 21/26 city/highway listed on the window sticker.
• The computer-indicated fuel economy for my car is higher than actual measured, but at a consistent number. Although I cannot use the indicated number to determine actual fuel economy, I CAN use it for monitoring long-term trends.
• Premium fuel does not affect indicated fuel economy, nor did I get better actual fuel economy than with regular fuel.

YMMV, of course!

 

[Glamdring70]

Here's an update on mine as well. I have continued driving using Normal for the around-town grocery-getter trips and Eco for longer, smoother Highway trips as I posted upthread at:
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/2-0l-mpg-fuel-mileage.4723/post-83214

Here is the most recent logs from the Fuelio App. My dash estimate is typically 1/2MPG over the actual calculation. I am seriously not looking forward to the E15 Federal Mandate that is looming. Yes, I am aware that the manual says the car accepts E15. I'm not a fan of running anything right to the edge of specification and consumers have no way to know if the exact 15 gallons they pumped is precisely, consistently mixed and stored to be a true 85/15 blend. Maybe you got some 89/11 or some 81/19. Ethanol does not make fuel better and actually harms food and feed prices not to mention how many forests and fields are destroyed in the growing quest for corngas.

 

[Mark S.]

Latest update:

NOTE: All of my testing to this point has been with the mode set to ECO to (theoretically) provide the best possible fuel economy. For these three tankfuls I left the mode set to NORMAL.

CONDITIONS:

• Hand-measured over three tanks for each fuel type.
• Reset trip meter every fillup.
• Mix of highway/city driving (60/40).
• Typical late temperatures for the Saint Louis, MO area, albeit warmer than my last test.
• Regular gas exclusively.

GALLONS	MILES	INDICATED	MEASURED
17.7*	461.1	26.9	26.0
13.1	335.9	27.4	25.6
13.9	360.2	27.2	25.9
44.7	1157.2		25.8

* I put a couple of gallons of EXPENSIVE gas in the tank to get to a station with CHEAPER gas.

CONCLUSIONS:

Compared to my earlier testing, I'm getting slightly better fuel mileage. I attribute this to the warmer weather, which reduces warmup time. This is in keeping with my prior testing on the EcoBoost Mustang I traded for the Badlands.

There was more variation in the difference between measure and indicated mileage for these three tankfuls. It varied from a low of only .9 mpg on one tank to a high of 1.8, but the average of 1.3 mpg is in line with my previous testing.

Finally, this was the best fuel economy yet. That means unless ambient temperature has a lot more effect than I thought I don't believe there is much benefit to using ECO mode for my use case (60/40 highway/city). I may do another test run later this summer.

Bottom line: For the type of driving I do, regular gas and NORMAL mode return fuel economy as good as or better than EPA estimates.

 

[Jonnie T]

Just took a return trip from Ontario down to Michigan (562km = 349mi).
Drove at 95km/h = 59mph (based on previous post about mileage increasing with just the slightest reduction in speed) on both Ontario and US highways with the exception of a bunch of time on i94, and, i75 at higher speeds 115km/h = 71mph.

Used ECO mode all trip, and, Premium gas only. Cold tire pressure is set at 33psi. While driving it rose to an average of 37psi.

Average mileage was: 7.6L/100km = 31mpg.

Not too bad at all I think.

 

[bjbena]

I am seriously not looking forward to the E85 Federal Mandate that is looming. Yes, I am aware that the manual says the car accepts E85.

Where in the manual do you see that? My manual doesn’t say E85 is okay.
Also, here https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/ethanol-in-the-stock-fueling-system.2532/post-42835

 

[Outback Texan]

BS BL here... only 3 weeks of use... only a few hundred miles... 19.4 mpg so far... mostly around town in normal mode... driving EASY! I was able to cruise about 20 miles at 31mpg on the interstate at 60mph though.

 

[thekingprawn]

E85 is 15% corn ethanol. So the way they wrote it out is odd, but it says don't use more than 15% ethanol, more than the amount in E85. Typical modern technical writer. If they meant don't use E85 then it would say don't use 15% or don't use more than 10%/E90 fuel.
But.
If all the stations only sell E85 then one can only choose to not drive. I don't have a lot of convenient options for race, aviation, or "clear" gas to cut the E85 shit with. As I said, I personally don't want to skirt the engineering line of 15%, but this could be where we're headed, because, stupid does what stupid does:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/12/business/economy/biden-ethanol-gas.html

Edit:
Possibly a more accessible link.
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/12/1092222231/in-an-exception-to-the-clean-air-act-biden-will-allow-e15-gas-to-be-sold-this-su

You have it backwards. E85 is 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline. It requires specific engines to burn it. what is being allowed is E15, which is still garbage.

 

[thekingprawn]

BTW, E85 is mandated for government vehicles that are capable of using it. There's one damn pump on the base where I work and it slows to 1 gal/min or less when the tank level gets low. The F150 my division used gets about 150 miles per tank on the corn juice.

 

[Glamdring70]

You have it backwards. E85 is 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline. It requires specific engines to burn it. what is being allowed is E15, which is still garbage.

Thanks. I'll just go fix the original comment with the same sentiment it was written; I don't want to put the 15% into a vehicle with that as the stated limit.

 

[thekingprawn]

Thanks. I'll just go fix the original comment with the same sentiment it was written; I don't want to put the 15% into a vehicle with that as the stated limit.

There's a place by my house that sells ethanol free gas. It's like California prices but might be worth it to run in mowers and such.

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