Jtm Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Hi, it’s my first post, just got my fusion sport a couple weeks ago. I love the car, but I’ve been having terrible gas mileage, like way below the estimates. The first two tanks were 14.5 mpg and 15.0 mpg. Both were driving conservatively so I don’t know what could be the issue. If anyone else has had this problem and knows if there’s any solutions, I would love some help. Thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtanon Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 (edited) That is definitely unusually low mileage. What kind of traffic/driving do you do? Mostly highway? City? Rush-hour? Also, since you bought the car, have you checked the air filter? How is the gas quality where you live? Your profile says you live in "North Africa" - is that correct? BTW, for reference, the US Government fuel economy statistics for a 2011 Fusion Sport lists: Edited January 14, 2019 by sirtanon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangster Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Even with my drive it like a rental/stolen style, I get nearly 18 mpg in my AWD Sport around town. Only when I sit at lights for significant amounts of time do I get less than 16 average. HOw many miles on it? Like mentioned, things like air filter, spark plugs, dragging brake, can affect mileage, driving style has a big part of it, as does driving environment. With just me in the car on the interstate I got 26 mpg. Load it up with 5 people and a full trunk of luggage, I only got 21 mpg (and I was driving much slower with the full car than alone!). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtm Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 I have the AWD it has just under 60k miles, I’d say I do about 65% city driving and 35% highway. The gas quality is good, never had any problems with other cars. Also I looked too quickly setting up my profile, I thought I said North America not Africa. I’ll check the air filter. I’m due to get it serviced in about 1k miles and I’ll mention the gas mileage so my mechanic can take a closer look. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangster Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 AWD is 17 city, 24 highway, 19 combined, not only do you lose 2mpg you also lose 1 gallon of capacity. I use the instant economy bars to try to maximize my mileage, helps me keep my foot out of the gas a little bit. I knew going that getting the Sport, and AWD, it wasn't optimum for fuel mileage, and I am actually fairly happy with the mileage given everything else I love about it. AWD wasn't a requirement when I was looking, and with my environment I certainly don't need it (desert), but it is nice when it rains (can still just stab the gas and go). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtm Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 Yeah I’m in the northeast so I went AWD for the winters, I knew the car wasn’t fuel efficient but my mileage is just too far under the estimated for my to believe that somethings not wrong. Even babying the gas, my mpg readout dropped to 14.1 today. Car still drives and handles great though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Jtm said: Yeah I’m in the northeast so I went AWD for the winters, I knew the car wasn’t fuel efficient but my mileage is just too far under the estimated for my to believe that somethings not wrong. Even babying the gas, my mpg readout dropped to 14.1 today. Car still drives and handles great though. Hi Jtm. Just to add a few suggestions to the good information you have already received. First, do you have and use a remote starter? If you are using a remote starter in the cold Northeast, you are lowering your fuel mileage more than you think. Do not use the remote starter unless entirely necessary. Next, what setting do you keep the HVAC system on while driving? If you leave it set to "AUTO", you will use more fuel than just using the manual heat settings. This is due to the fact that the "AUTO" settings will use the AC condenser to dehumidify the air in the car to avoid window fogging. And the AC condenser will use more fuel, just as in summertime when you run the AC to cool the car. Next, do you regularly check your tire pressure and what PSI do you inflate them to? Tire pressure will drop ~1+PSI for every 10° drop in temperature (if not using nitrogen fills). And do not rely on TPMS to warn you your tires are low. You will not receive a warning until they are ~25% low. You can also inflate to 2-3 PSI over the recommended PSI listed on the drivers door sill placard of your car (NOT the max tire pressure listed on the tire sidewall). It will give you better fuel mileage, tire wear and handling, with a negligible affect on ride comfort. Also, keep in mind that mileage will be lower in colder weather. As far as your fuel mileage calculations: Were the calculations for those first two tanks (14.5 and 15.0) obtained using your Fusion's Information Center or by hand calculations (miles driven divided by gallons filled)? If obtained by the MPG readout in the Information Center, you will see that number slowly rise as you drive more, until it levels off and stays relatively constant over short periods of time. It is just the way the system algorithm works. Same thing happens with my older MKZ. My long term MPG reading is erased any time the battery is disconnected during service, replacement etc. It then restarts calculating from 0 and rises very slowly until it reaches equilibrium. So give it some time and see if yours also increases with more driving. If after 4-5 more full tanks of gas you still feel your mileage is too low after following all of the suggestions I and others have given, you may want to have it checked by your Ford Dealer or a qualified technician/mechanic you trust. Keep us updated and good luck. Edited January 15, 2019 by bbf2530 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtm Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 I Don’t think It has remote start, if It does I don’t use it. I also manually control the ac. The mpg was from the info center, I’m calculating this tank by hand to see how accurate the info center is. Temp has dropped so I’ll top off the tires tonight. Thanks for the help I’ll keep updating. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtm Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 Ok, so I’m at a new low on the mpg readout of 12.6. It has been cold in the morning so I’ve left my car running for about 5 minutes before leaving, but it’s still incredibly low mpg. I don’t think it’s that far off being that I’ve travelled 145 miles on this tank and have an estimated 60 miles left. When I fill it up again I’ll calculate the mpg for the tank, but I’m taking it in to the shop because I’ve noticed a small leak when I pull out in the morning occasionally. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangster Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 A small gas leak or some other fluid leak? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtm Posted February 8, 2019 Author Share Posted February 8, 2019 On 1/21/2019 at 12:00 PM, bangster said: A small gas leak or some other fluid leak? Sorry for the late response, but no luck at the mechanic, everything seemed fine. I’ve manually calculated two tanks mpg, 10.9 on tank 1 and 14.7 on tank two, I’ll have to fill up again in the next two days and it’s looking like it’ll be somewhere between 14-15 mpg again. I might change the air filter myself to see if I get any gains since I’ll have three tanks as a baseline. I’ll update again once I fill up and hopefully change the filter. Thanks again! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM0830 Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Any luck with the issue? I recently got a 2010 Ford Fusion sport and I’m having the same issue. I switched to 93 hoping that would help and it did..... by one mpg. It’s horrible gas mileage. I average about 13.2 and it is mostly 75% city and 25% highway driving, but still. The car just reached 131,000 miles. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratepress Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Sheesh, mine isn't quite that bad. However, my Sport is FWD and the trip computer says my average is 24 mpg, but taking the actual gallons and dividing by the mileage at each fill-up is a little more pessimistic (and perhaps accurate) at 23 mpg. Seeing as how the majority of my driving is highway, I was expecting something closer to the EPA HWY figure of 27-28. Since buying it a couple weeks ago, I've changed everything but the ignition coils and spark plugs. Given that my car is ten years old, but only has 34,000 miles, would it be advisable to change these two items? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, piratepress said: Sheesh, mine isn't quite that bad. However, my Sport is FWD and the trip computer says my average is 24 mpg, but taking the actual gallons and dividing by the mileage at each fill-up is a little more pessimistic (and perhaps accurate) at 23 mpg. Seeing as how the majority of my driving is highway, I was expecting something closer to the EPA HWY figure of 27-28. Since buying it a couple weeks ago, I've changed everything but the ignition coils and spark plugs. Given that my car is ten years old, but only has 34,000 miles, would it be advisable to change these two items? Hi piratepress. Comparing fuel mileage figures and giving advice on fuel mileage is always a difficult and very inaccurate process. To be honest, your MPG's are not that far off the EPA Highway rating, so unless 100% of your driving is highway, you always drive with the windows closed and only the vent on (no AUTO, A.C or front Defroster), you never hit heavy stop and go highway driving, never drive off-highway stop and go, the weather is always sunny and the same temperature, etc, etc, you can not directly compare your mileage to the EPA figures. Because those are the general parameters the EPA uses for their testing. The EPA figures are really meant more for vehicle to vehicle comparisons, as opposed to being an exact real world figure we should expect to get. For example: I have a friend who drives his car as though the gas and brakes are stop and go pedals and his foot must always be on one or the other for the car to move. His foot is always on the gas until it hits the brake. And at full speed, never any easing up before hitting the brake. So he and I could drive the exact same route, in the exact same cars, in lanes right next to each other, and I would get significantly better fuel mileage than him. And then we could switch cars, do it again, and I would still get significantly better fuel mileage than him. Okay, enough of my rambling. Here is my advice, regarding your spark plug question. Assuming there are not deeper issues, they should be okay at that mileage. An easy way to find out would be to pull one or two off the front bank of the engine and take a look (the rear bank of plugs is more involved to get to). You do not mention any CEL's, misfires, misses, stumbling, etc, so the coils should be okay too. However, they are 10 years old, synthetic rubber/plastic etc., constantly in a high heat environment etc. So you could replace them as a precautionary maintenance item, but I don't really think it is necessary. Inspect them, and/or have a shop/tech you trust take a look. They can tell you better with a hands on inspection than we can on a blind Internet diagnosis. Let us know how you make out and good luck. Edited October 28, 2020 by bbf2530 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratepress Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Thanks for the feedback. I'm a little slow in responding as we took a pretty big wallop from Hurricane Zeta. We lost power Wednesday night and just got it back last night. Fortunately, the Fusion was in our enclosed garage so no damage there! ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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