2007 Focus MPG

How many miles? Is it fully broken in? Are weather, speed and other conditions comparable?

I'd wait until summer when the gas is formulated different before I'd be worried about gas mileage.

The Focus has a 4 speed automatic rather than a 5 -- I recall -- which may make a difference. We have looked at the Focus and the Fusion as possibilities for an around town car for my wife rather than her Honda Pilot. I have an 06 Accord I4 (2.4 ltr) with an automatic and get 32-34 on the road with 28-30 to work and back with a 50/50 mix of I75 and around town.

I have 2400 miles on it. I'll give it a while longer. If anyone out there has a Focus let me know what your getting - John

07 SES Wagon, usually 35MPG Highway, OH to FL considerable load, Around town about 25, I obey speed limits though.

Jim

A couple of thoughts:

Are you driving the same speed now as with the other cars? I've kept gas mileage records for years, but some can't be compared because the roads I typically drive on now have much higher speed limits, and even higher actual speeds. The EPA tests assumes a relatively low top speed.

Have you checked your odometer. For whatever reason my last 5 Ford have had odometers that under report the actual mileage traveled, by

3% or more. On the other hand my last two Japanese vehicles have odometers that over report the distance traveled (my Frontier was 5% fast). This can make a significant difference in comparisons. Honda and Toyota are both notorious for "fast" odometers, so you might want to check the odometer with a good GPS, or at least against the interstate mile markers. My Sister's Civic thinks it is ten miles further to my parents home than my Fusion when we start from the same place (147 mile trip for me, 157 for her - the truth is in-between according to the GPS).

Your previous cars were manuals - perhaps your shift strategy was more "mileage friendly" that the automatics. Or maybe with the automatic you are accelerating a little harder without really meaning to.

Good point, I drive pretty much the same roads I have in he past but the Odometer is easy enough to check.. The car is very "peppy" compared to my other ones. I do notice that the transmission does a lot of shifting as we are in a hilly area. I will check the odometer.

- John

I happen to have an 07 Focus a/t. It is used for mainly highway driving. I have put 25k on it in 6 months and have noticed the following.

• any speed over about 60 the mileage drops significantly.

• A/C on in the summer, or even the winter with the defroster also causes the mileage to drop significantly.

I have had a best tank of about 37 mpg on summer gas going no faster than about 60. Worst tank of 24ish on winter gas doing 75+mph. Neither tanks had the A/C going. Big difference! Oh, and I use mobil 1 5w20, fwiw.

This tends to support the need for a 5 speed automatic. My Accord runs at

2500 rpm at 75 which is a big factor in the mileage I have received. A manual Focus ought to do better,

A five or six speed would be good. I also will put the Mobil 1 in and anything else that might help. Ford recommends BP for gas, but Gardner MA doesn't have one and not sure where the closest is. I see Mobil has a high performance Oil Filter also. I will try what I can.

John

You probably have a very fuel economical shifting style with a manual transmission.