• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Pleased with mpg

icysvt said:
I completely agree.
Click to expand...

As do I...

I also believe a GOOD tune will help with fuel economy. By good tune I mean multiple datalogging sessions and tuning under normal driving conditions and not just WOT pulls.

As for premium not making a difference, it's going to depend on the car. Typically cars tuned for premium fuel will pull timing when the computer senses knock caused by running a lesser-grade of fuel. Pulling timing, especially at cruising speeds, can lower fuel economy as well...
 
HoustonLX said:
If you are easy on the peddle, there should be no reason for any car to sense knock there for never pull timing. That 29 mpg I have been getting was with regular unleaded (87 octane).
Click to expand...
wow 29mpg on 87?:shocked: I cant keep my foot out of these cars so I will never see mileage like that lol.
 
HoustonLX said:
If you are easy on the peddle, there should be no reason for any car to sense knock there for never pull timing. That 29 mpg I have been getting was with regular unleaded (87 octane).
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that. I've had a car ping pretty bad on 87 from a tank of bad gas.
 
I've got an 11 mile trip to work with 4 Stop signs and 9 stop lights. If I really watch my driving I can get 25mpg. Average is 22-23 and if I'm being aggressive then I get 20. This is in the SVT.
 
HoustonLX said:
With rising gas prices, I have recently been taking it easy on the peddle to see if I could improve the SVT's mpg. Under normal daily driving, I usually get 25-27 mpg to and from work and got 30.8 mpg on a pure highay trip once. I was shooting for 30 mpg to and from work with this last tank and came up slightly short getting 29.4 mpg. Time to make a few minor adjustments and see if I can get that true 30 mpg. Not bad considering Ford rated the car at 20 city/28 highway.
Click to expand...

I get the same 25-27 mpg with all freeway driiving and a/c on....Contour has 124k on it...I tried once 89 octane, but the one big mountain grade I cross over everyday, it just pinged bad so never tried that again.....I go about 80 miles round trip....Tried slowing down to 63-65 mph and my mileage was worst....Why?? Because I was on and off with the cruise control ....When I go my normal 66-68 mph, it nice and steady.........
 
Don't live in a state that requires 10%+ of ethanol. (i.e. 15-20% loss of MPG)

Iowa sucks. Even the fuel sold as 100% petrol can have up to 9% ethanol without labeling. Ethanol blending in normal fuel sucks at that level! :rolleyes:
 
Dyoel182 said:
Those percentages are a little off but yes it does drop your mileage for no obvious reason or benefit.
Click to expand...
Yes they are exaggerated a bit. I really hate blended fuel. :shrug:

It is more like 10-15% depending on the type of driving being done. I noticed a 3 mpg drop on my SVT (25 to 22 average) and nearly a 5 mpg drop on the wife's Z24 (32 to 27 average) The only change was running ethanol blended fuel. The biggest hit was highway mileage! :blackeye:

Another thing to think about is the effect colder weather has on your mileage is much more profound when running blended fuel.
 
DemonSVT said:
The only change was running ethanol blended fuel. The biggest hit was highway mileage!
Click to expand...

Yeah thats a common complaint and I think its strange. There has to be a chemical reason why more efficient driving would be less gas efficient.
 
I drove from Springfield Mass to to Gilboa NY and back down into Westchester NY and managed to get 230miles with a little less than half on the gauge. I was doing about 70-80 through Mass into NY and 65-90 back down into Westchester running on 93. I have yet to touch tune-up parts on my tour since I got it and I was just astonished by the mileage.
My usual driving, putting 13 gallons to fill up just gets me over 300miles a tank. The list of parts I need to change is ever growing. I'm happy:laugh:
 
DemonSVT said:
Don't live in a state that requires 10%+ of ethanol. (i.e. 15-20% loss of MPG)

Iowa sucks. Even the fuel sold as 100% petrol can have up to 9% ethanol without labeling. Ethanol blending in normal fuel sucks at that level! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I am from Iowa originally. I know where I lived the premium was like 92-93 octane, 10% ethanol and cheaper then 87 Octane
 
The best way to improve fuel mileage is to slow down. Air resistance increases exponentially with speed. I've found that if I drive at 65mph I can get about 30mpg. At 75mph it drops to around 24mpg. My combined average is between 20 and 22 mpg.
c
 
carlover said:
The best way to improve fuel mileage is to slow down. Air resistance increases exponentially with speed. I've found that if I drive at 65mph I can get about 30mpg. At 75mph it drops to around 24mpg. My combined average is between 20 and 22 mpg.
c
Click to expand...

This is so true. My SVT is wierd though. Whenever I drive at 55-65 my gas mileage sucks. Over 90, it sucks. 65-85 the gauge sits. The 97Zetec in my family is the same way except I can average an extra 100miles out of a full tank, the 2.5 can't do that unless I am going from gas station to gas station on the highway and the Zetec will still probably get an extra 100miles. May sound like BS, but my tours get better gas mileage between 65-85.
 
CruzCorp said:
This is so true. My SVT is wierd though. Whenever I drive at 55-65 my gas mileage sucks. Over 90, it sucks. 65-85 the gauge sits. The 97Zetec in my family is the same way except I can average an extra 100miles out of a full tank, the 2.5 can't do that unless I am going from gas station to gas station on the highway and the Zetec will still probably get an extra 100miles. May sound like BS, but my tours get better gas mileage between 65-85.
Click to expand...
Its weird but both the Zetec and SVT seem to get the best mileage at about 75 as well. :shrug:
 
My commute M-F is 60 miles round trip. 80% highway, 20% multilane road with numerous stoplights. With the a college student's budget, I needed to figure out some way to save gas and have I ever! I'm sure I'll get grief from some, but with numbers like 33mpg I can deal with it.

In the morning, I will drive 65 on cruise control and off the highway I will try to be in 5th gear if at all possible. On the way home, 60mph on cruise does the trick. My AC is broken, so I run windows and sunroof open and can only afford to fill up with 87. I typically will only drive 300-310 miles per tank as I need a new fuel pump, but getting that mileage uses only about 10 gallons.

Every once in a while I will still have some fun on country roads, but my mileage has consistently been above 30mpg while driving like explained above. I've gotten my GF to drive the same way in her '00 Jetta VR6 and she is putting down mileage numbers upwards of 29 as well. The name of the game as far as getting higher numbers is the way that you drive. Don't idle, no hard launches, blah blah blah. A soft touch on the pedal will save you lots of money at the pump.
 
CruzCorp said:
That's no fun.

I would get better gas mileage if I didn't have hills everywhere and stop signs and traffic lights on every corner. Gotta love NY.
Click to expand...

I wondered why so many people are getting 30 mph in their SVT's while I only avg about 25 -28. I never thought about all the hills.

I 've taken to coasting down long hills in neutral, but haven't noticed my overall mpg going up.
 
wish I could do that but most of the time I have to stay in a gear under with the next hill coming up. It's a real shame that the SVT didnt get a 6-speed like the later Mondeos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top