2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and poor FE reason

I just had a chat with a couple other new Fusion owners, one that has good FE in his car, and one that does not. When I asked them what tires are on the car, the one with good MPG has Michelin Energy tires on it, the one getting poor MPG, like mine has Goodyear Eagles on it, so looks like Ford installed the wrong tires on a few of the Hybrids for some reason.

 

How about 3 owners that get 35 MPG confirming they all have the same Goodyear tires, and those getting good MPG having the Michelin tires!

How about the known fact that non LRR tires on a Hybrid return poor MPG. The Goodyear LS-2 tires are not Green rated LRR tires.

 

One of those drivers happens to be me. Been driving Hybrids since 2007, so yes I know all about them. Sure, new tires dont report back perfect MPG right away, but a 12 MPG difference between what it should get and what it does get, when all factors to get the best MPG possible are met? Considering the fact I drove it in perfect hybrid weather conditions that easily get me 41+ in the 2010, and I could barely top 35 in the new one, while other drivers are reporting 50+ and show their dash readout as proof, with fewer miles on the car than mine, and they confirm they have the Michelin tires, tends to support my claims.

I also had these tires, or rather very similar, same brand, model but different style, the RS-A ones on my Fusion Sport and they were not very efficient either.

The new Fusion has a driving coach, three bar graphs, one for acceleration, one for braking and one for cruising. When all three bars are maxed out, you are getting the most MPG possible, so over a 40 mile trip, with all tree maxed out, and the best I got was 35 MPG, instead of 47 MPG, and add in that under ICE power, the instant readout never goes over 40 MPG, unlike my 2010, leads me to believe there is a problem, and so far it allpoints to the type of tire.

When I test drove the Cmax over a 10 mile drive, after letting it warm up, and resetting everything, I easily got 44 MPG in it, and it was brand new. It has the Michelin Energy Saver tires on it. My 2010 has the same tires on it, but the 2013 has the Goodyears.

 

Anywhere between 43-47 MPG, which is what other drivers are seeing in theirs.

This morning, drove it like I stole it, got 35 MPG. So whether I drive it like a Hybrid, P&G, hypermiling, whatever, or drive it like a normal car, fast starts, speeding, whatever, it gets 35 MPG.

Next week driving to FL, so I will have a better handle on what it's highway MPG is then using the Ecocruise.

I am pretty much convinced the issue is the Goodyear tires.

 

I do. I test drove the Cmax after letting it warm up, as it was a cold windy day, very windy I might add, and returning 40 MPG was a good sign. My Father in law has a Cmax and is getting consistently good MPG in it. My 2010 gets me anywhere from 38 to 41 these days, unless temps drop into the 20's, then I see 37. I drive the new one the same way, and can barely get to 35.

I am getting frustrated though with the new one. I set the eco cruise at 55 MPH, and the instant economy barely touched 30 MPG. This is on flat roadway, and it never kicked into EV, which means there is something dragging the car, and the only thing I can point to are the tires.

It's one of those, if I knew the tires would affect it, I never would have bought it. Seriously someone prove me wrong that it isnt the tires, because all points indicate the tires are the problem.

Not a very good photo, but best I could get while driving in the dark. This is the highest it goes on the scale, if I start backing off when not on cruise, it switches to EV, and it slows down quickly, and switches back to ICE when I try to maintain speed.

I have seen pics of others who have fewer miles with much higher average, in fact one guy has it in the 50's.

 

I stopped by the dealer tonight, the tires are at 38 PSI, 4 above the factory specs.

I am puzzled though, been using the fuel log app on my iphone and my second fill reports 40.5 MPG, yet the dash readout when the car is turned off after a trip has only shown 40 MPG twice in all my trips.

 

I was out and about, and they were on the way. I just wanted to make sure they weren't low with the way the car feels. It feels like it has something dragging it down. It does not roll easy like the 2010 does. I am giving it a once over on Saturday while everything is cold. Going on a trip to Florida, and thinking of setting all four to 40 PSI for the trip. After the trip I will have a better idea on the tire theory. I can also check for abnormal wear patterns after a few thousand miles of highway.

Still hard to imagine tires making that big a difference in FE, a couple MPG, ok, but 7-12? I have to admit though, the car does handle great.

 

I'm taking a trip on Sunday to Florida, and plan to pump up the tires before I go, but the alignment check will need to wait. Who knows, maybe after a few thousand highway miles, it will start to shine. I agree though, I think the dash is off, or there was a bubble in the tank, and it didn't fully fill. My guess is the latter though, it was down to 10 miles to E when I filled up, and it only took 10 gallons.