How to get OK MPG in the Fusion/Cmax hybrids

Well I was taught today what it takes to get 40+MPG in the new Fusion Hybrids. Basically forget what you know about previous hybrids, this one does not work the same. On all the Hybrids I had, I could meet or exceed EPA, and do it with ease. As long as I didnt hammer the throttle, did the usual spacing, coasting, smooth acceleration, timing lights etc, I easily got at least EPA in all 3, Prius, Camry, Fusion. But not in the 13, and doesnt look like I am the only one.

Well the way it is done is to accelerate very slowly, say like up to 3 minutes 0-60. Once there, back out until you are on EV, and use as little battery as possible, and basically glide down until 1/4 battery, which is about 45 MPH, then speed ever so slowly back up to 60, to recharge the battery, and do it all over again. Not only will it take you twice as long to get to where you are going, but you will wind up pissing off a LOT of other drivers. But you will get up to 47 MPG if you do this JUST RIGHT!


IOW you have to do extreme P&G just to achieve their EPA rating. Isn't this what is done to get 90 MPG in a Prius?

I guess you all know where my next car is coming from. Clue, it wont be a Ford.

 

Service manager who road tested my car for 3 hours with a Ford Engineer to prove the car is meeting Ford standards.

 

yep. I verified the results, but got a few people pissed at me in the process. Looks like this car is going away, I can't deal with this anymore, and looking at Camry once again, and Mazda 6, it has decent MPG 26-38, which is what the Focus I borrowed gets, which I got 39 in last night and 37 today going to work and back. Pretty fricking sad that just normal driving in the Focus nets better MPG than the Fusion, unless I P&G BIG time!

I can try to sell this car, but I have to have a car to drive, and the more miles I put on it, the less its worth, and each day I drive it racks up 70 miles.

 

Rural roads at 55 MPH, single lane, very few places to pass. I dont speed, unless its downhill to get up the next hill.

 

Yeah, Im working on it myself, I really don't want to lose $4000 dumping it for something else, especially by going down in options, ride, handling and comfort.

I test drove both a 2012 Camry XLE Hybrid, and an Avalon Hybrid last night. Took each one on the exact same trip, 30 minutes each, a mix of city and highway up to 55 MPH. The Camry got 41.7, the Avalon 40. Both met their EPA ratings on the test drive, and this is in temps under 30*. Neither the Cmax, nor the Fusion came anywhere NEAR their EPA ratings in the cold weather test drives.

The Camry was used, and had 14K miles on it, so it was fully broken in, and it showed, was really easy to get it into the 40's. The Avalon had 335 miles on it, and it took a bit to coax it to 40, but I didn't have to do anything special to get there, it just took longer to warm up and relax. I can easily see it getting over 40 MPG.

With the dealer selling at $500 under invoice on the Camry, it is very tempting to trade out, but that $4000 loss has held me back.

 

Yep, which is why I still have it. Since 2007 I have lost a total of $1000 in all the cars I have traded. Broke even or got more than I owed on all but one, and that was on a Fusion Sport.

There is a dealer close to our work that has one on the lot, It was built in December, mine and a few others who are having the same issue, was built last week of October. Going to road test it and see if it is the same as mine, or easier to get 40 MPG in. If it is easier, then I will be calling Ford again and bashing them in on this.

 

Thank you, you helped me make my decision. $4000 DOES buy a lot of gas, and window tints, and Husky mats, and spoiler, and upgraded stereo, and tires and tints for my other car. Yep. Thank you!

I went to a different dealer as mentioned previously and drove the one they had. It did drive a little easier than mine, but I did not get to drive it at 55 for any length of time, and while watching the Instant, it was working exactly the same as mine, so just going to live with it, besides, the closest alternative to the Fusion is the Avalon, and I just cant afford one at this time, even if I didn't have a $4000 rollover.

 

No sarcasm, I promise. I pondered, and pondered, and it still irked me even though I accepted it, and found I just can't live with it, so went to Toyota today, and was within a hairs breath of trading to the Camry, but the lack of a few of the items that are on the Fusion kept me from doing so. I thought about it some more and finally decided that what I want, I cant get, what I need, is more important. We needed a vehicle we can all fit in for long trips, gets OK gas mileage, and can tow a trailer. I was thinking of an MKT or Flex, but it would have to be a used one, and all I can find are 3 years old with lots of miles. They also get 18.5 MPG.

I found out the Fusion 2.0 can tow 2000 pounds, fits all of us, and gets better MPG than the Flex/MKT.

So I went back to my dealer and talked with the owner and struck a deal, when I mentioned that Toyota could get me into a new Camry for just a little more than I pay now, he didn't like that, and rather than lose me as a customer, found out what I wanted, and after searching for one, and couldnt find one, decided to order one for me, and trade out my existing one for the new one, and meet what Toyota was going to cost me. In this case though, getting exactly what I want, except a non hybrid version. The best part is that my losses are half of what I was fearing they would be. When I factor in what I paid already, and what I will be paying, which is $5 a month more, I am OK now.

I mentioned too bad they arent building the Hybrid Titanium, he just looked at me and laughed. He said no, you dont want one of those, even with the good radio you want, you will still obsess over the MPG and will be right back where you started. He was right too. If I know the car can only get 28 Combined and I get 26, I wont care, if it is supposed to get 47, and can barely touch 35, yeah, I would be obsessed even if it was the Titanium model with the good stereo and such.

 

Thanks, looking forward to it, going to be about 2 months with only one car, but we will get by. I did some looking around, found a couple hitches, cargo carriers, and trailer, so this car will do what we need, where the Hybrid wont. The Hybrid accepts the hitch, but if anything were to fail in the drive line, and the car has a hitch on, then it could cause warranty issues, so not worth the hassle.
Besides our daily driver is the 2010 FFH and it does just fine.

 

Well, I finally came to a decision, and kept the car. Reason being is I talked to a certain person from California regarding a certain case. Not saying anything more on this.

However I have done some more testing. I made a set of grill covers that completely covers the front grills. It made no difference in MPG, but does allow the car to warm up much quicker and stay warmer longer, so its a plus.

So I tried something different, what I notice it it gets 20 MPG while propelling the car and charging the battery, so decided, what does it get when the battery is charged. So I got the battery up to 75% charge, and kept it on ICE as much as I could driving above 55 MPH. The results were immediate. I saw the MPG jump up to 30, then 35, then 40. Then I got behind someone doing P&G in a Highlander non hybrid. and got stuck on EV, which dropped MPG. However by the time I got to the city traffic there was a 3 MPG increase over what I normally got, even doing P&G.

Trip home I was able to get it up over 60 MPH and keep it on ICE, feathering it lightly. End results was I got 44 MPG on a 26 mile trip.

So it looks like recharging the pack with the ICE while driving uses more fuel than it should. If this is the case, it sure explains a lot.

 

By any means possible. They also test it and test it until they do hit those numbers. They also do not need to hit EPA, but get within reasonable range of MPG.

On my car when cold, you will not hit 40 MPG, not until it fully warms up, which can take up to an hour of driving highway, does it start actually hitting 40 MPG. They put over 300 miles on my car just in testing it.

 

Interesting discovery. If I stay out of EV as much as possible I can get 38 MPG. If I drive to maximize EV time, it gets under that. Very strange.