MaxWell: Topped out at 43.1 MPG

[tehuti]

It looks like MaxWell has topped out at 43.1 MPG. Up until recently I picked up about one tenth of a mile on my 60 mile round trip commute. That is with me driving straight to work and straight home, with no short trips in between. Normally it would be one to two days to pick up .10 mile. I have now been at 43.1 for about 4 days and I am guessing I won't gain much more fuel economy without resorting to some super hypermiling. We'll see.

 

Don't get me wrong. I am pleased to have surpassed 40 MPG, but I had hoped to keep up the progress. I should be at 5,000 miles by the end of this week. So it should be fairly broken in by now.

[Jmonty]

very nice!  my average keeps going up to 43.0 for a little bit then back down to 42.9.  that's the displayed average when driving, i'm not sure what the proper term is.   

 

i reset it after a cross country trip of about 2,800 miles at 35-37 mpg, but my lifetime average which pops up when shutting off my car is up to 39.8. 

[fotomoto]

Yeah, you should still see an ongoing increase as the car breaks in more.   Looking around the forum, 10-15k miles seems to be the break in zone.  

[Jus-A-CMax]

It looks like MaxWell has topped out at 43.1 MPG. Up until recently I picked up about one tenth of a mile on my 60 mile round trip commute. That is with me driving straight to work and straight home, with no short trips in between. Normally it would be one to two days to pick up .10 mile. I have now been at 43.1 for about 4 days and I am guessing I won't gain much more fuel economy without resorting to some super hypermiling. We'll see.

 

Don't get me wrong. I am pleased to have surpassed 40 MPG, but I had hoped to keep up the progress. I should be at 5,000 miles by the end of this week. So it should be fairly broken in by now.

 

Nope, you're not broken in yet. Matt and I have shown the break-in continues to above 10,000 and even pushing to 15,000. Not sure of your route but simple Pulse and Glide can save you more gas and even simple things like on a down slope, utilizing "jus-enuf" EV to maintain speed will help greatly. When I did > 50% freeway driving, I would average 53MPGs. Keep at it and no, you don't need to go to "super hypermiling" either. Also sometimes tweaking your route a wee bit can help as well. 

[tehuti]

Nope, you're not broken in yet. Matt and I have shown the break-in continues to above 10,000 and even pushing to 15,000. Not sure of your route but simple Pulse and Glide can save you more gas and even simple things like on a down slope, utilizing "jus-enuf" EV to maintain speed will help greatly. When I did > 50% freeway driving, I would average 53MPGs. Keep at it and no, you don't need to go to "super hypermiling" either. Also sometimes tweaking your route a wee bit can help as well. 

Typically on my ride in to work I get between 40 and 43 MPG, mostly on the freeway. On the route home I take a canyon route and streets and I typically get between 50 and 54 MPG. As long as I don't do a lot of short local trips with plenty of stops I tend to see the occasional increase. This is the first stretch of days where that hasn't happened. 

 

Also I try to use Ecocruise as much as possible and go just fast enough to stay in EV when traffic permits. 

[drdiesel1]

What tire pressure are you using ? I run higher than the recommended on the door label. Currently,

I'm running the tires sidewall spec of 51 PSI. I plan on changing it to 55 @ the 5K mile mark.

That's when I'll rotate the tires and verify wear patterns. I've been running 51 psi since it was new.

 

I also changed my oil @ 1500 miles (500 on the ICE) to Royal Purple 0W20 synthetic. These changes

will increase your mpg's without hypermile driving techniques.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Thats a great tip drdiesel, I do too 46psi according to my reader.

[fbov]

I just upped tire pressures, from 33-34 to 51 or so, and will report the effect in a couple weeks... need to take data.

Frnak

[drdiesel1]

WOW! 38 is the minimum, at least on my Energi. Don't ever run under-inflated tires.

It can cause tire failure without any warnings, plus it causes poor handling, abnormal wear and excessive

fuel consumption. You should check the tires air pressure every month.

[fbov]

Doc, stop telling people what to do. We have this thing called "seasons" in the temperate latitudes. Temperature changes, so pressure changes. Get over it.

[Jus-A-CMax]

:redcard:  Now, now fellas. We're all helping Tehuti here and not get into another :airquote: tizzy-over-Lizzy...

 

Yep, I jus about check it once a month. Definitely before my Mammoth trips. Speaking of which - whats the go with the tire pressure at full load guys. Back off a wee bit of keep it the same? Yes, i am lazy...so humor a guy who doesn't have his car back yet  :gaah:

[drdiesel1]

It's okay, fBov........You aren't being forced to do it, so just chill out.

Others on this board might like to follow/listen, to advise. You're not the only member

around here. Thanks for letting me know to avoid helping you in the future. I wouldn't wanna

force you to listen to my help or anything like that. Happy Motoring

[ScubaDadMiami]

Why does Ford spec the tire pressure as it does, when they could just have upped it to help with fuel economy?  There must be some reason behind this decision.

[tehuti]

What tire pressure are you using ? I run higher than the recommended on the door label. Currently, I'm running the tires sidewall spec of 51 PSI. I plan on changing it to 55 @ the 5K mile mark. That's when I'll rotate the tires and verify wear patterns. I've been running 51 psi since it was new. I also changed my oil @ 1500 miles (500 on the ICE) to Royal Purple 0W20 synthetic. These changes will increase your mpg's without hypermile driving techniques.

I haven't been good about checking my tire pressure so I will have to start monitoring that. Also I plan to do an oil change at around 5K so we'll see if that helps as well.

[JAZ]

Higher the pressure, the rougher the ride.

[C-MaxSea]

Lots of opinions, pros & cons in the tire pressure dept, Tehuti, (even a thread around here somewhere).  Like Jaz says, higher pressure = firmer (harsher) ride, and other trade offs like MPGs, wear, traction..........  Always a balancing act, and subject to geography, load & weather.    For our rainy, traction sensitive enviro in Seattle, I am currently living in the 42 - 45 psi range.  California with better roads, better weather ............... perhaps 45 - 48.  Just my two cents worth; and nothing wrong with sticking with light load 38 psi.

 

We are in the same boat with only 5000 miles, which means only about 2300 ICE miles, so a long way from the fullest measure of 'break-in'. I suspect you will continue to climb in MPGs.  Keep enjoying the ride.

 

Nick

Edited November 6, 2013 by C-MaxSea

[fotomoto]

Higher the pressure, the rougher the ride.

 

Jaz,

 

While experimenting, I didn't necessarily find this to be true.  When I went gunning for 700 mile tank, I went "all out" which included bumping up the pressures to the mid-40's and found the ride to actually improve.  When lower, it seemed the tires were doing most of the bump absorption but when raised it felt like the suspension took over and the car became more responsive yet more comfortable and controlled over bumps.  

 

When I went for the 800 tank (but nearly hit 900 :happy feet: ), I took the pressures to 50+ and, yes, the ride became more bouncy but nothing I'd call uncomfortable/spine jarring.  Give it a try and see what you think.  It costs nothing but a little time.

Edited November 6, 2013 by fotomoto

[JAZ]

Thanks, fotomoto:  I made my comment based mostly on my bicycling experience, but because of the info presented in this forum I've bumped up the pressures to the low 40s and so far so good. 

[dweiser]

My experience sounds like yours.  My m.p.g. increased exactly .1 every time I drove the C-Max; short trips to town and back.  I too got up to 43.1 but then it stayed there for four subsequent trips so I thought I was done.  As soon as I emailed friends I thought 43.1 was my "max" on my Max, it moved up to 43.2.  I think we both may have reached the top but might see one or more .1 increase over time.  I am loving this vehicle!!

 

 

[fbov]

I've taken a very systematic approach so far in assessing C-Max fuel consumption, to the point of

- leaving everything stock for a while, including air pressures - baseline performance

- getting the PCM update 13B07, but changing nothing else

- upping tire pressures and doing some front end air infiltration reductions, but nothing else (yet).

 

In my world, this is called 1FAT - one factor at a time - and using real world fuel consumption results in a weak test - lots of data needed - so thing move slowly.

 

I can say I got a 5% increase in mileage/reduction in fuel consumption from the PCM update in rural driving (35-45 MPH, little traffic)

 

I researched tire pressure benefits, and the prevailing data showed diminishing returns above ~50psi, the OEM tire sidewall rating, but a good 7-8% reduction in rolling resistance moving up from 33-34psi.

- I defined a coast-down test course and found a 5% increase in terminal speed just from tire pressures.

- my mileage this week has been exceptionally high, but temperatures are up this week, and I need a week's worth of data to say anything meaningful.

 

Regardless, I've seen two hardware changes that both seem to make a difference, but the biggest difference was a software change; the person behind the wheel determines the mileage by driving style and choice of route.  Getting up to the 43 range simply makes this latter factor small enough that you may well see measurable gains from the hardware changes, as I am.

 

Re: ride, upping pressure by 50% should have been a huge change in ride comfort. I haven't notices much beyond perhaps better resolution of road defects; I feel the "edges" of the bumps now. But then, I've run sidewall max. pressures for decades...

 

HAve fun,

Frank

[tehuti]

My experience sounds like yours.  My m.p.g. increased exactly .1 every time I drove the C-Max; short trips to town and back.  I too got up to 43.1 but then it stayed there for four subsequent trips so I thought I was done.  As soon as I emailed friends I thought 43.1 was my "max" on my Max, it moved up to 43.2.  I think we both may have reached the top but might see one or more .1 increase over time.  I am loving this vehicle!!

I think I may have spoken a little too soon. Right after starting this thread I seem to be getting back to normal. I am now up to 3.3 MPG and I seem to be getting slightly better FE  on the freeway and even on short local stop-and-start trips. So I may be approaching my ultimate max, but so far it is still improving. One thing I need to do is monitor tire pressure and see how that helps also.

[fotomoto]

Tehuti, are you referring to the lifetime avg.,  a tank avg.,  or what exactly?

[tehuti]

Tehuti, are you referring to the lifetime avg.,  a tank avg.,  or what exactly?

Lifetime average.

[BIG ROCCO]

It's kind of strange - i want to put more miles on the C-Max, but that means more highway miles, and that means my lifetime average will go down

[Jmonty]

It's kind of strange - i want to put more miles on the C-Max, but that means more highway miles, and that means my lifetime average will go down

Well, it's a machine meant to serve a purpose for you. 39/40+ highway is still pretty good.