New Ford Hybrid Owners complaining-MPG overboasted

[rjundi]

The new Ford fusion hybrid not living up to 47MPG claims. Consumers are complaining.

http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/201...mpg-claims.html

Consumer Reports is testing but too early for them. They at least have a controlled test.

Quote:
At last check, the official EPA website, fueleconomy.gov, has gathered estimates from 14 real-world C-Max Hybrid owners and five 2013 Fusion Hybrid owners. The C-Max owners report averaging 40.5 mpg; the Fusion Hybrid owners, just 37.1 mpg.


I think Toyota owns the hybrid market currently due to serious R&D back in late 1990's. Everyone else is an experiment.

 

[doitmyself]

I agree with your last comment.

This is too bad. I really want to love Ford, but they seem to be having growing pains. The new Ford Escape is having recall after recall.

Thanks for the update.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: rjundi

I think Toyota owns the hybrid market currently due to serious R&D back in late 1990's. Everyone else is an experiment.


Really? Ford has been doing hybrids since 2005 with the Escape. The system was independently derived and similar to Toyota's. (There was no joint development like was claimed by many.)

Toyota had great marketing - Ford really never marketed the Escape and Fusion hybrids and you never saw incentives on them.

Then again, I think hybrids suck. Just spent another day in the company's '09 Prius and it's not a good car. Loud, noisy, and somewhat unresponsive. The only cool thing was doing a 400+ mile trip on 11 gallons of gas. That would be 18-21 gallons in my "real" car which is bigger, more comfortable to drive, and has gobs and gobs of power.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I can do a 400 mile trip on 10 gallons of gas in my non-hybrid Focus.

 

[cchase]

37.1 mpg out of a Fusion sounds great to me. If you compare the size of the vehicle (Prius to Fusion) I think it sounds like they're doing just fine.

 

[JHZR2]

Judging by how people drive, I'll bet it is 90% user error.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
This is too bad. I really want to love Ford, but they seem to be having growing pains. The new Ford Escape is having recall after recall.


I agree. They seem to be having the same types of quality issues that people assigned to Toyota's quick growth. Someone at work has a new 2013 Escape with the 1.6L Ecoboost engine and with the latest recall, her car has been recalled four different times.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
I can do a 400 mile trip on 10 gallons of gas in my non-hybrid Focus.


That's pretty good and it's probably a much better ride than a Prius. I'm not complaining about the MPG of my car - considering it's weight (4000+ lbs), HP (365), and AWD I think it does fine at 25-26 MPG on the highway.

 

[Best F100]

I have a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. I'm now looking at the long term mpg for the last 5,000 odometer miles. It reads "44.4 mpg." I have seen individual mpg trips from 38 mpg in cold weather up to 52.6 mpg (moderate temperatures) while trying to stretch a gallon. Car is driven 80% hwy/20% city. 75,000 miles on the car. Car is rated 41 city/38 hwy.

Motor Oil used over the past 5,000 miles was Motorcraft 5W20 Full Synthetic. Oil in the sump now is Toyota 0W20 (just to see if a thinner oil nets still higher mileage).

No complaints here.

 

[rjundi]

47MPG is an engineering and testing stretch. I personally hope it is true # and not correctly next year with a rebate.

Glad Hyundai error or fib came out to keep car makers on their toes.

My experience with car makers is just Honda and they underrate their vehicles. Although they had a disaster of hybrid too.

 

[Cup of Joe]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Judging by how people drive, I'll bet it is 90% user error.


So true. Some assume "Prius" is the alternate spelling for porsche and drive accordingly.

 

[badtlc]

It will be interesting to see what happens. Fords have always been the easiest to exceed EPA estimates for me.

I have had hybrid escapes for rentals several times and never had a problem breaking their EPA estimates by 4 or 5 MPGs. I really doubt there is a problem with Ford's hybrid technology in the fusion and C-Max.

 

[Lillikai]

I have a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. 80% highway 20% city driving. Depending on your driving style and the weather we (boyfriend and I) can get anywhere from 38 mpg to 45 mpg. Spring and Fall is the most fuel efficient times of the year.

It seems like people are generalizing hybrids and throwing them all into one category. Ive had a 08 Toyota Prius too and If I had to pick between it and the Ford Fusion, The fusion would win hands down. More power, about the same mpg, comfortable seats, has a solid interior/good fit and finish. Doesnt rattle when going 75 mph like the prius did. The prius had the braking issue too that toyota never could fix, so we traded it in. With the fusion I haven't had any problems with it, good solid car.

 

[sciphi]

The issue with these fuel-sippers is that folks hop in, mash the gas to the first stoplight only to mash on the brakes, and expect it to beat EPA highway in mostly city use. Driver error for sure.

Those folks who use a fuel-sipper appropriately get great results, though!

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I was surprised at how many times I find people with fuel efficient cars nearly stoplight racing ...

You're not going to get advertised mileage if your foot is always on the floor

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Lillikai
I have a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. 80% highway 20% city driving. Depending on your driving style and the weather we (boyfriend and I) can get anywhere from 38 mpg to 45 mpg. Spring and Fall is the most fuel efficient times of the year.

It seems like people are generalizing hybrids and throwing them all into one category.


Seems that way to me too. I think the word "hybrid" simply confuses people. They don't realize that there are hybrid configurations that are more efficient and ones that are less efficient. Toyota and Ford hybrids are as efficient as they come and can deliver the mileage in real word. However other manufacturers seem to only master the EPA test.

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
The issue with these fuel-sippers is that folks hop in, mash the gas to the first stoplight only to mash on the brakes, and expect it to beat EPA highway in mostly city use. Driver error for sure.

Those folks who use a fuel-sipper appropriately get great results, though!


MPG estimates should be representative of easily attained MPG's. I still to this day cannot hit 23 or 24mpg CITY in my Bu, and no 30+mpg HWY(more like 28-29).

That is with feather touching my gas pedal and low low rpms(1200) on back roads, no traffic lights and on the highway going 60mphs in the slow lane.

I think tech and engine advancements can only go so far and they might be stretching the numbers by "ideal condition testing". my 2 cents.

Yes some of it is user error(and many do peddle to the floor it) but i think its more of region thing. Parts of NJ require that mash it to enter the highway or get creamed trying to very slowly.

 

[antiqueshell]

Hybrids are hype.

I mean the Fusion is a perfect example, outrageously expensive, many redundancies, uses more energy to manufacture...I would bet that it takes a LONG time to recover the initial purchase amount.

Just by a diesel car. A much better decision.

 

[neevers]

I just picked up my 2013 Ford Fusion hybrid today and got 47 mpg on the way home, no [censored]. Then I got 44mpg on it's second trip.....

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: neevers
I just picked up my 2013 Ford Fusion hybrid today and got 47 mpg on the way home, no [censored]. Then I got 44mpg on it's second trip.....


Haha, I wonder if the car is programmed to meet the expectations when you initially drive it and then revert to a more reasonable MPG to meet emissions and durability standards. LOL