MPG in a V6 Mustang

Ryotsu

Ryotsu

Active Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2011
Messages
156
Location
Poway California
Car(s)
2012 Ford Mustang V6 Performance
Ford advertises great mileage for the new V6 Mustang, but I'm not getting impressive numbers. I can get about 36 miles per gallon on the freeway. On average, though, on only getting about 20.5 miles per gallon. Does anyone else here have a modern V6 (2011 or 2012)? What mileage are you getting?
 
Ryotsu said:
Ford advertises great mileage for the new V6 Mustang, but I'm not getting impressive numbers. I can get about 36 miles per gallon on the freeway. On average, though, on only getting about 20.5 miles per gallon. Does anyone else here have a modern V6 (2011 or 2012)? What mileage are you getting?
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Fueleconomy.gov shows the automatic as getting 19/31 (23 combined) and the manual as 19/29 (22 combined).

Just at a guess, but I'd suspect you're doing a bit more city and stop-and-go than seen in the EPA tests. Also, keep in mind that California gas is further 'reformulated' than the rest of the US's mandated blends so you're (nominally) going to get worse fuel economy anyway. I'd say you're probably doing about average and could improve only through changing your driving habits.
 
Spectre said:
Fueleconomy.gov shows the automatic as getting 19/31 (23 combined) and the manual as 19/29 (22 combined).

Just at a guess, but I'd suspect you're doing a bit more city and stop-and-go than seen in the EPA tests. Also, keep in mind that California gas is further 'reformulated' than the rest of the US's mandated blends so you're (nominally) going to get worse fuel economy anyway. I'd say you're probably doing about average and could improve only through changing your driving habits.
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Any idea why the California gas is fucked with? If your engine is properly tuned, you should get better mileage and release less CO2 burning higher grade gas. That's why other countries have higher grades, I heard.
 
Ryotsu said:
If your engine is properly tuned, you should get better mileage and release less CO2 burning higher grade gas. That's why other countries have higher grades, I heard.
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Don't confuse octane rating with weird additives.

Giving your engine lower octane fuel than it needs will lower power and economy if it can even run on it, giving it higher octane fuel than it needs does nothing.
Adding weird stuff may reduce energy content, thus reducing economy.
 
narf said:
Don't confuse octane rating with weird additives.

Giving your engine lower octane fuel than it needs will lower power and economy if it can even run on it, giving it higher octane fuel than it needs does nothing.
Adding weird stuff may reduce energy content, thus reducing economy.
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Actually higher octane gives it a bit more pep (from personal experience)
 
prizrak said:
Actually higher octane gives it a bit more pep (from personal experience)
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This has been oft discussed and without objective proof from a dyno, has often been attributed to 'placebo' effect because the drivers knows he put a higher octane fuel in his car. Definitely an engine tuned for regular octane fuel (whatever that number is in your country) has been shown to gain very little in performance, power output.

Personally I thnk with higher octane fuels being less easily combustible, you put it in an engine tuned for more easily combustible regular fuel, efficiency will be negatively affected as the engine cannot maximally utilize the energy locked away in higher octane hydrocarbon compounds, but that is my theory.
 
Ryotsu said:
Any idea why the California gas is fucked with? If your engine is properly tuned, you should get better mileage and release less CO2 burning higher grade gas. That's why other countries have higher grades, I heard.
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It's not that other countries have higher grades of fuel, but they use a different rating measurement. In the US, we use an average of the RON and MON ratings ([R+M]/2) or AKI rating, and I think most of Europe uses just the RON number, which is the higher of the two the US uses. iirc, 95 RON is equal to 91 AKI. Most gas pumps in the US have a label that says [R+M]/2 on it, to let you know this.
 
You may see more "pep" from higher octane fuel if you usually use fuel with a lower octane rating than actually required, for example if the recommendation was rounded down / lowered artificially to sell as "runs on regular" / whatever.
 
I don't know about the v6, but Ford advertises 17 city 26 hwy on the 2011 v8, but I've never seen more than 14 city, 21 hwy. Maybe this winter when the A/C is off I will get closer to that EPA rating.
 
I get roughly 10-11 l/100km, which is bang on for the combined epa for manual (22mpg) - however i've been using 91 premium. Others have said that their cars get better economy after a break in period.

I'm thinking of switching back to 87 regular to see the difference, although i did notice that when i jumped to 91 i got more range out of a tank.
 
I live in Southern California (really southern, like LA is five hours north of here) and drive a black car, so the A/C is always on (literally, and on pretty high). Maybe that's what's lowering it. I'll see what kind of MPG I'm getting in the dead of winder, when it's down to a bone chilling 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
Ryotsu said:
I live in Southern California (really southern, like LA is five hours north of here) and drive a black car, so the A/C is always on (literally, and on pretty high). Maybe that's what's lowering it. I'll see what kind of MPG I'm getting in the dead of winder, when it's down to a bone chilling 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Spectre said:
Fuel economy gets worse in the winter, not better.
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In that kind of "winter" fuel economy will indeed get better.
Nothing to defrost.
No insanely cold starts.
No increased friction from snow or grit or salt.
No fuel wasted on spinning wheels or getting out of snowed-in parking spaces.
No increased friction from snow tyres.

Over here both winters in the Octavia had worse fuel economy than both summers, but then 72?F sounds like summer to me :lol: a few months of snow on the ground wrecks any economy.
 
Yeah, short drives at -25?C without heating the engine before driving will kill the economy. Like, halfing the mileage. It's get even worse when you start to enjoy winter driving and you're hooning all the time. I just love to drive in proper winter <3

But I agree with narf, I think the stuff I wrote above does not happen in California? ;)
 
Lastsoul said:
Yeah, short drives at -25?C without heating the engine before driving will kill the economy. Like, halfing the mileage. It's get even worse when you start to enjoy winter driving and you're hooning all the time. I just love to drive in proper winter <3

But I agree with narf, I think the stuff I wrote above does not happen in California? ;)
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He mentioned 72?F winters, that's more +25?C than -25?C.
 
Hey, he could be one of those numbskulls that always have to be in 65? environments. I had two friends in college from Chicago (this was in Daytona Beach) who had an apartment that felt like walking into a meat locker, even for that one or two days it got down in the 30's.
 
narf said:
In that kind of "winter" fuel economy will indeed get better.
Nothing to defrost.
No insanely cold starts.
No increased friction from snow or grit or salt.
No fuel wasted on spinning wheels or getting out of snowed-in parking spaces.
No increased friction from snow tyres.

Over here both winters in the Octavia had worse fuel economy than both summers, but then 72?F sounds like summer to me :lol: a few months of snow on the ground wrecks any economy.
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It will still get worse if all else is equal.

Cooler air is denser.
Denser air changes the air fuel ratio to a leaner mix.
The computer will notice this and compensate by... adding more fuel.

And, of course, even if that didn't happen, US fuels are even MORE oxygenated in the winter, so fuel economy drops because of that crap, too.

MPH said:
In my 25+ years of driving, I've always had better fuel economy and better engine performance in the winter (when the a/c compressor is off).
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Many cars run the A/C compressor year round - for defrosting, for example and to dehydrate the incoming air to prevent internal fogging.

You will get better fuel economy if your compressor is off, but that's not necessarily a function of winter.
 
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Does the EPA use gasohol in their fuel economy tests or regular gasoline?
 
argatoga said:
Does the EPA use gasohol in their fuel economy tests or regular gasoline?
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The current test gas must contain the 10% ethanol mandated for most of the country. The rest of the mix isn't specified that I recall.
 
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