Focus heavy on petrol

meldrew

Any Ford Focus owners find their car very heavy on petrol , I seem to be putting about 40 euro a week into it and getting about 200 miles for that . Does anyone have the same problem?

AMurphy

How old is this item, how many miles on it, how many MPG is it managing, what's normal for this car and how many miles on the O2 sensor.

Could be anything including a leak. More information on what you have tested so far.

unkel

I've come across many Focus (esp. C-MAX) owners complaining about fuel consumption being way higher than published figures / comparable cars

bazz26

unkel wrote:

I've come across many Focus (esp. C-MAX) owners complaining about fuel consumption being way higher than published figures / comparable cars

Interesting point, I have heard this before from a Mondeo and Fusion owner too.

I would assume that the OP has a 1.4 Focus from which I have heard is also a bit underpowered (80bhp?) so this would probably be a contributor to this as the engine struggles to pull the heavy body.

Other factors include the type of driving (i.e. are you fond of the accelorator), the type of roads, condition of tyres, etc.

meldrew wrote:

I seem to be putting about 40 euro a week into it and getting about 200 miles for that.

My car is 1.8 and I am managing better than that to be honest.

bazz26

bazz26 wrote:

Interesting point, I have heard this before from a Mondeo and Fusion owner too.

I would assume that the OP has a 1.4 Focus from which I have heard is also a bit underpowered (80bhp?) so this would probably be a contributor to this as the engine struggles to pull the heavy body.

I have a 2000 focus and I have noticed the same fuel economy problem when I first bought it 4 months ago. It seems to be performing better now.

It is a bit underpowered alright but its happy enough to burn fuel like theres no tomorrow at higher speeds.

Oh to the original poster, what year is the focus? I recall some of the earlier 99 and 00 focus's had a dodgey clutch in them that wore with time. If you clutch is slipping it could be resposible for lower mpg.

quarryman

I can just about get 37mpg from my 1.6 Zetec.

WizZard

I dunno about the mpg but I get much better economy than that with my 1.6 Collection.
I'd say I get around 250 miles per tank (~€55). I find it very economical for city driving, but not so much for long trips.

meldrew

Its 2003 ,1.4 LX with 27000 miles on it , changed tyres in the summer alsto full service , It is used mainly for urban driving but neither of us would be heavy on the accelerator tbh , it just seems to empty so quickly . I have said it to the garage recently about the automatic clutch staying on longer than normal but they could'nt find anything wrong when they put the computer on it , i have always heard Fords were heavy on petrol but talking to people with 1.6 and 1.8 cars of other makes they seem to be getting better fuel economy.

Padraig Mor

I've got a 00 1.6 Focus and find that I get about 350 miles to a tank (about €50). This includes a fair bit of urban driving; on open roads I would get about 500 miles. I had a 1.25 Fiesta before this and was getting the same mileage as I am now!

prospect

WizZard wrote:

I dunno about the mpg but I get much better economy than that with my 1.6 Collection.
I'd say I get around 250 miles per tank (~€55). I find it very economical for city driving, but not so much for long trips.

I wouldn't consider that to be good mileage either...
Assuming you paid €1.06 per litre, than that works out at about 22mpg :eek:

Tiger Jim

I know this is about a petrol focus - but I have a 1.8 diesel focus, and I get 63mpg driving easy!

samo

Have an 01 1.8 Zetec petrol Mondeo which I'd regulary get 300-320 miles out of €50 so 200 miles to €40 on a 1.4 focus doesnt sound great.

It was recently given its 3 year major service and got 2 new front tires and fuel economy improved significantly.

Gerry

Hmm, my current car is a 2 litre turbo petrol saab 900, I'd get over 320 miles from €50, more like 250 if it was just driving in traffic, 400 if only used on long runs. I worked it out as around 30mpg. My old nissan sunny 1.4 petrol got about 40-45mpg on long journeys. I suppose its a lighter car than the focus though.

yop

Jesus lads some of them focus are either badly sick or else yous are driving in first gear every where!!!

I have a 2001 1.6 petrol and am getting on average 440 miles for a fill of about 55 euro.

WizZard

prospect wrote:

I wouldn't consider that to be good mileage either...
Assuming you paid €1.06 per litre, than that works out at about 22mpg :eek:

TBH I pulled that number out of my ass - a very short, hurried calculation. I must measure it properly at some stage.
The last time I filled I zeroed the meter but didn't let it run through. At aabout 3/4 of a tank gone I had roughly 250 miles of mostly urban driving covered.

Which would actually work out to be around 340 miles per tank, I think. Last time I filled it it was €1.03 per litre.

AMurphy

meldrew wrote:

Its 2003 ,1.4 LX with 27000 miles on it , changed tyres in the summer alsto full service , It is used mainly for urban driving but neither of us would be heavy on the accelerator tbh , it just seems to empty so quickly . I have said it to the garage recently about the automatic clutch staying on longer than normal but they could'nt find anything wrong when they put the computer on it , i have always heard Fords were heavy on petrol but talking to people with 1.6 and 1.8 cars of other makes they seem to be getting better fuel economy.

Well, has it always been low or just recently took a nose dive?

"Automatic Clutch", explain that one to me.

27K is not enough to cause "normal" O2 sensor deterioration. However, what distance per day does it have to do, each way.

Given it is cold, so the choke (excess fuel) would be on for longer and if combined with a short distance to wherever it goes, may be a bit fouled up with carbon, which is easy to undo with a quick burn on the highway.

Is there any apparent change in it's opertion, better than normal acceleration which might point to excess fuel being consumed, long fast idle, etc.

any possibility of anyone siphoning your tank?. And check for leaks.

ibanez

Get the air filter changed.

maidhc

My car has improved with age, both in terms of power and mpg.

Diesel Mondeo, does 550ish miles on a tank of 60l... which is ok considering it does at least half its driving on country roads with lots of stops and starts, 1/4 in the city and 1/4 at a steady 65mph.

Those figures of 200 miles out of a tank are awful. As AMurphy said they must be overfueling or something.

AMurphy

I'm getting about 300 miles to my tank (15US gal), or a firly consistant 23MP USG) = 27MP UKG. on a 2.5L engine, so I'd certainly expect your car to be better than that.
I did have a Ford (ocus (I think) Ghia as a rental one time and thought it quiet perky and not that bad on gas.

Atomic Pineapple

drive a 1.4 2003 focus and with a fill of €50 @ 1.10 a litre i get 380 - 400 miles and thats driving it pretty hard all the time.

fignon03

meldrew wrote:

Its 2003 ,1.4 LX with 27000 miles on it , changed tyres in the summer alsto full service , It is used mainly for urban driving but neither of us would be heavy on the accelerator tbh , it just seems to empty so quickly . I have said it to the garage recently about the automatic clutch staying on longer than normal but they could'nt find anything wrong when they put the computer on it , i have always heard Fords were heavy on petrol but talking to people with 1.6 and 1.8 cars of other makes they seem to be getting better fuel economy.

I also have a 00 1.4 Focus, i get over 400 miles per tank of juice, mostly use it for longer runs

jwt

I was getting about 500 miles to a tank in a 2.0 ltr (145 bhp) petrol 2002 mondeo (mainly open road driving)

neighbour in a 1.8 (110 bhp) 2003 petrol was getting 450 for the exact same journeys

And by a tank I mean getting a fill maybe 20 miles after the red light came on so say roughly 53 ltrs of petrol

It does depend on your driving style and the types of journeys. open road driving for the 2.0 ltr is pretty optimum for the size and weight of car, the 1.8 is slightly underpowered for that.

But in city driving the 2.0 ltr would return about 30 mpg depending whereas the 1.8 would do 33-34mpg

Engaging third gear a lot overtaking artics and you could drop the mpg to 20+ on a trip to cork albeit making progress.

Missus drives a Hyundai trajet 2.0 ltr petrol (136 bhp) and on a good day on a long journey it does about 35 mpg. School runs and shopping trips regularly drop that to sub 30 mpg about 360 - 400 miles on a tank



John