07' Focus - 11.2L/100KM Fuel Usage?

steambao · 13-09-2011, 10:28 AM

Hi there

I recently bought a used Ford Focus Zetec 2007 (February Model). I still have two months of dealership warranty.

Over the last 3 weeks I have driven about 800km around Melbourne - mainly along 70km/80km zones with a couple of stop start areas.

I have managed to get an average fuel consumption of 11.2L/100km and can't get it any lower!! A day worth of driving costs me like $15 :(

I showed my friend and he wiped the inside of my exhaust and it came our sooty black and mentioned I was 'running rich'?

Do you think I have a case to get it fixed under my Warranty from the Used Dealer (a Authorised Ford dealer in fact)?? What about other Ford Focus Zetec Owners, around the 07 Era. What is your Fuel Consumption?!?!

Any help would be appreciated

cartaa100 · 13-09-2011, 10:32 AM

not trying to be rude or anything but i find when i drive my fg xr6 reasnoable hard i get black carbon around the tip of my exhaust, im no expert but i dont see why you are running rich now and never have before, but 11.2 seams reasonably high for a focus, my car when i was on red ps so at 90km/h sat at around 7.2 on highways, are you heavy footed?

steambao · 13-09-2011, 10:36 AM

Not being rude, that's cool. The only other car I have driven is an Accord (and the exahust is clean grey :P - same mileage).

I don't think I'm heavy footed - when I am it goes to 13.5L/100km

My in take stays at 11.2 even on highways. And I use a quarter tank each day. Kind of bought a Ford Focus to save on fuel costs without sacrificing performance :P

As for running rich. I only got my friend to check yesterday. Any other way to tell? Bought the car used 3 weeks ago.

Russ · 13-09-2011, 10:40 AM

HI,

I have a 2011 (old shape) Focus Zetec and although I only have just over 6,000 k's up so far I am still averaging around 7.5 L / 100 with a combination of city / hwy driving. The first question I would be asking you is does the car have service history and if so when is it due for servicing ? There are a number of different reasons why the car would be using more fuel - eg: dirty air filter, poor quality fuel, driving habits .... As long as the scheduled servicing has been carried out by a qualified person and is up to date then you shouldn't have any issues with having it looked at under warranty and if that is the case I would book it in and get them to look at it.

By the way burning black and a bit rich is pretty common on most cars today, it's more to do with unleaded fuel than anything else.

cartaa100 · 13-09-2011, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steambao

Not being rude, that's cool. The only other car I have driven is an Accord (and the exahust is clean grey :P - same mileage).

I don't think I'm heavy footed - when I am it goes to 13.5L/100km

My in take stays at 11.2 even on highways. And I use a quarter tank each day. Kind of bought a Ford Focus to save on fuel costs without sacrificing performance :P

As for running rich. I only got my friend to check yesterday. Any other way to tell? Bought the car used 3 weeks ago.

Hmm, have you tried reseting the average economy. it maybe that thats your average over 10,000km or something?

steambao · 13-09-2011, 10:47 AM

Yeah, I think I will send it back to the dealer to have it checked. He did mention there was a service done at 60,000km - but he had to stamp the book when I bought the car.

I will prob take it back to the dealer though seeing as you get 7.5L/100km!! (Although the new Focus would be slightly more efficient right?).

I reset the Trip Computer when I first got the car. So it is averaged over 800km. However, the Fuel Consumption rate justifies what the computer says. Using more fuel than my 2.4 Litre Accord!!

DZFord · 13-09-2011, 10:48 AM

I'd also say to give it a good service, then reset your average fuel economy and see how you go.

11.2L/100km just isn't right. Mine is currently 10.2L/100km and I only drive in heavy stop-start traffic to and from work.

ConradP · 13-09-2011, 11:04 AM

That does seem odd, mine's just at 10 right now and I've just installed a CAI and exhaust so I haven't been driving all that economical...

ah-see · 13-09-2011, 12:27 PM

Have you tried resetting the ECU? To do this, just take the negative terminal off your car battery and leave it off for 15 minutes then reconnect it. Hopefully that helps things a bit

Russ · 13-09-2011, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah-see

Have you tried resetting the ECU? To do this, just take the negative terminal off your car battery and leave it off for 15 minutes then reconnect it. Hopefully that helps things a bit

According to the OP he's not just relying on the computer for the consumption figures

rand0mn00b · 13-09-2011, 02:03 PM

is it auto or manual? auto generally consume a fair bit more than manual

i have a 2007 LT Zetec manual and with mostly city driving and currently an sitting on about 8.3L however it has been higher (9 or more) when i was in Sydney's finest bumper to bumper traffic

steambao · 13-09-2011, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rand0mn00b

is it auto or manual? auto generally consume a fair bit more than manual

i have a 2007 LT Zetec manual and with mostly city driving and currently an sitting on about 8.3L however it has been higher (9 or more) when i was in Sydney's finest bumper to bumper traffic

It's an Auto :p

Booked in the car for Friday. Will update as it goes along

THE CADBURY KID · 13-09-2011, 04:34 PM

A 4 cyl of that era shouldnt use more than 8 or 9,maybe the 02 sensor is rooted,they are only good for up to 100000km if you are lucky.

rand0mn00b · 13-09-2011, 05:37 PM

well since you have warranty get it checked out. things like air filter and oil can definitely have an effect

however according to redbook ford quotes fuel usage on the combined cycle to be at 8.0litre/100km. if they're anything like the figures quoted for the manual that is at the very low end (obviously to make their cars seem more efficient). considering you drive in city start stop it doesn't seem too far off.

i recall there were a few other auto focus drivers on this forum who were getting 10+ but not sure by how much

Neale · 13-09-2011, 07:30 PM

I think for an auto around town it sounds normal. Autos definatly use a significant amout more fuel.

A few cheap things that you can do to reduce fuel usage is change the air filter, check tyre pressures & not use ethanol based fuels as ethanol burns faster & uses more.
Use 95 premium as this is what the car is tuned to run on (you could use 98 or higher but probably wont make a huge difference in ecconomy unless the car is re-tuned to run on it)

I would never trust rubbing the inside of your exhaust to find out if its running rich. Any car will have soot in the exhaust.

There are a few ways to find out if the car is running rich. Either run it on a dyno, they have meters that hook up to the exhaust & will give a readout of the fuel air ratio. This will tell you if there is a problem with the tune.
The other is the dealer may be able to hook into the cars computer & tell if the car is running rich or if there is a fault in the system.

The focus has what they call an adaptive tune which allows the car to set a tune depending on what type of fuel the car uses & how it is driven.
So the only other thing that can cause it to run rich is there is a fault in a sensor in the fuel injection system or an ignition system fault (eg sparkplugs)

ah-see · 14-09-2011, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

According to the OP he's not just relying on the computer for the consumption figures

The ECU controls the fuel and i think that resetting the ECU is a simple 15 minute job that could solve the problem. My 06 LS zetec is giving me 7.6L/100km on my trip computer and is verified via manual calculation.

Russ · 14-09-2011, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah-see

The ECU controls the fuel and i think that resetting the ECU is a simple 15 minute job that could solve the problem. My 06 LS zetec is giving me 7.6L/100km on my trip computer and is verified via manual calculation.

I know how the ECU works and what it does, I wasn't having a go at your suggestion of a reset. My apologies if it appeared that way

I understood the ECU resets itself anyway to adjust to different fuel types and changes such as high flow filters etc.... but if it needs a manual reset then it's certainly worth a try. I misread the OP's post and was under the impression that they had reset it and done a manual calculation which verified the trip computer figure

I'd be interested to know what fuel the car had been running on prior to the OP buying it and what fuel they are now using in it. I know when I picked up my new Zetec they had filled it with E10 which although it ran OK on it, it runs much smoother and gets better economy from 95 or 98 RON.

EDManual · 14-09-2011, 09:22 PM

I think it sounds about right, being an auto. Auto small cars are hopeless, a falcon will use about the same usually! Manuals in most small cars use near 2 litres per hundred less!
I bet its a 4 speed too?

I wouldnt hope for any better.

In Focus · 14-09-2011, 10:38 PM

My 4 speed auto gets around 10-11L/100km in heavy stop-start traffic, more like 8-9 "normal" urban traffic, and under 6.5-7 at a constant cruise of 90-100km/h, depending on hills etc.

It adds about 0.3 for every passenger, or for every unit of air cond.

For your reference, when I got a service at the 1 year old mark (oil change and not much else), the consumption on a trip I make every week went from a consistent 7.6L/100km down to 7.1/7.2. Since getting a free-flowing muffler and 2.25" exhaust, I've broken 7 on the same trip, though that may have been a lucky one-off. Time will tell...

crowv85l · 14-09-2011, 11:01 PM

im getting 11.5l/100 in a xr5 turbo focus in city traffic. i'd be spewing if i was in ur shoes

Vlasta · 14-09-2011, 11:29 PM

Have you taken the consumption from trip meter ? Check the old fashion way .
Wanted to buy cruze , similar forum and only negativ comments .
Iam happy with what I read so far about focus .

XR Martin · 15-09-2011, 01:17 AM

Cruze is slooww. Unless you were thinking the turbo.

**DJM83** · 15-09-2011, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crowv85l

im getting 11.5l/100 in a xr5 turbo focus in city traffic. i'd be spewing if i was in ur shoes

Mines tuned and i get 10.5. But really not worried about econ though as last car was a V8

Martyvan · 15-09-2011, 01:03 PM

For comparisons sake, my wifes 02 corolla 4spd auto, only ever drives in traffic and gets between about 12 litres per 100km. My Pajero diesel, which does the odd longer trip, but mostly shorter trips (think city with a bit of hwy) has averaged over 60k 12.2 litres per 100km. Thinking the Corolla isnt the most economical thing on the planet, so ive been looking at some other alternatives, back on the correct side of the fence.

rand0mn00b · 15-09-2011, 03:23 PM

it's interesting you say that. while manual corollas seem to get by on the smell of an oily rag the situation with auto corollas is quite the opposite - i know a lot of people who drive both

actually the close cousin of the Focus the Mazda 3 which is now everywhere had a lot of complaints regarding the fuel economy of the auto as well. in the city not a lot would be on the right side of 10L/100KM

I think the only autos that would get close to a manual would be the DSG/powershift style gearboxes

EDManual · 15-09-2011, 07:54 PM

auto small cars are hopeless. that is all! wouldnt touch one with a stick..

Vlasta · 15-09-2011, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

Cruze is slooww. Unless you were thinking the turbo.

Nope I was thinking diesel . Tested Lancer , the CVT is hopeless as would be cruze's . So focus is the last chance I downgrade from my 380 dual fuel Mitsubishi , to a new car . Please , more updates in the other 2011 focus thread

Neale · 16-09-2011, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDManual

auto small cars are hopeless. that is all! wouldnt touch one with a stick..

Im not a fan of auto anything.

I used to have an ED futura auto, now I have an LS Focus Zetec manual.
I dont think I would buy a falcon again. Too thirsty & I cant fit as mutch in the falcon as I can in the hatch.

Plus the focus stops better & doesnt handle like a boat, it also has more gunt than the old ED.

Re-Sale is better than the falcons as well.

The only downside is the focus has a bit more road noise & cant tow any more than 800kgs.

focus36 · 16-09-2011, 12:32 AM

I did 400 odd Km's today and i'm no light foot when driving and still got 7.3 L/100km avg on todays trip, generally between 90-110km/h...
City driving with a heavy foot will put it around 9L, light foot around 8 and a bit..

steambao · 16-09-2011, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by focus36

I did 400 odd Km's today and i'm no light foot when driving and still got 7.3 L/100km avg on todays trip, generally between 90-110km/h...
City driving with a heavy foot will put it around 9L, light foot around 8 and a bit..

Well, bringing it to workshop tmoz so will find out

No matter how economically I drive just can't get it under 11.2.

Does your trip computer change that fast? Mine never seems to fluctuate at all!

Done just over 200km from a full tank of petrol so far, and it's sitting just under half. Using a mixture of 95/98 RON Petrol.