Ford focus

Tammera

i need some help please. i got a brand new ford focus november last year through the mobility scheme as i have a disabled child. i got that car because it was spacious and supposedly good on fuel. now i been complaining to the dealer that it sucks up to much petrol and the digital display suggests its doing around 27 avarage mpg (now says 22 mpg) they looked at me like i was a typical women that knows very little and said well petrol prices have gone up and this car is alot bigger than your old one (peugeot 106) and i may have a heavey foot i said i understand this but its drinking petrol like its going out of fashion and the display is saying 27mpg, they agreed to look at it and when i got it back they said the display needed resetting and the machines say the fuel consumption is fine and it need to be broken in as such for the fuel consumption to get normal.

now the mobility scheme said that they would get the contract broken if its not doing what its supposed to and if i want to be sure im right, then take it down to as little fuel as possible and fill it right up and reset the mileage counter to 0 and write down the total milage and see how many miles i can do on a complete tank.

i did this and have done some calculations:
the book and what car says the consumption should be town 32.5 mpg out of town 51.4 combined 42.2
it has a 12 gallon tank, i put in 51.90 litres=11.4 gallons?
my fuel gage (sp?) is saying i have used half a tank and the car has done 130 miles, this was combined use.
the total mileage so far is around 5500 miles.

if im working it out right, my car is dong less than have what it should be and im so gutted that i may be right as i have spent so much on petrol, and ive been struggling to affford it, to the extent i have bought a scooter to use for when i dont have my daughter because the car is just to much money.

i would like to know your thoughts and if im right if i can get some sort of compensation, breaking the contract is one thing but the amount of money i have put in over the year is another.

thanks
tammera

hewhoisnotintheknow

fill it right up, drive it for a bit, fill it right up again

work out how much fuel you have used to calculate the mpg

book figures are total nonsense

harveybobbles

Just leave the fuel computer to show you what the outside temperature is and do what has been said above.

Someone who trolls around town will use more fuel than someone sat on a dual carriageway or motorway. Regardless of if it's petrol or diesel.

Just wait for Conor to come on telling you to buy a Mondeo TdCi or ThetitMan telling you to buy a VW lol :P

Skint_Catt

130 on half a tank is not a terrible figure. I used to get 200miles to half a tank when petrol prices were 20p a litre lower (1.6 petrol Focus), but now I get about 140/160 at very most. As said above 'book' figures are usually pretty far fetched!

jeannieblue

Agree - I have a 1.6 Focus and depends to what sort of driving I am doing as to what comsumption I can expect. Plus i don't really take alot of notice of the digital display to be honest, it's a gadget I could well do without anyway.

I am a tad anal in the sense that I fill up, go back to zero and see how many miles I get on that tank full. I don't do it to see if the car is performing well, I do it to see if I can improve my way of driving and get more miles out of the next tank.

Sadly, I forget that reasoning and get a bit heavy on the right foot at times.............

vikingaero

27mpg isn't necessarily poor. Can you tell us how you drive the car? Motorways, in town, short trips, long trips? Have you checked the tyre pressures?

moonrakerz

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

book figures are total nonsense

Disagree there - the figures are produced by following a set procedure, they enable a valid comparison to be drawn between different models of car. They do not claim to represent what an owner should get from driving that car.

Modern cars are very fuel efficient and it is very rare to get a "duff" car that drinks fuel. Modern electronics and fuel injection have done away with the problems caused by badly adjusted carburettors.

Poor fuel consumption in a modern car is mainly down to the style of driving. This can be because much of the driving is in town or heavy stop/start traffic or it is down to poor driving technique by the driver.
The digital fuel consumption display is a great asset, get used to watching it all the time - you will see when consumption is going up or down and adjust your driving accordingly. Reset it after each fill so you can see it respond to changes in speed and acceleration. You will notice that most fuel is used by acceleration NOT by overall speeds. Strange that at least two people in this thread say they have a "heavy" foot - 'nuff said ?

PS: the book figure for my car (1.6 Ford petrol) is 42mpg, I get 42.5 mpg overall.

hewhoisnotintheknow

moonrakerz wrote: »

Disagree there - the figures are produced by following a set procedure, they enable a valid comparison to be drawn between different models of car. They do not claim to represent what an owner should get from driving that car.

Modern cars are very fuel efficient and it is very rare to get a "duff" car that drinks fuel. Modern electronics and fuel injection have done away with the problems caused by badly adjusted carburettors.

Poor fuel consumption in a modern car is mainly down to the style of driving. This can be because much of the driving is in town or heavy stop/start traffic or it is down to poor driving technique by the driver.
The digital fuel consumption display is a great asset, get used to watching it all the time - you will see when consumption is going up or down and adjust your driving accordingly. Reset it after each fill so you can see it respond to changes in speed and acceleration. You will notice that most fuel is used by acceleration NOT by overall speeds. Strange that at least two people in this thread say they have a "heavy" foot - 'nuff said ?

PS: the book figure for my car (1.6 Ford petrol) is 42mpg, I get 42.5 mpg overall.

yes they offer a comparison when your choosing between two similar cars, lets say a ford focus and a vauxhall astra

But once you've got the car saying "the guide figure is xyz and im only getting zzz" is not really much help

Conor_3

Tammera wrote: »

if im working it out right, my car is dong less than have what it should be and im so gutted that i may be right as i have spent so much on petrol, and ive been struggling to affford it, to the extent i have bought a scooter to use for when i dont have my daughter because the car is just to much money.

i would like to know your thoughts

Firstly, if you're only doing short journeys, or mostly short journeys, under a couple of miles it'll wallop fuel like it's gone out of fashion as it's basically never getting warm enough to get off cold start. Likewise if you're travelling in mostly urban environments where there's a reasonable amount of traffic and it's stop/start, it'll wallop fuel like it's gone out of fashion.

Secondly, perhaps you can't drive economically for toffee. I used to do a night trunk to London with another guy in another wagon. We used to follow each other, arriving at the same time. He'd use 20% more fuel than me even though the loads were identical and we did the same journey time. It wasn't even down to his vehicle as we didn't have our own and took whatever was available.

Conor_3

harveybobbles wrote: »

Just wait for Conor to come on telling you to buy a Mondeo TdCi or ThetitMan telling you to buy a VW lol :P

Well I would've said the TDCi Focus:p but instead I'll offer this:

The best I've had out of my Mondeo is 62MPG over a tank full. The worst I've had out of my Mondeo is 52MPG over a tank full. Usually I average around 57-58. What changes? My driving style.

Tammera

thanks for the help peeps.

im sorry but i really disagree, firstly "skint catt" whether petrol prices are half 20p lower or £3 higher it makes no difference to how many miles your tank gives. secondly ive been driving for 11 years, i have had many cars and never been heavey footed enough or driven badly enough to feel like my petrol is piddling out the back. if anything i drive more sensibly and more efficiently that i did before.

because ive had to buy a scooter to save petrol costs, im doing mainly 3 mile round trips to school twice a day and a few shopping trips, funny though since im doing just small trips, my mpg has gone from 22mpg to 23.5mpg.

i just struggle to understand how a car that, worst case scenario (complete urban 32.5 mpg) my driving style is so bad im getting 130 miles a tank less, when i have also done some distance driving on this tank also.

thanks anyways.