Focus diesel fuel consumption problem

agrinnall

I'm asking this for my pal, I drive a petrol Panda so none of it applies to me .

He traded in his 07 Focus diesel for a 61 reg 1.6 TDCi 109 with 3000 miles on the clock on Jan 9th. It had a couple of issues (stop/start not working, fuel gauge not showing full) which were fixed within the first week. Having now been on a longer trip, 200 miles each way, he has found that the fuel consumption is around 47 mpg (calculated from fuel used and distance, which agrees with the trip computer figure) rather than the 64 the official figures suggest. He used to get 57 mpg from his old one so it's unlikely to be his driving style.

The dealer is taking it in on Monday for a consumption test but I wondered if anyone else had experienced a similar issue or would have any thoughts on what the cause might be.

Edit: I might have got the engine wrong, he told me the official figure is 67 mpg, and I see that the latest 1.6 TDCi 115 does that, so it could well be that one.

johnnyreggae

Shock : actual fuel consumption does not agree with manufacturer figure

There's a thread about this almost every day it seems with diesel drivers whingeing most before the car is fully run in

agrinnall

johnnyreggae wrote: »

Shock : actual fuel consumption does not agree with manufacturer figure

There's a thread about this almost every day it seems with diesel drivers whingeing most before the car is fully run in

Very helpful, thanks for nothing, another idiot for my ignore list.

mikey72

Not phrased well, I'll give you that.

The are a few reasons why mpg may be low at the moment.

If it's a new car, they are tighter, and economy does tend to improve after the first few thousand miles.

It's cold, economy is always worse, and winter diesel doesn't burn as well as summer, due to more anti waxing agents in it, which have a lower calorific value.

And you are unlikely to achieve the manufactuers stated mpg, they do it under optimum conditions for the test.

It should be a lot better in a few months time though.

agrinnall

Cheers Mikey, my pal may be expecting a bit too much, although the car has done 3000 miles already and the dealer has agreed that consumption seems too high so maybe there is something they can do. I didn't know about winter diesel (although it sounds like a good idea, where I live people with diesel cars had starting problems a couple of years ago when we had a spell at -15) so I'll mention that to him. I agree about the stated MPG but he thinks he really should be getting as good consumption as his previour Focus. Plus, of course, waiting for warmer weather then finding it's still bad means the options for rejecting the car are much more difficult to take.

neilmcl

Not knowing how your mate drives and the sort of long journey he had but I would expect the diesel Focus with a rated mpg of 67 should get more that 47mpg over that length of journey even taking into account the cold weather and age of the car itself. We all know its impossible to reach the manufacturer's stated figures but diesels tend to get closer than petrols, it would definitely be worth waiting to see what the dealers says, certainly please let us know. Did your mate reset the trip computer prior to the journey?

moneysaver

I have a 2010 1.6 TDCI 115 Diesel Focus, 17,000 miles had it from new. At the moment I am getting 60mpg, around 80% is motorway driving.

Is he using supermarket diesel? I stick to branded fuel as a lot of people think you get lower mpg with supermarket stuff.



Moneysaver

vikingaero

(1) As others have stated: New car/tight engine. He won't see the optimum MPG until well after it's first service. Some car mags reckon most modern engine give the best MPG after 15k.

(2) Winter diesel contains more benzene (I think) which lowers the calorific value = worse MPG.

(3) Cold weather = more use of lights/rear window demister/heating = less MPG

(4) Rain or persistently wet roads increases drag which lowers MPG.

(5) Stop/start on most modern cars stops operating when the outside temp falls to near freezing.

Notmyrealname

Everything vikingaero said. I have done an economical driving course so meet and exceed the mftrs figures for my Mondeo. My wife gets nowhere near. Part of the problem is she drives it like a petrol.

With the Ford diesels you need to be changing gear around 2500RPM in normal driving and on a run be in a gear where you're cruising at around 2000RPM. That will get you going on towards decent economy. Changing gear above 3000 RPM is just turning diesel into smoke and chugging along on a run at 1500RPM wallops fuel because the engine load is higher than at 2000 RPM.

agrinnall

Thanks for the replies, all good points but you need to remember that he has been driving a Focus diesel for the last 4 years so he already knows how to drive one, and his MPG in that was 10 more than he's getting from what should be a more efficient engine, using exactly the same fuel and in similar environmental conditions. Yes, the consumption may well improve as the engine wears in but it has already done 3000 miles, which is when you might expect the majority of the loosening to happen (although I don't know how those miles were put on it, if the car was a demonstrator maybe they weren't done very carefully).

Neilmcd - as I mentioned, he calculated the MPG himself on his long trip and that worked out pretty much the same as the trip compuer was showing.

Hopefully the dealer will be keen to find out if there is a problem and to fix it, I will report back when I know more.

gardner1

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm asking this for my pal, I drive a petrol Panda so none of it applies to me .

He traded in his 07 Focus diesel for a 61 reg 1.6 TDCi 109 with 3000 miles on the clock on Jan 9th. It had a couple of issues (stop/start not working, fuel gauge not showing full) which were fixed within the first week. Having now been on a longer trip, 200 miles each way, he has found that the fuel consumption is around 47 mpg (calculated from fuel used and distance, which agrees with the trip computer figure) rather than the 64 the official figures suggest. He used to get 57 mpg from his old one so it's unlikely to be his driving style.

The dealer is taking it in on Monday for a consumption test but I wondered if anyone else had experienced a similar issue or would have any thoughts on what the cause might be.

Edit: I might have got the engine wrong, he told me the official figure is 67 mpg, and I see that the latest 1.6 TDCi 115 does that, so it could well be that one.

It proberly is his driving style i used to have 1.6 astra sport petrol could drive it quite heavy on the gas pedal and get 45mpg almost 52mpg with careful driving
changed to 1.6 astra elite and have to drive really careful to get 40mpg
same make and engine size but world of difference in mpg