Badlands Sasquatch has terrible MPG

[broncohopeful]

Just did two back to back road trips to St George Utah. About 300 miles each way.

After 8 months ownership My Badlands Sasquatch on 35’s gets about 18mpg around town.
But the 2 road trips had me averaging 13.6 mpg on the highway. One trip was loaded up with two adults and 2 children and luggage. The second trip was 1 adult 1 kid and minimal luggage. Difference was only .4 mpg for the “lighter” trip.
Is this normally what people are seeing?
It’s almost worth selling over.

SELL SELL SELL!
you'll never be happy especially w gas mileage.

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[Dorf2point0]

I just got back from a road trip in my Wildtrak. I averaged 18-18.5 mpg going 75mph. Mostly flat highway. in my opinion the Bronco is a great road trip vehicle. I never have to worry about blow outs from pot holes, or inclement of weather and it rides nice with plenty of space.

And you enjoyed a nice ride due to the FOX suspension …

 

[mcinfantry]

Just did two back to back road trips to St George Utah. About 300 miles each way.

After 8 months ownership My Badlands Sasquatch on 35’s gets about 18mpg around town.
But the 2 road trips had me averaging 13.6 mpg on the highway. One trip was loaded up with two adults and 2 children and luggage. The second trip was 1 adult 1 kid and minimal luggage. Difference was only .4 mpg for the “lighter” trip.
Is this normally what people are seeing?
It’s almost worth selling over.

 

[Boostedblues]

And you enjoyed a nice ride due to the FOX suspension …

I've got Bilsteins unfortunately. But they are still good in my opinion.

 

[BadlandsA51]

Big tires add significant drag, they also add both static weight and dynamic weight. It takes more energy to get the big heavy wheel/tire combo rotating. Also, the increased ride height adds frontal area and increases aerodynamic drag. So, a Squatch package, lift kit, bigger tires on wheels that give the “poke “ so many find desirable all add up to a significant fuel economy penalty.

 

[BadlandsA51]

My Mustang GT got better than sticker, even with the AC on and the top down.

Bronco is the first and only vehicle I have ever owned that got worse MPG on the freeway vs town though.

Mustang is pretty aerodynamic, Bronco is a brick. That really consumes fuel at high speed.

 

[RobWTX]

My Mustang GT got better than sticker, even with the AC on and the top down.

Bronco is the first and only vehicle I have ever owned that got worse MPG on the freeway vs town though.

I think part of it (just a guess) is the little engine. My F-150 with the 2.7 got better in town than the highway. Friend with the same year F-150, but a 5.0 got better hwy than I did.

 

[BadlandsA51]

I think part of it (just a guess) is the little engine. My F-150 with the 2.7 got better in town than the highway. Friend with the same year F-150, but a 5.0 got better hwy than I did.

Actually, everything else being equal, a smaller engine will get better economy pulling the same load. Engines are more efficient when they are working harder. Again, everything else being equal. Pulling a heavy trailer will make either engine work harder and use more fuel. But the smaller engine working harder than the big engine will still be more efficient. I traded a 3.5L Ecoboost F-150 for my Bronco, its economy went down when I towed, but not as much as my buddy's 5.0L F-150.

A loaded engine has less pumping loss working against manifold vacuum, and because of less vacuum (or more air) in the cylinder when the intake valve closes, a denser air fuel mixture when ignition occurs. That denser mixture burns faster than a less dense mixture, and a fast burn is way more efficient than a slower one. It sounds kinda backwards, but it's true. That's why you have to go up to a Super Duty now to get anything bigger than a 5.0L. Back in the day you could get a 460 in a Torino, they were terribly inefficient, big engine not working hard in a mid sized car.

There are lots of factors to economy, driving style, gear ratios, tire size, etc, etc, Your mileage may vary!

 

[RobWTX]

Actually, everything else being equal, a smaller engine will get better economy pulling the same load. Engines are more efficient when they are working harder. Again, everything else being equal. Pulling a heavy trailer will make either engine work harder and use more fuel. But the smaller engine working harder than the big engine will still be more efficient. I traded a 3.5L Ecoboost F-150 for my Bronco, its economy went down when I towed, but not as much as my buddy's 5.0L F-150.

A loaded engine has less pumping loss working against manifold vacuum, and because of less vacuum (or more air) in the cylinder when the intake valve closes, a denser air fuel mixture when ignition occurs. That denser mixture burns faster than a less dense mixture, and a fast burn is way more efficient than a slower one. It sounds kinda backwards, but it's true. That's why you have to go up to a Super Duty now to get anything bigger than a 5.0L. Back in the day you could get a 460 in a Torino, they were terribly inefficient, big engine not working hard in a mid sized car.

There are lots of factors to economy, driving style, gear ratios, tire size, etc, etc, Your mileage may vary!

True, I didn't buy either the Bronco, or F-150 for gas mileage. Well hell, no car I ever bought was for mileage.

 

[harpo]

Non SAS, right? Auto/7sp? Hand calculated or dash mpg?

Our Badlands 2dr SAS 2.3 7sp typically gets 16-17 around town and the same 16-17 at 70-75 mph. 80 mph it drops to 15-16. Surprisingly, it jumps up to 19-20 at 65. All hand calculated. Dash MPG tends to read 1.5 mpg higher.

EPA is 16 city/17 highway/17 combined.

Towed our 2500 lb. teardrop trailer on a cross-country trip last month. For the most part got 13.0 - 13.5 towing at 65 mph. On one stretch of highway we had a 20-25 mph tailwind. MPG's jumped to 16-17.

Slightly worse MPG's than we expected, but we can live with it.

Manual non sas, hand calc. The dash calc is always high and the higher it reads the farther off it is, but your 1.5 high is in the same range.

Do you use 6th? I read reports on here where people never use 6th. I use it all the time.

I also run the tires at close to 40 psi.

I think I get 17 at 80, 19 at 70, 21 at 60.

I do drive it slower than my other car. I think the visibility, being able to look over other cars calms me down.

 

[Los]

Today I drove 150 miles RT 4 adults, one baby and load off luggage, my WT average 19.5 MPG at 75 MPH. I have over 15k miles. Up to now no complains.

 

[Dorf2point0]

i have 2021 bd 4dr 2.7 sas and was like 13/14 installed full k&n air intake and full borla touring exhaust now 19/20 and i have 30k on od ???

Go k&N… Airborne

 

[Dorf2point0]

78mph in “eco mode” had 15 mph head winds going down and 15mph tail winds coming back. Averaged mid 13mpg for that trip.
Second lighter trip had 3mph north wind down and back. Got 14.2mpg in eco mode on that trip

lighter trip had only 3mph winds.

Get a K&N drop in filter… Try that first…

 

[Mscdman]

After 10,000 miles, I get 17.5. Most of this is driving around town. On road trips, I get about 18.2 in ECO mode. I drive about 70-75 mph. Anything above 75 it loses 2 mpg for every 8-10 miles of speed.

When you drive any car around town for short distances your gas MPG will suck. I have a rav4 that gets shit mileage because most of my trips are 2 miles.

 

[ScLeCo]

I average around 13.5 MPG combined hwy/city driving.

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