MPG-what am I doing wrong?

[Roost]

2024 OBX non SAS. 3.73 ratio.

Swapped tires to 285/70R17 Falken Rubitrek on OEM 17” steel.
629 rev 18 OEM off and 632 rev 17’s on.
As close as I could get to 629 trying to keep speedo within 1 mph.

550 miles ..15.8mpg max via
highway with cruise set.
15.4 around town.
Tires dropping mpg down?

Was hoping for 17mpg minimum if
not 19-20. Specific break in period?

I just hit 3000 miles and have 16.7 average on Wildtrak/Sas. I had to train myself to ease up on the pedal, the low gears actually get you going pretty easily. I also use cruise control when I can. It made a big difference.

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[AP87]

2023 OBX SAS 2.3 with ProCal. I’ve got 17,000 miles and 20-22mpg (premium) pending doors/top off, although I am in Florida.

 

[SuperDave150]

You said ”285/70R17 Falken Rubitrek“ on steel wheel.
I looked up the specs on those. OMG they must be made of lead, weighing in at 59 pounds (compared to 37 for OEM tire) and stiff load range E (compared to C for SAS Goodyear or P (passenger for stock OBX)). And steel wheels are roughly 5 pounds heavier than OEM aluminum wheels. Plus the tires are wider, which actually is an additional penalty aerodynamically & maybe rolling resistance.

So you’ve added 27 pounds per wheel, and a bunch of rolling resistance.
But you’ve got a tough set of hot wheels. Enjoy!!!

BTW my 2.7 OBX 4 door with 4.27 gears gets 20.2 lifetime average over 10,000 miles, including off road and also occasional towing a 3,500+ lb utility trailer.

 

[Shazamalingo]

I know that ASS is the most divisive topic on this forum ever (), but I have found that it gives a decent boost to MPG for the city/local driving. It keeps me at about 16.5mpg (4DR SAS OBX) vs 15.5'ish without ASS. Highway I usually get around 17-18mpg.

FYI - I have the Ford ProCal and that seemed to help a bit with mpg, at least anecdotally.

 

[swamp2]

What am I doing RIGHT?

Long term average about 12 mpg. Raptor. So much fun. Frequent fill ups. Life's good.

 

[RobWTX]

I just hit 3000 miles and have 16.7 average on Wildtrak/Sas. I had to train myself to ease up on the pedal, the low gears actually get you going pretty easily. I also use cruise control when I can. It made a big difference.

Funny, I just went and filed up my WT, and got exactly 16.7 MPG hand calculated. The lie-o-meter said 17.5 (15,500 miles). This was 85% in town driving, but in Texas, half of in town is still a highway, lol.

 

[Rbhoward]

I have a 23 Wildtrak, 2.7, SAS, bought new. Live in Santa Fe but had to go to Oklahoma City to find what I wanted. Wife was there on business so drove it home. She saw 13 mpg on 91 octane on the 600 mile drive. Yikes! I’ve put 8k on it since driving to Los Alamos for work every weekday. Very hilly drive with me going 10 over on four lane bits. The mpg steadily improved to 17.5 over first 5k. At 5k miles I had the oil changed with full synthetic and 5 tire rotation…mpg jumped! I reset miles on mpg tracker and after a week of work runs and around town errands I’m at 20.3! Still running 91 octane. I’m convinced switch to full synthetic (motorcraft) helped a lot. So hang in there…it will improve!

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

I didn't think the black diamond mpg would be that bad. Guess it's the extra weight of the steel wheels, skids, bumpers and stuff plus all terrains have more rolling resistence than all seasons.

Possiby, but I think it's interesting they don't take into account 2dr vs 4dr.

For what it's worth I've never seen less than 19.5mpg in my 2dr Black Diamond manual. Even with the true 34's. And I don't drive conservative at all.

 

[RimrockPaul]

2024 OBX non SAS. 3.73 ratio.

Swapped tires to 285/70R17 Falken Rubitrek on OEM 17” steel.
629 rev 18 OEM off and 632 rev 17’s on.
As close as I could get to 629 trying to keep speedo within 1 mph.

550 miles ..15.8mpg max via
highway with cruise set.
15.4 around town.
Tires dropping mpg down?

Was hoping for 17mpg minimum if
not 19-20. Specific break in period?

Cruise set? What speed? 4dr ? Loaded down with accessories or other stuff?
Lots of variables. Driving habits are the easiest to fix and most drivers get way pissy if you comment about it so I won't mention it.
Paul in AZ. getting 21 to 23 mpg.

 

[jaruss01]

Ive had the OBX sas for 2.5 years. Compared to Ford's 17/17/17 rating, I've been very consistently 1-2 mpg lower in city, and 1-2 mpg higher highway. I have it in ECO 90% of the time.

14.8-15.8 mpg city (stop and go around dense town - i.e. 1-2 mile drives popping into local stores, etc), 18-18.5 highway (and could see it hit 20 sometimes if the conditions are ideal)

 

[Ninjak]

With 37's and my Fabtech lift I am getting 14~14.5 for city, and on trips to Ol Fl, and Orlando, sitting cruise at 75 and in sport mode, I did 17.1. Not too bad IMO.

Understanding this vehicle is a flying brick, I knew going in MPG was not its strong suit.

 

[Lazarus327]

2024 OBX non SAS. 3.73 ratio.

Swapped tires to 285/70R17 Falken Rubitrek on OEM 17” steel.
629 rev 18 OEM off and 632 rev 17’s on.
As close as I could get to 629 trying to keep speedo within 1 mph.

550 miles ..15.8mpg max via
highway with cruise set.
15.4 around town.
Tires dropping mpg down?

Was hoping for 17mpg minimum if
not 19-20. Specific break in period?

First the specs: 2021 OBX 4D 2.3L non SAS. 3.73 ratio auto Lux package with original 18" wheels & tires (Mall Mom version) with no drive train changes or off-roading equipment added (with these tires, seriously? Grin!) delivered in Nov 2021 w/28,000 +/- miles. I have only used Premium since delivery. Below is a dashboard screen shot from an early March trip from Newnan, GA to Greenville, SC. Virtually all interstate, rolling hills, no significant traffic slowdowns. This reading was taken at the beginning of the trip (about an hour in). I intentionally switched to Eco mode for this trip because I hadn't checked it on a trip recently. I typically use Eco mode only about 20-25% of the time when on the interstate and virtually 0% on surface streets. And I rarely use Sport mode.

This is the best MPG I've seen. I normally set the cruise 5 MPH over the limit and leave it. Yes, I know, the onboard computer lies. But even if it's 10% high I'm still getting over 22 MPG. My next few trips I'll calculate the MPG manually and compare.

Even for day-to-day driving (small town, many traffic lights on my usual routes, frequent stop and go traffic, etc.) I'm averaging 21.3 MPG. The worst I've gotten was low 18 MPG. I do not think about MPG while driving so I am not consciously trying to 'drive responsibly'. I have no hesitation putting my foot in it when the need (or desire) arises. What am I doing right? I have no idea, but I am seriously considering the wisdom of my original plan to replace the tires and wheels with something beefier when the current tires wear out! LOL!

 

[Aonarch]

Basically in order of contribution to mpg:
1. Driver style (heavy foot or light) (biggest impact)
2. City or highway (stop/ go, do you allow the engine to shut off?)
3. Tire diameter (up to 33") (>33">35") (>35") (rolling resistance, unsprung weight)
4. Accessories -- light bars etc. (towing) (Aerodynamics)
5. Speed (<55), (<65), (<75)( > 75). (Affecting Aerodynamics)
5. Maintenance (change your engine air filter)
6. GOAT Mode (Sport / not sport)
7. Vehicle weight.

2.3L Base 3.73 gear. 36k miles.
21 city, 24 highway.

I try to take back roads that are 55 mph as opposed to freeway when I can. 55 mph seems like the sweet spot for fuel economy.
Oh and if I find a large vehicle to block the wind for me I do a lot better on MPG, but windshield suffers.

Quoting this for truth.

The biggest issue the OP has is their heavy wheels and tires.

Each tire has a different rolling resistance too.

My Firestone Destination AT2 have the lowest rolling resistance out of the top AT tires.

 

[carrellslake]

2024 OBX non SAS. 3.73 ratio.

Swapped tires to 285/70R17 Falken Rubitrek on OEM 17” steel.
629 rev 18 OEM off and 632 rev 17’s on.
As close as I could get to 629 trying to keep speedo within 1 mph.

550 miles ..15.8mpg max via
highway with cruise set.
15.4 around town.
Tires dropping mpg down?

Was hoping for 17mpg minimum if
not 19-20. Specific break in period?

How fast were you going on the highway? That makes a huge difference. Above 65mph and the mpg drops considerably for me.

 

[Alanp970]

4 door 2.3 SAS - Just filled up after a little over 300 miles of a mix of probably 70/30 highway/city. Speeds between 67-72 miles per hour. Indicated 20.8 mpg hand calculated out to 19.6 mpg. This is the best mileage I’ve gotten since we started seeing winter fuel last Nov. I lost a solid 1.5 mpg all winter even though it’s garaged so it doesn’t spend a lot of time idling. Over the past 14,000 miles I’m averaging slightly over 18 mpg

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