Seeing gas mileage improving?

[Quest]

Up until recently, I have been getting around 18 mpg highway and city. I've reset the trip at various times and this has been the norm until now.
I was talking to someone else with a Bronco at a gas station and they mentioned they are getting 22mpg. Same engine and trans as my Bronco, 4-door. I didn't note the trim they had. So I decided to reset the trip again....... and I am getting 22mpg. This was over a few days including some stupid driving at 85mph on the highway. I was running 87 fuel, which I had done rarely since owning it. Next time I filled up with 89, reset the trip again..... and now I am getting 24mpg. This includes some hard acceleration busting me down to the mid-20s, but then it came back up again. I'm a bit over 6k miles now.

Could this all be due to break in? I am not running AC typically, and the lower mpg was not just in the winter so it wasn't heat eating it up.

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[ar1]

I've been logging with Fuelly and noticed and increase from ~17/18 to ~20 now at 8k miles. The dash seems to read about 1mpg high and mpg varies a little bit even tank to tank but there still seems to be a broader trend up toward 20 or slightly above. I have had some outlier 22mpg tanks too but not the norm.

 

[BlueWaffle]

Motors will generally become a touch more efficient as they break in and 'loosen up'

 

[Tricky Mike]

Lucky, mine has been in a downward spiral since new. Might be something to do with going bigger and bigger......

 

[Headsong]

Around 21 unless going 65+ on highway.
4 door, 2.7,auto, softtop, BD stock tires

 

[Fly]

Yep, same here

 

[PrepVet]

I've been at 18MPG from day one. 2.3 4door auto soft top rear locker

 

[Fmuguira]

I ve gotten 21, 23 and 22 mpg my first three tanks. Extremely happy. If it improves, now 1100 miles, I ll do hand springs!

2 Door 2.7 BL SAS; note, I m very gentle on the skinny peddle…. It matters.

 

[ajbower]

have 23k miles 2.3l with 35's averaging 20mpg. have seen as low as 17.5mpg but over the last 6months avg 20. it is driven everyday.

 

[Fmuguira]

BTW, those mpg s are calculated. Meter has been same once, 1/2 mpg optimistic once and 3/4 optimistic once.

 

[Quest]

Yep, same here

Is that report something you generated yourself?

 

[scotman623]

In upstate NY we have fuel’s blended for winter and summer.. I always see an increase of 2-3 mpg more during the summer time blended fuel.. I have been averaging around 18.2 mpg in winter and around 20.7 mpg in the summer..2.3 Liter 2 door engine tuned with 37 tires..

 

[JeffL]

mines getting better with miles. just over 6k miles now and it's getting 20.1mpg in mixed highway / backroads. base v6 2 door with SAS i only ever use 87 octane fuel.

 

[userdude]

If you're going by the trip or overall odometer mileage, I would add the major caveat that neither is going to be perfectly accurate; I tend to subtract 1.5-2mpg to get a more realistic reading. This is from experience calculating fill-up gallons to miles traveled and comparing to the readouts. I have ~11k miles in the first five months, nearly all highway. Note that the averaging the trip and overall odometer readings are giving you aren't "wrong" per se, just that they're not giving you exactly what you think.

For me running 91/93 octane, I get 17-19 w/2dr BadSquatch 4i. I tend to drive below 75; 55-65 is a sweet spot for mileage.

As far as improvement, Ford uses some technology to "learn" how you drive and that supposedly changes some things like shift points etc. So it can change over time. I've got the Ford ProCal tune, which also improves it, as well as higher octane (91/03).

If I got realistically 20-22mpg, I'd be very happy. That's equal to my 2010 Chevy V6 mileage, which is a 4.3l engine.

 

[STX Bronco]

Man, I bet it stinks being behind all you grannies on the hwy babying to get the mpgs up. I haven’t risen above 15.5 yet.

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