Your actual mileage may vary??

[peterk9]

How fast do you drive. I just had mine out this weekend for a trip to Nova Scotia, 4 hours on the highway. On the way down I drove at 120km/hr = 75mph and got 16.5 litres/100km (14 mpg). On the way back I drove at 100km/hr = 62 mph and got 10 litres /100km (23.5mpg). BIG DIFFERENCE.

Chimoman, just going over your figures and I think you short changed yourself. The way my calculator works it out 16.5L/100km = 17 mpg and 10L/100km = 28 mpg. The vehicle is rated at 8.8 hwy which works out to 32.1 mpg.

 

[sdm9465]

Chimoman, just going over your figures and I think you short changed yourself. The way my calculator works it out 16.5L/100km = 17 mpg and 10L/100km = 28 mpg. The vehicle is rated at 8.8 hwy which works out to 32.1 mpg.

You are using imperial (UK) gallons (4.54 liters) but chimoman was using US gallons (3.78 liters). It's better to use US gallons since that's what the Americans are using when reporting their mileage. (Even the Canadian Explorers display mileage using US gallons if you set the units to some MPG instead of l/100km.)

 

[astrorex]

Just looked at the trip guages today, since buying my X, I am averaging around 18.5 mpg, and the last 500 miles (mix of city + highway + single rider + fully loaded) its around 20.3 mpg. Odometer says 3k, so I guess there is an improvement since purchase. I, for one, was expecting close to 17 and so am more than happy with the current mileage

 

[peterk9]

You are using imperial (UK) gallons (4.54 liters) but chimoman was using US gallons (3.78 liters). It's better to use US gallons since that's what the Americans are using when reporting their mileage. (Even the Canadian Explorers display mileage using US gallons if you set the units to some MPG instead of l/100km.)

Thanks for starightening that out. I find it strange the Canadian model would use U.S. figures when MPG is chosen to be displayed. Has that actually been verified? I'll have to try setting the display up that way and compare it to L/100km.

 

[dia09]

A big selling point for automobiles is the fuel economy, though many don't look at the label bearing the phrase “mileage may vary.” Evidently it varies a lot, as a JD Power and Associates study of Japanese hybrid owners found actual hybrid fuel economy is a real sore spot.

 

[RandyH2]

I just looked at how the EPA gets the window sticker numbers.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml
No surprise- for the highway portion the AVERAGE speed is 48 mph and the MAX is only 60 mph, and only held for a short time. The Explorer is not particularly aerodynamic so it makes sense that anyone driving on 70 mph highways is getting lower mileage than the sticker indicates.
But my '01 X5 gets BETTER mileage (21.4 currently) over the same routes. Better tires definitely play a role.

 

[VinceL]

RandyH2, don't forget to click on those other tabs as they are included in the calculations. The highspeed runs it up to 80mph, holding it above 60 for a while. Having said that, the thing is honestly a joke. Pardon me while I pontificate for a moment:

The whole new CAFE regs were just to make the greenies happy and buy votes for anybody who backed that scam (don't get me started on carbon offsetting and all that garbage). They set these wonderful sounding numbers, because, darn it, the government cares about us and the environment. What the greenies aren't clever enough to realize is the EPA test is a joke, but hey, what do the huddled masses, the sheeple, know anyway? It is not how you get there, but the mysterious numbers the all powerful gub'ment makes those nasty big corporations achieve with their products that does. Bump that to 70mph for 20minutes with the A/C on in a circular course with gently rolling hills and lets see how it does. And while you are at it, have a course at 750ft altitude and one at 5000ft and run those numbers. Remember to include a few slow-downs and returns to speed. Oh yeah, make sure you use gas with full 10% ethanol from a jurisdiction with severe pollution controls and do use winter blend. Those things should give accurate numbers that most people should be able to reasonably achieve.

Of course, doing all of that would drop the V6 FWD down from 24 to a more realistic 20-21mpg by my estimations based on our experiences.

Oh, and EPA (in case you are listening), real city driving in the Explorer will give you about 14mpg real world. Just saying.

Sorry about the rant, but I used to have faith in some things governmental, but age, experience, and education have reduced that number of things to a depressing few.

Now, don't get me wrong. We need to protect the environment. I just spent over 2 weeks touring it, taking it in, and being inspired by the sheer awe of it. I may not buy into the whole global warming discussion (I'm being nice), but to think that what we do plays no part, and has no effect on, the environment is naive at best, and sheer idiocy for all the rest. We just have to stop lying to ourselves.

Whew. Back to the original programming

 

[Jrister24]

I have kept track of my gas mileage on every fill up since I purchased my car (Jan 2011). In 24K miles, I've filled up 80 times. Some of those were empty takes & some were top-offs . The high mileage for a tank was 24.2. The low was 16.6. The average is 20.2 and I'd estimate the Mode to be around 19.5. All in all, I'm satisfied with my mileage.

 

[TripFoeYa]

I continue to see strange numbers with my 2013 Explorer. Before this vehicle I had a 2011 Explorer and owned it for 16 months. During that time I had 57 fill ups and averaged 18.9 MPG. I use an iPhone app called Gas Cubby to keep track of mileage. It matched Trip 2 on my Explorer with the same MPG's. (18,000 miles)(I never reset Trip 2 but I reset Trip 1 with every fill up) I also use this app with my wife's Escape Hybrid and it is dead on accurate.

Now the my 2013 is a totally different story. Granted it's only 8 fill ups but the app reads 18.8 MPG and Trip 2 reads 19.4. I continue to drive the 13 just I did the 11. Never idle when I don't have to, same route to work, same gas stations, etc.. But the thing that is alarming the most is the fact that I continue to reach zero miles to empty with only using 16 or so gallons. All my fill ups so far seems to lose 50-75 miles off the estimated number after you fill up over the course of the tank. The 2011 never did this at all and would always seem to calculate the correct amount of gallons used. If I wanted to use the 18.6 gallons the tank holds or even come close to it I would have to easily drive 50 miles past the vehicle telling me it has zero miles to empty. I did 30 miles over recently and when I filled up it took 17.5 gallons. Something is not right with the vehicle's calculations. Anyone care to chime in please do. I take pride in getting the best mileage possible and this seems to be throwing me off quite a bit.

 

[peterk9]

I continue to see strange numbers with my 2013 Explorer. Before this vehicle I had a 2011 Explorer and owned it for 16 months. During that time I had 57 fill ups and averaged 18.9 MPG. I use an iPhone app called Gas Cubby to keep track of mileage. It matched Trip 2 on my Explorer with the same MPG's. (18,000 miles)(I never reset Trip 2 but I reset Trip 1 with every fill up) I also use this app with my wife's Escape Hybrid and it is dead on accurate.

Now the my 2013 is a totally different story. Granted it's only 8 fill ups but the app reads 18.8 MPG and Trip 2 reads 19.4. I continue to drive the 13 just I did the 11. Never idle when I don't have to, same route to work, same gas stations, etc.. But the thing that is alarming the most is the fact that I continue to reach zero miles to empty with only using 16 or so gallons. All my fill ups so far seems to lose 50-75 miles off the estimated number after you fill up over the course of the tank. The 2011 never did this at all and would always seem to calculate the correct amount of gallons used. If I wanted to use the 18.6 gallons the tank holds or even come close to it I would have to easily drive 50 miles past the vehicle telling me it has zero miles to empty. I did 30 miles over recently and when I filled up it took 17.5 gallons. Something is not right with the vehicle's calculations. Anyone care to chime in please do. I take pride in getting the best mileage possible and this seems to be throwing me off quite a bit.

My 2011 is also fairly accurate in its calculations. One thing to keep in mind is that although there is no reserve tank, the program does take a 'reserve' amount into account when doing its calculations. Therefore the alarm it is likely set up to indicated zero or close to zero as you approach the last gallon. I don't know of any vehicle that has stopped running as soon as the gauge read 'Empty'. In any case, keep in mind that it is not a good idea to run the tank that low. The gasoline is also used to keep the fuel pump cooled and prevent it from over heating.
From the Owner's Manual;

Filling the tank
The advertised fuel capacity of the fuel tank on your vehicle is equal to the rated refill capacity of the fuel tank as listed in the Maintenance product specifications and capacities section of this chapter.
The advertised capacity is the amount of the indicated capacity and the empty reserve combined. Indicated capacity is the difference in the amount of fuel in a full tank and a tank when the fuel gauge indicatesempty. Empty reserve is the small amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank after the fuel gauge indicates empty.
The amount of usable fuel in the empty reserve varies and should
not be relied upon to increase driving range. When refueling your
vehicle after the fuel gauge indicates empty, you might not be
able to refuel the full amount of the advertised capacity of the
fuel tank due to the empty reserve still present in the tank.

Peter

 

[Jrister24]

I use an iPhone app called Gas Cubby to keep track of mileage.

Gas Cubby is a great app! If you are willing to spend 45-60 seconds typing the info in after a fuel fill up, you can keep track of everything with the app! I also keep track of other services/expenses (oil changes, wiper changes, detail jobs, etc.) with the app.