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3.5L Ecoboost Owners - What MPG are you getting?

DanF861

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December 15, 2017
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City, State
Minneapolis, MN
Year, Model & Trim Level
2017 Explorer Sport
I'm currently using 87 Octane in my Sport and not getting any impressive MPG numbers. Curious what MPG others are getting and what octane you're using. Aside from keeping the tires properly inflated and driving conservatively are there any other options (tune, etc) to increase MPG?
 



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That is a very subjective question Dan. Many things will affect MPG including the type of fuel. There is a thread on that;
3.5 Ecoboost - What type of fuel are you running?
You may also find some answers in the following thread.
Explorer Poor Gas Mileage - including Ecoboost
Are you looking for replies on all the Ecoboost engines or just the 3.5L? There are a couple threads on the 2.0 and 2.3 Ecoboosts. Driving styles differ so that will affect MPG as does the type of driving, highway vs city, Winter vs Summer. Your replies will likely be all over the place. As for options to increase MPG there is a thread on that as well; How to get better Gas Mileage?
If you do a 'Search' you will find that there isn't much that hasn't already been discussed.

Peter
 






Thanks for the info Peter. I’ll take a look at these threads. I’m mainly curious about the 3.5L Ecoboost.
 






Best tip we can give you is to keep it out of boost as much as possible.

Otherwise, trade it for a 2.3L :D (Joking of course, but I'm getting consistent 24 MPG [car measured, not pump math] and find that reasonable.)
 






I get about 17.2 MPG in my 17 Sport.

That is according to the computer and not manually done math, I run 87 as well.
 












19.0-19.2 on 93 octane
Longer morning and evening commute, and 70% freeway miles. Driving style is pretty neutral but certainly get on it good every couple days.
 






My 14 sport has averaged 20.3mpg lifetime at close to 65k miles. I have run all different types of fuel and get the same mileage regardless. Non-oxy gives a little better mileage, but doesn't offset the added cost.
 






The dash says 16.7 avg. Mostly city driving, and an active right foot. It will achieve @ 23 on a road trip.
 






I know I have the NA engine and not what you asked but I get 19 hwy 15 city. I just did over 500 going to lake george most of at at 80-90 MPH and the last 40 in bumper to bumper traffic (this 40 miles took 1 1/2 hrs) and got 18.2 all according to the computer.
 






According to Fuelly.com I'm averaging 17.9 mpg with the best mpg being 19.5. That is over 14 fill-ups. The last 4 were with 91 octane and the previous 10 were using 87.
My 2014 MKT with the same engine averaged 17.3 with a best of 19.9 over 29 fill-ups on 87 octane. My driving is about 60/40 hwy/city with many short trips of under 10 miles. Using 91 octane produced a bit of an increase in mpg but definitely not nearly enough to off set the increased cost of the gasoline. The gas also contains 10% ethanol and there is talk it may be increased to 15%.
I have found that the average MPG readout in the dash is overly optimistic. Real MPG is actually always lower. As far as mileage/cost goes my conclusion from my experience is using 87 is the way to go.
NOTE: mileage is in U.S. figures. MPG figures for my 2011 V6 were about 2 mpg better.

Peter
 






On a tank of 93 Octane this week I'm getting, according to the car, 15.7 MPG on my Sport. I do have a heavy foot though..
 






On a tank of 93 Octane this week I'm getting, according to the car, 15.7 MPG on my Sport. I do have a heavy foot though..
That means you are likely at 14.5 mpg or so in real numbers.
 






2014 Sport with about 90k on it. I let it warm up via remote start in the cold mornings for about 5min. Around town, I get about 16mpg this time of the year. On a full highway trip, going 75-80mph, with no passengers, I get 20.5-21mpg. Add 3 passengers and the luggage and it 18.5-19mpg. I run top tier fuel - 91-93 octane and full synthetic oil. Also have an Airid intake.

Frankly, I have not been impressed with the fuel economy at all. The power the boost produces is what makes it tolerable in my mind. Otherwise, I would not be accepting of the results at all.

Shumax
 






Running 93 octane I get 20 - 21 average in my Platinum. I came from an AWD Escalade that averaged 12 on premium. I know the numbers aren't great, but for the power and capabilities in the Explorer they really aren't bad.
 






The mileage display in the car is always off to the high side, as much as 10%. The only accurate measure of fuel mileage, is to right down the gas and mileage every time you fill up. I've done that for over 30 years, with a little note pad/book in each car I've owned. Doing that makes it very easy, and accurate to judge fuel mileage. Every Mark VII I've had(5), and my three Explorers with the trip computer, they all read higher than actual mileage. If it says I got 19mpg, the actual is typically around 18mpg or less.

I have a Scan Gauge that I've used in my 99 mail truck, and that is more accurate than the OEM display. If you truly care about improving mileage figures, or monitoring it, I suggest buying a similar device to the Scan Gauge. Regards,
 






The mileage display in the car is always off to the high side, as much as 10%. The only accurate measure of fuel mileage, is to right down the gas and mileage every time you fill up. I've done that for over 30 years, with a little note pad/book in each car I've owned. Doing that makes it very easy, and accurate to judge fuel mileage. Every Mark VII I've had(5), and my three Explorers with the trip computer, they all read higher than actual mileage. If it says I got 19mpg, the actual is typically around 18mpg or less.

I have a Scan Gauge that I've used in my 99 mail truck, and that is more accurate than the OEM display. If you truly care about improving mileage figures, or monitoring it, I suggest buying a similar device to the Scan Gauge. Regards,
Good morning Don. I agree that the display is on the generous side as I've also mentioned a few times. Have you ever looked at Fuelly.com to track your mileage. It does all the 'figuring' for you and you have the option to convert your U.S. mpg to various other measurements. I have a record of my past 3 vehicles on there. The 2011 Ltd still has the best mpg. After a fill-up I just write down the mileage, number of litres and cost per litre. I then plug in all the numbers when I get home and it gives me an accurate mpg or L/100 kms reading and it is always lower than what the cluster display showed. I am sure there are other sites like that as well.
Hope you had a good Christmas and wishing you all the best for the New Year.

Peter
 






Thanks Peter, I did notice that link in your other post. I might look at that one day. I've been jumping between vehicles, driving and working on them, lots to do. We're good here with "mild" weather and glad to not yet have snow.

My old 302 trucks have never gotten great mileage, but they are low compression and restricted exhaust vehicles. I;m hoping my eventual 302 rebuild will do better, 9.4:1 compression, custom cam, and actual dual exhaust. I hope I can gain 1mpg in town, and a little more on highway. That would save me money in the long run, I put about 100 miles a day on my cars each work day, just for work. I hate that fuel has gone up for premium, it used to be 20 cents more than regular, now it's about 45 cents per. That cost is too much if you can run regular, so I'll build engines to run it if I can.
 






Just so you know, I've been driving Fords for many, many years. And Explorers since 1997. Ford's get notoriously poor fuel mileage in all classes. This 2.3L ecoboost is the best I have driven as far as Ford mileage goes. 19 city, 27 highway. I'm averaging 22.8 for 25,000 miles driven.

The 2014 3.5L NA was dismal. About 14 city, 21 highway. For the 2 years I had it, the average was 16.2 for about 33,000 miles. That was pretty poor.
 



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I new to the forum and did a search but nothing in the results I could find to answer my question.

I have a new 2018 Explorer Sport with the 3.5 Ecoboost. The thing is absolutely horrible on fuel economy. Can anyone compare what they are getting with theirs? I have about 1600 plus miles on it now and it is averaging only mid 13s MPG with mixed driving. I did straight runs on the highway for most of a tank full and was only getting about 16.5, and that was truly all highway.
 






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