110 miles into the family Christmas road trip and we just passed 3/4tank, and the in-dash indicates 27.4mpg.

Cruise control set on 70mph; increase to 74 a few times to pass semi trucks.

2010 Ford Escape 3.0 automatic 2WD. Tires pumped up to 40psi.

Seems like impressive MPG to me. What do you all think?

 

First tankful :

23.6 hand calc
25.7 dash indicator

 

2005 Escape XLT AWD 3.0, Michelin MS-LTX tires (not crossover, more aggressive), 35psi
225 mile trip
Mostly 60-72 mph but some two-lane and start/stop. Some hill climbs through central PA into NY State.
Hand calc at 21.7mpg, pretty stable number per past checks.

 

26.3 calculated
27.4 digital dash

 

50Fast.... mileage seems good with the V6 in there. I noticed that you have your tires up to 40lbs. I'm curious as to why you have them so high. To each his own but my experience as a 40 year Florida resident are that over inflated tires provide poor traction in heavy rain or rain soaked roads. Also, the ride may be less comfortable and could contribute to premature shock/strut wear due to a more forceful rebound. Finally, certain manufacturers stipulate a maximum of 35psi cold in their tires per the sidewall labeling. I'm sure that you have tires with a higher rating or you would not have taken the time to annotate your mileage so carefully.

Ford puts the recommended tire pressure on the door sill plate. I usually go 1-2 lbs over the recommended pressure to get the best mileage and to ensure that any inaccuracies in my digital tire gauge are accounted for. Every month do a check and fill as necessary. This formula has served me well for quite some time.

It's no surprise that the computer on the dash is not the same as the calculator method. I prefer the calculator method. If you fill up the "same way" as best you can each time then you should see minimal variance in the total quantity of fuel added to your tank each time. The old fashioned formula of fuel used and mileage traveled is hard to beat.

One method that I use to get my best mileage is to accelerate briskly to the cruising speed that I want then to use cruise control at that speed. I don't gradually creep up in RPMs to get there. My research has shown that spirited acceleration actually consumes less gas than milking the RPMs when approaching cruising speed. By no means do you "hammer" the gas. Give it a try and let us know how it did.

 

I agree with everything you said: especially and including the moderate acceleration up to cruising speed- I do that with my Escape and with my 6.8L V10 E350. It's not heavy throttle nor high rpm, but it's quicker than most people. *****-footing around at low speeds/granny-acceleration is easy on fuel useage but also very low on "distance economy". After all, "MPG" is all about Miles and Gallons. It's about balancing the useage of Gallons and Miles. Ignore either at the peril of the other.

On my Escape I have the Fuel-Economy-Whatever tires and they are rated at max 51psi. So I feel that 32-35 is awfully low for a 1300mile highway trip. My wife drives this vehicle in town day-to-day and rarely exceeds 45mph so I'm ok with lower tire pressure for that useage.

My last tank of fuel (not posted above) was indicating over 28mpg in-dash and hand calculated to 27.xx. Lower speeds during that stretch. The first two tanks : I just couldn't convince myself to keep the speed consistently low. All the other traffic was 75-80mph and no cops in sight.

 

Here's a bump to 50fast for driving with the flow at 75-80... and no coppers in sight. From time to time it is rewarding to see how smoothly newer vehicles cruise at higher speeds.

I had an older MB E320 with high mileage and I loved setting the cruise control at about 85 when doing cross country trips. Brings tears to my eyes recalling that sometimes...

Back on topic.... I'm curious as to everyone's experience with MPG while traveling at higher speeds such as 75 or 80 compared to 65-70.... We're making a 7 hour Christmas trip to see family tomorrow and I will update on the mileage/speeds combo. Maybe I'll creep up and zip back or vice versa...

 

I haven't taken mine on a strictly highway trip in so long I couldn't tell you what it is now. I can report that in my to/from work drive (which is 16 miles and takes 35 minutes) I average 18.5mpg. I would guess that on a trip I could still get 24ish but we have the new CX9 for that - it's so much smoother and quieter than the Tribute ever was.

But I don't think 18.5 on mostly stop/go is too bad for 287k miles. Heck, she still doesn't burn oil!