still having bad mileage

[Hi-Risk]

currently, i went up to 180 miles on a full tank of gas. my car currently has approximatley 8000 miles on it...wtf...what's wrong...i thought i was supposed to get way better mileage then that after reaching 8k miles!!! what went wrong???? is it due to the mods that i do? is there something wrong with the car itself??? what??? help!!!!

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Pitch Black 2K ZX3 (automatic)
WW kit/WW 3-piece Mid-wing/Hella Projectors/Progress 1.8 Springs/Vibrant Exhaust/FS wires/APC Clear Bumper Lens

Future Plans: JBA Header/Iceman CAI/Koni Shocks/NEW Paint Job/Cervini or CF hood/Motegi MR12's or RH Evo D6000/Avenger front & rear bumper

[Carizme]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hi-Risk:
currently, i went up to 180 miles on a full tank of gas<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Wow, best i can muster up is 160. And thats driving on the highway for most of the tank. WTF is right. 9K Miles btw

[Hi-Risk]

yeah and there's this other dude that i know who owns a foci and he gets close to 300 on a full tank...and he drives farther then me too...and not to mention he gets stuck in traffic a lot longer then i do. WTF!!!?!?!?!?

[sneiper]

i was currently getting 300 per tank, but ever since they raised gas prices i've been getting 340! i'm getting just the opposite. i have about 22,000 miles on my focus if you were wondering.

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Steve
2000 Pitch Black ZTS
1992 Opal Frost SHO

[JonBoy470]

Yeah dude, I have an automatic, and do mostly highway miles, and I get a little over 300 miles before the light comes on. I've been getting about 30-31 MPG lately. I got worse mileage (25-28MPG) this past winter, but I expect that, so no worries.

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-Jon
2k ZX3, Infra-red, auto, air, cruise, tilt, pw/pl/pm, abs, var. int. wiper conversion, Sylvania XV headlights
IM: JonBoy470

[Kelric]

damn, and I thought my mileage sucked ass at about 25 MPG.....

I've never gotten over 28MPG

BUT, I still go about 300 miles on a tank... you don't fill up when the low fuel light comes on do you? You can probably squeeze an extra 50 - 75 miles out of the tank when the low fule light comes on.....

My light comes on at about 250 - 270 miles and then I usually try to drive another 50 miles or so.....

42k miles and increasing steadily....(miles, not mileage)

[longbeachcarguy]

I get about 27 in traffic and 33 at 75-80 with the A/C off on the open highway, about 30-31 with the A/C on. I have 8,400 miles on the car. I get about 250 miles between fill-ups on a week of city driving (what I do most). On the open road, easily 300 miles.

FYI, I have a pretty heavy right foot so a more conservative driver in my car could do better. The engine is stock, and is a 5 speed transaxle. It is lowered and has 17" wheels but the tire/wheel combo is very close to the diameter of the stock wheel/tire.


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Autumn Orange ZX3, H&R springs, 17" wheels, orange/yellow scorcher T/A's, wings west: 62olds starfire convert, 67 csquire, 71 442 vista cruiser

[longbeachcarguy]

Just to keep the math addicts at bay, I usually fill up at 1/4 tank, and put in between 8-9.5 gallons. Forgot to mention that in the post.

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Autumn Orange ZX3, H&R springs, 17" wheels, orange/yellow scorcher T/A's, wings west: 62olds starfire convert, 67 csquire, 71 442 vista cruiser

[Hi-Risk]

Oh well, guess I'll just keep on driving. I'm fortunate not to live in some parts of the island (Oahu, Hawaii). In some locations, the price range for premium gas is up to $2.50!!!

[jwardell]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> In some locations, the price range for premium gas is up to $2.50!!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hope you're not throwing money away on premium. Switch to regular and I bet you'll get better milage.

[Hi-Risk]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jwardell:
I hope you're not throwing money away on premium. Switch to regular and I bet you'll get better milage.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope. I ain't using that. What I'm using, which is the same type of gas that the dealer put in the car when I purchased it was the one that's below premium. I didn't want to mix it up by filling it up with regular, so I decided to just use what the dealer started me off with.

Could this be the problem? I should be using regular instead??

Well, just drove my car around the "playgrounds" today and I sustained 55 mph for at least 30 mins. for the first time ever when owning the car! Yes, I drove it in the night so there isn't no traffic and I noticed a little difference in the mileage.

Hope so this ends up being more consistent and I hope this is what my friend said to me that I have to "break" the engine in properly by doing such a thing. Oh well, it seems to be working. I hope it'll work 24/7 now so I can say my gas money for something else like some performance parts to hopefully increase fuel efficiency or whatever they call it! =P

[islipzx3]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hi-Risk:
Nope. I ain't using that. What I'm using, which is the same type of gas that the dealer put in the car when I purchased it was the one that's below premium. I didn't want to mix it up by filling it up with regular, so I decided to just use what the dealer started me off with.

Could this be the problem? I should be using regular instead??

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ok, I am only at 850 miles on my car, but I noticed a difference in mpg with the lower octane. After my first fill up from the dealer I got 28 mpg. Then I put in 92 octane which I always used on all of my cars and then got 25. The next 2 tanks were 87 octane and I am back up around 28. Coincidence? maybe. The car seemed to run better on the cheap stuff. I have zero mods on my car and my driving habits are consistant. I have a true mix of hwy/city driving. If I stay at 28 mpg I would be happy. I got the same MPG from my 96 Hyundai Accent GT. That car had a 1.5 DOHC 4cycl and the car weighed 2147lbs. The ZX3 has like 500 pounds on the Accent and I am getting the same mileage plus better performance. What more can one ask for.



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New Focus ZX3 Owner...
May 4,2001
No Mods yet...
Twilight Blue..

[Blis]

Few thingies.....

First, our cars (with stock ECU) are optimized to work with regular gasoline. If you put in higher-then-recommended octane gas, you will be throwing money away, and it might actually have effect on your engine and performance (nothing permanent). Only people with the superchip have to use premium, since the timing curves have been adjusted (and that is how the chip improves the performance on the stock engine).

About the mileage, it is usually the way you drive. Hi-Risk, you are getting better mileage than me, since I am usually around 150 at 1/4 left (don't fill up until the light comes on). You say 180 per 3/4 tank, which would be around 240 miles per tank, where I am usually between 200-220.

A question for the people that know, if you put premium gas in your tank, would it cause the ECU adjustments? If yes, would it be possible that if you put regular back in, you could have some pinging or some other problems with your car? Thanks.

[ZX3_Rochester]

Hmm.... Some of you are correct, with 87, the car runs further. When I was using 87, I got around 300 miles per tank, switched to 93 before turbo, it was 250 miles per tank, now with the turbo, I got 220-230 miles per tank, not too shabby.

Hi-Risk, you better check that problem with your dealer, even my turbo focus got better mpg than yours, something MUST be wrong with yours.

[Focal Energy]

On the other side of the tracks, I've gotten 35mpg out of my ZTS one time!! Usually though, I average about 29/33mpg depending on city/highway driving. I'm happy with my mileage. Another thing you could try is to reset the car's computer. I had to have my DPFE sensor replaced, so they had to disconnect my battery. Therefore, resetting the computer in the car. Before I'd dropped it off, I was getting on average, about 23/28mpg. When I got it back, my mileage went up. I don't know if it was the resetting of the computer or the DPFE sensor replacement, but it was a VERY welcome change.

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TEAM FocalJet: Mid-Atlantic
2001 ZTS, Twilight Blue, Pioneer DEH-P8200R, 600W JBL GT-S600 amp, 2 12" Pioneer Diamond Plate subs (soon to be replaced with Kicker Solo-baric), Zenon Blue headlamps, so far.... BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
doobydoo13@hotmail.com

[vad]

Focal, why did they have to replace your DPFE sensor?
Did you bring the car to the dealer with the CEL or just hesitation/bog so many of us are sick of?

[denny]

I have been pretty unhappy with my gas mileage up till this weekend. I've been getting about 23mpg in all city driving, not exactly what I thought I was going to get. My zx3 5 speed has 3500 miles on it. But this weekend I went to Kansas City from St. Louis and got 30 mpg at 75-80mph with ac on, Then on the way home i got 33.5mpg at 75-80mph with ac on about a 1/4 of the way home.