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Hi, this is my first post since registering a few days ago, when I said I’d post my fuel efficiency stats in the Diesel forum to share with other drivers of the Ford Mondeo diesel sold in the UK.
My car is a 2009 Ford Mondeo 1.8L TDCi 5Dr (6 speed). Ford’s Official UK fuel consumption figures are shown below:

Urban MPG UK: 37.7
Combined MPG UK: 48.7
Extra Urban MPG UK: 58.9
CO2: 154g/km

When I bought the car back in October, I started keeping records of fuel consumed and amount of miles travelled on each fill up. So far I’ve filled up not always when the tank was empty, either because I wanted to know the real consumption figures, I knew I’d need more fuel to complete my next journey or more likely that fuel prices were about to increase yet again.

My fuel consumption figures per tank which I record on an iPhone App are now in my mileage logs and shown in my signature.

I used Fords official UK figures above converted to MPG US and entered them in mileage logs in order to do the calculations – presumably this is the correct way to enter them.

Because the UK figures are renown for being inaccurate, has anyone any idea where I can find the EPA figures (if they exist) for a 2009 Ford Mondeo 1.8 TDCI (6 speed)??

Anyway, not being content with my first few FE figures, I made a new year’s resolution that in 2011 I would record the average mpg from the cars trip meter for every trip I make, zeroing it when I get back in the car to start the next journey, so I can hopefully improve on them on the next journey. So far I’ve recorded pretty much every trip since 11th January. If anyone’s interested I’ll be happy to post them up.

I’ve read up on most of the hypermiling techniques both here and on other sites and apply most of them, except for pulse and glide which doesn’t seem to improve my FE in the Mondeo, but did in my old Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI. If anyone has any tips I could apply to a Mondeo TDCI I’m all ears.

Welcome, and unfortunately the car isn't available to us Yanks so our EPA doesn't test or rate the Mondeo. Did you try German, Italian or French sites that may have their Governments official fuel stats on this car?

Al

Thanks I tried the German site ADAC, but the figures are the same as Ford's official figures. Every site I find just seems to reiterate the same figures. Guess I'll have to use these figures for now.

Thanks I tried the German site ADAC, but the figures are the same as Ford's official figures. Every site I find just seems to reiterate the same figures. Guess I'll have to use these figures for now.

Yes, they'll all be using the NEDC.

You'd need to look at non-EU countries with the same car to get different numbers.

Thanks,

Colin Wright

Ok, about time I provided an update, so here goes. Here is a link to an excel spreasheet that shows all my FCD figures (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11734633/MPG_Calculations.xlsx) from 11th Jan 2011 to 2nd Feb 2011. Since this is a link to a working document, if I continue to update this on a daily basis as I have been, I shouldn't have to post this update again.

I'll look at putting a link to this in my signature.

Ok, about time I provided an update, so here goes. Here is a link to an excel spreasheet that shows all my FCD figures (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11734633/MPG_Calculations.xlsx) from 11th Jan 2011 to 2nd Feb 2011. Since this is a link to a working document, if I continue to update this on a daily basis as I have been, I shouldn't have to post this update again.

I'll look at putting a link to this in my signature.

Note to non-Office possessors: Libre/OpenOffice opens it fine.

I am today very excited, as not only have I broken the 60 mpg barrier (FCD figure) on my way to work over a distance of 16.1 miles, I actually acheived 61.2 mpg :) despite a heavy headwind. Of course the rising temperature (now 11.5 Deg C) helped as I'm sure did turning off the heater. :bananajump:

I've now also put my daily updated FCD figures in my signature for all to see.

maxalan, which techniques are you using ?

Shifting up as soon as possible and limiting its max speed are the 2 first things to do.
After that, change your oil for a thinner one and pump up your tires gradually (I went from 2.4bar to 3.5 gradually, 0.2 bar per month).
With pumped up tires the glides will last forever...

Driving without brakes permits to improve the anticipation. Better use neutral before engine break, before brakes.

If you are driving the same daily commute everyday, then learn all the transitions, try to lower the max speeds and increase the length of glides.

Having a real time fuel consumption and the daily one will help you to understand the consequences of your driving on the fuel consumption, so continue to write down all your daily results with the different conditions.
Also note the average speed and the time spent, so you can see how much time you are loosing by lowering your speed. Currently I'm spending 8 additional minutes on the road everyday and so I save >20€/additional hour (mooore than my salary).

Last, but not least : have fun,

Denis.

Hi,

The techniques I'm using are all the usual suspects.
Tyres pumped up to 40 PSi
DWL,
Lots of coasting in neutral once the car has warmed up. I find coasting before the car has warmed up is best done in the highest gear appropriate for the speed.
Accelerating and changing up quickly, but keeping the revs between 1800 and 2000 rpm between gear changing.
Lots of anticipation.
Keeping to the racing line (much to the annoyance of my passengers)
I mostly keep to 5 mph below the speed limit
Engine off at traffic lights

Things I don't do are:
FAS (not really possible for safety reasons in a Mondeo)
Drafting, but maybe on occasion if you consider that using the 3 second rule counts.

I've found pulse and glide don't work very well, but I'll give it another go once the weather has warmed up again.

I've only had the car 3 months, at its next service I 'll be asking for thinner oil, if I keep the car that long...might swap it for a Gen 3 Prius ;)

MPG not so good on the way home tonight as this morning, but still managed 60.3 :Banane44:

What a difference the temperature makes.

I knew it was cold this morning when I looked out of the window and saw my car all frosted up. The temperature ranged from 0 to -0.5 Deg C on the way to work. Knowing it was cold I tried my hardest and managed without hinderence to hypermile all the way. Even so, I only managed 55.6 mpg, yet the day before I did 63 mpg my best ever when the temperature was 10 Deg C. Now, I'm just waiting for summer to see what I can achieve when the weather really warms up.

Not so cold today, back at 9 Deg C, but the wind and rain hampered FE and only managed 55.6 mpg on the way to work. However, it was up at 58.4 mpg tonight now the wind had died down and rain had stopped.

Off to Dorset for a weekend in the caravan on Friday. Lets hope I can break the 64 mpg barrier on the way down ;)

We are following your posts. Keep up the good work. :)

Hope you make it.

Thanks,
Been off sick and working from home the last 3 days, hence why I've not updated my fuel consumption figures for Monday to Wednesday.

I'll keep posting until I buy a Prius then I'll start posting in the Hybrid section ;)

I'll keep posting until I buy a Prius then I'll start posting in the Hybrid section ;)

/me jealous...

A brand new one or a second hand one ?

Denis.

It'll have to be a second hand one/nearly new because of the cost. Been looking at a few Gen III models for around £17,000 or thereabouts with about 7000 or 8000 miles on the clock. Trouble is I need to find another £6000 from somewhere, so could take me some months before I'm ready to buy one.

Funny, I'm looking at second hand PriusII since last summer.

I know that it will cost me more by km, gas being 13% more expensive than diesel in France and I would need 70mpgUS in the Prius to compensate my 62mpgUS in my diesel, but I know I will pollute much less :)

Main problem, current lack of cash... hope it will be ok this summer :cool:

Denis.

We have the opposite problem in the UK. Diesel used to be cheaper than Petrol/Gas, but is now on average £0.05p per litre more expensive than Gas.

So for me, going for a 74 mpg Prius (if that is actually real mpg), is much better than a 60 ish mpg diesel (51mpg in reality). So I win both times...better mpg and cheaper fuel.

I had thought of getting a cheaper PriusII in the meantime, but the cost of swapping cars twice is going to cost too much.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I'd be drastically reducing my C02 emissions from 154g/km to 92g/km

Ok, just setup wifi at the caravan so I can post my results of the drive down. I briefly saw 65.6 mpg on the way down, but the overall mpg came to 64.6 over 210.1 miles. Not as good as I've had liked, but I still beat my target, so I'm still pleased.

Just got back from the caravan after a very relaxing weekend. So here are the results of the 207.7 mile return journey. Managed to see 66.8 mpg on the FCD, but ended up with 66.6 for the return leg, which is much better than the 62.2 I achieved last time.

So 210.1 miles from Stafford down to Wareham and achieved 64.6 mpg.
207.7 miles from Wareham back to Stafford and achieved 66.6 mpg.
Averaging around 65 mpg for the whole journey. Considering I've worked out that the FCD shows some 7 mpg more than the actual figure I get when I fill the tank, this journey averaged about 58 mpg in reality, which is pretty much Ford's official figures show for an Extra Urban run (highway driving).

Am I pleased.....you betcha :) :Banane57:

Nice work! Beating the NEDC is a serious challenge.

Filled up today after the weekend jaunt as the display said I only had 40 miles worth of diesel left in the tank. Since the last fill up I've done 852 miles and refilled with 64.82 litres...making that 59.75 mpgUK, beating Ford's official figures. Now I am pleased, but just hope I can keep it up.

Another trip to Weston-super-Mare from Stafford and back again yesterday. With a bit of luck this will be the last such trip I'll have to do to that part of the country for a good while.

Stafford to Weston: 128 miles at 64.2 mpg
Weston to Stafford: 128.1 miles at 66 mpg

55 MPGus = 4.3L/100 is great for such a cold weather.

What is the average speed of your trip ?

In my wife's scenic (1.9 DCI = diesel common rail) we can reach such a result only during summer and by limiting the speed at 110km/h = 68mph

Denis.

Well, as I've mentioned in a previous post, my FCD is about 7 (ish) mpg out. So the 66 mpg I see is in reality about 59mpgUK or 49 mpgUS. Still not bad and I'm quite pleased. The average temperature for the trip was around 10 Deg C.

Now for the average mph. I've adopted the 10 mph under the speed limit rule, so on motorways I limit my top speed to 60 mph, except for going downhill when gravity has an effect. I've just been outside to check the average mph on the FCD.

Bearing in mind that of the 128 miles travelled, around 9 miles would have been done around town, I'm sure the display showed either 52 or 54 mph. I've been into town today and done about 6 miles, the display now shows an average of 48 mph with 134.2 miles travelled.

Alan

Filled up the tank on Tuesday as I only had 375 miles left in the tank, had an idea diesel prices might go up again and have got another 400 mile trip down to Wareham coming up this weekend. On calculating my FE for the fill up I did 488 miles and averaged 55.28 mpg.

So, down to Wareham this weekend. Wonder if I can beat the FCD figure of 66 mpg - or have I reached my limit?

You've never reached your limit when it comes to hypermiling. ;)

I didn't do that well this time round on the trip to Wareham and back. Considering the temperature difference from last time 7 to 8 Deg C down to between -0.5 to 2 Deg C this time and the fact that I was travelling at 70 instead of 60 mph for at least half the journey, I didn't do all that bad. 62.4 mpg on the way down and 62 mpg on the way back.

Filled up the tank yesterday. Slightly better mpg than the last tank. Managed to get 55.66 mpgUK for 694 miles travelled.

Just goes to show Hypermiling does work....

I've only every hypermiled my Mondeo and never really driven it normally. Yesterday, however, started work at 8, had a very hard day at work, only decaf tea to drink and working through lunch with nothing to eat, when 5:30 came I wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

I stuck to the speed limits (mostly 50 & 60 mph) and drove the car how I would have done normally (about 4 months ago). My mileage of late has been in the high 50s and low 60s. Tonight however I only managed 53.2 mpg...and to be honest some of that was coasting at the speed limit.

...and the moral of this story is...Keep Hypermiling :)

Now the temperature seems to have settled down of late (not so many freezing temperatures), I thought I'd give a go at travelling the shorter route to work again, albeit with lots of stops/starts. This equates to a 9.7 mile trip instead of 16.1 miles.

At very low temperatures I calculated that the amount of fuel used over the long distance was pretty close to that used over the shorter distance (which is why I've been travelling the long but scenic route to work). What I've discovered over the last 2 days, is that now the temperature at night hasn't been below 6 Deg C, I'm getting better mpg on the short trip.
I know 2 days isn't much to go on, so I'll keep it up for another week and report back with any findings.

Just got back from a trip to Wareham to clean the caravan. I took the wife's Ford Galaxy (7 seater) MPV as there's enough room in there to put the step ladders and awning.

Now the Galaxy's a 2.0 Litre TDCi and as such only capable of 47 mpgUK on a combined cycle. As a hypermiler the challenge was on to see what it was really capable of. I got a very reasonable 55 mpg on the way down...at least I thought it was reasonable until I got 63.2 mpg on the way back.

...can't wait to sell the Mondeo now and get a 2010 Prius...only a few weeks now left to wait.

Congrats with the MPV. My wife's Renault Scenic can have great results at low speed and hot enough temperature.

...can't wait to sell the Mondeo now and get a 2010 Prius...only a few weeks now left to wait.

I can't wait to be able to say to myself "...can't wait to sell the XXX now and get a second hand Prius...only a few weeks now left to wait."

Denis.

Thanks Denis,

So what kind of mpg do you get out of the Scenic? And is it the 1.5 or the 1.9dCi
I'm just waiting for some monies to come through now and I'll be out hunting for a Prius. Maybe I should go and test drive one...who knows I might not even like it.

Off to Wareham in the Galaxy again this weekend. This time fully laden with the Wife, 3 kids, two dogs and a boot full of stuff to set up the caravan awning. Don't suppose I'll be able to achieve the same kind of mpg this time.

My wife's scenic is the old 2001 1.9 dci rated @ 4.9L/100 = 48mpgUS on the highway.

In winter with great weather we can have only highway rating if we drive it cool (110km/h = 68mph). With frozen temps, winds, mountains and PSL (130km/h = 81mph) this is 7.5L/100 = 31mpgUS.

In summer we can get 4.0L/100 = 58.8mpgUS.

She gets 5.0-5.5L/100 = 42.8-47.0mpgUS in daily commutes.

Hope you'll like your try of a flying carpet (Prius).

Have fun,

Denis.

That's pretty good going Denis. You should be pleased with that kind of mileage.

...Well I've gone and done it...bought a Prius. Will be picking it up on Wednesday and I feel like a kid with a new toy and I've not even got it yet :)

Did you buy a new one or a used Prius?

You just caught me before we go to the caravan....Used, but only 1560 miles on the clock... at T spirit in Pearlescent white with leather seats :D

Wow -- sounds nice! I guess that means it is one of the newest generation of Prius?

With a solar panel on the roof ? :cool:

Denis.

No unfortunately not, but it never gets that hot enough here regularly to warrant a solar roof to be honest. It's a 2011 model. Not sure if Toyota changed it, but on test drive it went up to 35 mph before the petrol engine kicked in. Sure I read somewhere it was 30 mph fir the 2010 model.

Well, this will be one of my last posts in the Diesel powered automobiles forum. Tomorrow evening I pick up my new Toyota Prius :D

If anyone has been following my posts and my twice daily FCD updates, I'll be continuing these for the Prius in the 2010 - 2011 Toyota Prius III (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=110) forum.

Anticipated savings by swapping cars include:
No Road Tax (saving £155 per year)
8 to 10 pence per litre saving over Diesel prices (saving £165 per year based on anticipated 20,000 miles), just by switching to Petrol/Gas
Hopefully at least 20 mpg better mileage over the Ford Mondeo (saving approx £573 per year)
This makes a grand total saving of £893 per year.

I also get much nicer car to drive - never really liked the Mondeo to be honest.

Hopefully see you in the Prius forum ;)

Keep us updated! I think you are going to really enjoy the capabilities of your new vehicle. :)

Ok, this will be my last post here. I drove the Mondeo to the Toyota dealer and left it with 61.3 mpg over the final 51.7 miles on the trip meter. Just hope whoever buys it sees what the car is capable of. See you in the Hybrid forum :)

Does anyone know what it would cost to have my Ford Mondeo 1.8 TDCi converted so it will run on bio diesel?

Looks like it's either too expensive or not possible.

http://www.carkb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/uk-car-maintenance/13077/Mondeo-TDCi-130-and-Biodiesel