I live in Crozet, Virginia and just got back from a trip to Emerald Isle, NC. I got 31 MPG on the way down but haven't filled up yet from getting back. I get that kind of economy by cruising 55-60 miles per hour. I also take non interstate routes where the speed limit is usually 55-60. Nicer drive than interstates. Yes, it takes longer usually but, remember...seat time in the Mustang is a good thing.

One more note on my drive down...I was getting low on gas near Havelock, NC. Lots of gas stations out of business and I thought I was going to run out of gas. The car computer read 1 mile to empty. When I filled up I had gone 455 miles on 14.6 gallons of gas. At 1 mile to empty it looks like I actually had 1.4 gallons in reserve.

 

I have the 3.31 gears. Best so far: 29 MPG. Average over 3000 miles: 24.26. I record every fill up.


I had an '06 Focus ST. Best MPG I got was 31. This (Mustang V6) is definitely the better way to go.

 

Last week I used a 2011 MCA package V6 (Auto/2.73) to travel from MI to CT and back. On the way out east I was able to manage an average of 30.44 MPG with the A/C on and cruise set to 72ish. On the way back home I was able to get 31.2 MPG. The car had 2000 miles when I left and ~3500 miles when I got back. There is probably some more improvement to be seen from "break-in" but overall I was very happy with my mileage. I did notice in all instances that the readout in the dash showed consistantly 1.8-2.0 MPG LOWER than what I actually got using hand calculations.

 

Almost 31 MPG riding 70+ mph is very good. That's great.

 

Your car, or more correctly the motor, is already broken in with the miles stated.

I would bet that if you had backed the cruise down to 65 you would have topped 32 mpg.

 

Actually with most cars I've owned, I have noticed a gradual increase in MPG's from 0-10,000 miles. I am very dilligent about changing the oil in that first 10k to make sure all casting flash and machining chips are out of the system. I do my first change at 1k, then 5k, then every 5k thereafter. My mileage numbers level off from that point onto about 80-100k, where I see another increase in MPG's. I attribute that to the engine being worn in continually over it's life. As long as the fluids are changed regularly and mythodically, I've been able to get 250-300k out of a few cars. And when I sold them, the engines still ran strong and got great mileage.

On your second point, yes, I agree if I were to run at 62 instead of 72 I would have seen an increase in MPG's but lets do some quick calculations...
My typical trip from MI to CT is 670 miles. Assuming no stops, at 72 takes 9.3 hours and at 62 takes 10.8 hours. Lets use my number of 31 MPG at 72 mph... that means that over 670 miles, I burned 21.6 gallons... and lets figure maybe 33 MPG at 62 mph, that is 20.3 gallons. So for what would have taken an extra 1.5 hours in my trip, I would have saved 1.3 gallons of burnt fuel. At $2.80/gallon, that is a savings of $3.64. Not worth it to just see the better MPG number.

Now where this makes the biggest difference is when we take my wife's SUV. She likes to "just get there" and does not care about mileage. She likes to cruise at 80 where I will set the cruise once again at 72. At 72 her truck gets 21 MPG, and at 80 it gets 16 MPG. HUGE difference because of the air resistance against a big SUV. Over that same trip, my way takes an extra hour, but saves $28 in fuel.

 

If you can get 30 mpg instead of 27, it's a small savings in one trip but, added up over long periods it is a pretty good savings. Over a 200,000 mile lifetime of having my car and with gas costing 1.80 a gallon I will save a little over $1000 every 100,000 miles. So, if I only drive the car for 100,000 miles, I only save $1000. 200,000 miles I'll save $2000 and so on. If you can get 30 instead of 25 mpg the savings are even better per 100,000 miles. $1867 per 100,000 miles. If I got 5 mpg better driving slow and kept my car for 300,000 miles, that's $5600. Enough to pay for all of my extra mods!


I like driving slower mainly because the ride is more tranquil, I can react to possible accidents better and I feel like I am taking better care of my car driving it slower. Another big plus is in the summer, lots less bugs on my windshield and front bumper too. Yes, I slam it coming off of ramps sometimes just to hear and feel the power of the car. Gotta have some fun with it.

 

Where are you getting gas for $1.80 a gallon???

 

Geeze, I'm paying almost 3$ a gallon for 93 octane over here.

 

$1,000 over 100,000 miles is nothing. Not even worth it. Unless you factor in the possibility of speeding tickets.

 

Sorry, typo, I meant to type 2.80.

 

Glad you clarified that, I was going to round up a tanker truck and go get me a couple thousand gallons...

 

As a point of comparison, on a recent long trip of mine, I averaged right at 26 MPG going 70 MPH in my manual 11 GT on flat highways.

 

^Skotty thats interesting so your getting right at the ford factory claimed numbers much like the rest of us v6ers how many miles we're on your car at the time of the trip? I bet on a flat surface at 70 on cruise mine would get 30-33 mpg as I got 29.5 on a tank not all highway and going 75-80 A/C on 2 people in the car mostly uphill and passing a lot of slower traffic. Regardless though it just proves the point the vettes have been making for years that an aerodynamic car with a powerfull engine will get good mileage at sustained velocities

 

My '82 'vette could pull 27 MPG on the highway! Of course it gets about 12 around town. . .

 

So with the correct driving it looks like the 5.0 can actually get what the EPA says it can? Wow, ive always found the EPA to give unacheivable estimates lol (yes im aware they give a "range")

And clearly the 3.7 can get over what they say if its driven the right way.

If everyone seems to be getting great mileage at around 70mph think what we could all get going down back roads at about 45 - 55mph

 

Or, say, around a track a bunch of times at 48 MPH....

 

I have noticed that with my V6 vert manual that it too will get its best MPG between 45 and 50. Somehow the Ford tester knew that!!

 

^jeffski are you in 6'th when cruising that speed?

 

IIRC, my car had about 250 miles at the start of the trip, and about 1800 miles at the end of the trip (long trip). Most of those miles going across annoying states that set their interstate speed limits at only 65 MPH, which is why I was only going 70 most of the time. I don't have stats from the entire ~1600 miles. I only carefully tracked mileage over maybe a quarter of that distance.