Fuel consumption + Radio

iMacMart · 21 Jan 2014 at 08:03

Hi Guys

I don't post in here much, mainly as I know little about cars, I have a couple of questions I'm hoping you can help me with though.

I have a Ford Focus 02 1.6 auto with 33k on the clock, it's been well looked after and drives lovely (as cars go) but the fuel consumption seems to be high, it takes 50L to fill up and I'm getting 320 miles from a tank, I'm by no means a fast driver as I have the kids in the car and I'm never in a rush so don't boot it, I get the feeling that this isn't right although some people I know say autos are thirsty? Is there anything I can do to investigate this and maybe get more mpg

Also the radio signal is not great and I'm looking to either get a better unit or somehow adapt so I can connect my iPhone library and play my own music..

Many thanks

Mart

Minstadave · 21 Jan 2014 at 08:09

What kind of driving do you do? All city? Stop start in traffic?

mjt · 21 Jan 2014 at 08:10

Fuel consumption does seem rather high but if it's mainly town driving then it could've possible, given that it's an automatic.

iMacMart · 21 Jan 2014 at 08:16

Hi gents

I live 10 mins up the A1M from work and some town driving so yes bit of stop start in there too

andicole0 · 21 Jan 2014 at 08:18

Various real mpg sites show the 1.6 can be as low as 31mpg which is nearly what you are achieving. It maybe the type of journey you make that is affecting that as previously stated. Have you had the car properly serviced recently?

Andi.

iMacMart · 21 Jan 2014 at 08:32

andicole0 said:
Various real mpg sites show the 1.6 can be as low as 31mpg which is nearly what you are achieving. It maybe the type of journey you make that is affecting that as previously stated. Have you had the car properly serviced recently?

Andi.

I'll be honest and say no, will get it in for a service now though and see if that helps me in the right direction, I did try to find sites with that info but failed miserably

Thanks for this input gents!

Any opinions on the radio question?

Thanks

mjt · 21 Jan 2014 at 09:42

Re: Radio, buy a new one.

Miguél · 21 Jan 2014 at 10:03

Obviously depends on your driving but for comparison I get 320-350 in my 2.0 litre 02 Ford Focus (manual). That's a mix of town and motorway driving.

Dogbreath · 21 Jan 2014 at 10:10

Poor reception is often down to antenna problems rather than the head unit. Water ingress causing corrosion in the antenna base is quite common.

Mileage seems about right for very short trips in an automatic. A 10 minutes journey means the the engine will never properly warm up, especially in cold weather which isn't good for the engine or for the fuel economy.

wonder_lander · 21 Jan 2014 at 11:27

iMacMart said:
I'll be honest and say no, will get it in for a service now though and see if that helps me in the right direction, I did try to find sites with that info but failed miserably

Try this one - https://www.fuelly.com/

GravyMonster · 21 Jan 2014 at 13:22

it takes 50L to fill up and I'm getting 320 miles from a tank

That sounds about right, especially considering it's an auto.

mccarf · 21 Jan 2014 at 14:22

I got similar economy in my old 1.6 focus and that was a manual so it sounds ok to me

PMKeates · 21 Jan 2014 at 20:19

The Focus 1.6 isn't particularly economical to start with, and the automatic is not good at all. Nothing appears to be wrong!

Greenja · 21 Jan 2014 at 20:33

Yeah it's 29 MPG your getting, seems pretty spot on what you'd expect from that car tbh.

bitslice · 22 Jan 2014 at 10:00

1.6 auto focus estate, all motorway.
I get about the same

MooMoo444 · 22 Jan 2014 at 10:44

Was expecting some crazy topic along the lines of 'Having my radio on halves my MPG' lol

Bug One · 22 Jan 2014 at 18:55

MooMoo444 said:
Was expecting some crazy topic along the lines of 'Having my radio on halves my MPG' lol

Ha ha - me too.

airwave99 · 22 Jan 2014 at 21:11

iMacMart said:
Also the radio signal is not great and I'm looking to either get a better unit or somehow adapt so I can connect my iPhone library and play my own music..

There are quite a few cases of the FM tuner failing to get good reception on the standard-fit stereo in the Focus mk1. £80 would buy a new head unit which doesn't have these issues and has iphone connectivity.

andy_mk3 · 22 Jan 2014 at 22:57

The 1.6 in the Focus seems to be very heavy on fuel, I've not seen any better than 35MPG, they're fairly bad really.

matt_fsr · 23 Jan 2014 at 15:06

It's an 02 plate, so just slightly before the days when the:

"OMG TEH MPGZZZZZZ!"

marketing brigade really started to get into the swing of things.

I'm fairly certain that 1.6 engine is the one Ford had been using for the last 20 years or so, with absolutely none of the modern enhancements or fuel efficiency technologies that have become more commonplace of late.

Why did they use it? Simple, it was cheap to make and stick in the car, thus making the Focus a fairly cheap car, and maximising profit.

A quick dig around shows that 1.6 engine to be rated at 98BHP, with an "official" MPG figure of 40MPG. 12 years of use, along with less than ideal conditions, plus cold weather will easily make that ~30MPG.