Gasoline octane & MPG

[SP Steve]

I did an 800 mile drive from Colorado to Arizona using 91 octane. Colorado does not have ethanol in their gas, Arizona has 10% ethanol in gas. My 2 door Heritage with 2.3L auto trans got 17.5 MPG.

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[Stever39]

I guess the only broncos with better than 18 mpg are on this forum

 

[JL8jeff]

On a side note, my speedomotor was reading a little high with the KM3 35's I had (which were taller than the stock Goodyears). I just switched to 37's and so far every speed trap I've driven past is spot on. So it makes me think Ford has them running high which also gives you a bit of false better mpg.

I also wonder how many people might be driving in AWD (sport mode defaults to AWD I think) and does that hurt mpg as well. I run in 2H 99% of the time (used AWD for some snow yesterday).

 

[GroovyGeek]

Want better mileage? Get your tires to 40psi. That is at least 1mpg difference from 35psi in my experience

 

[GroovyGeek]

I guess the only broncos with better than 18 mpg are on this forum

I get 18.9 city driving fairly routineky. But I pay attention to the turbo gauge and lay off the gas pedal whenever feasible.

 

[Quicklime]

I fill up every day. This was Jan 5. $4.13 non ethanol 91. 2.7.

 

[Jim Walter]

have a 2022 BL/SAS with 2.7 and auto xmsn. I use 87 most of the time. I average 16.5 in town, and 18 on the highway. I drive mostly in ECO mode unless towing or off road.

 

[BRBUSTER72]

My SAS-spec Broncos all have the 2.3L. I've never gotten less than 18mpg, and that's with 87.
My 2-door averages 20mpg local and 22mpg highway. My 4-door averages 19-20mpg local and 20-21mpg highway.
I started out using 87. Performance was fine, but I now use 91. I do believe 89 is adequate, reasonably better than the lower quality 87.
My MPG numbers are from the instrument cluster.

Octane has nothing to do with the quality of gasoline. You can get poor quality high octane.

 

[BRBUSTER72]

Sometimes it's the fuel.

A couple of weeks ago I filled up at Walmart because my wife noticed the cheaper price there, then drove from Idaho to Utah. I've taken that particular trip multiple times, but this time I got at least 15% lower mileage than on previous trips. This is one of the few times I couldn't get at least 300 miles out of a tank. When I filled it up in Snowville, the first town inside Utah, the mileage immediately improved.

Coming back I filled up at that same station in Snowville and did 4 mpg better than the trip going there. I think I learned that the 8% cheaper price at Walmart was not worth 15% worse mileage.

All trips through this particular section of road were with the cruise control set at 70 mph with tires inflated to around 38 psi. I drove the same way every time, it was the fuel that made the big difference.

Not driving the speed limit on the interstate (80 mph) makes a lot of difference but it is also downhill from Snowville to Meridian. If I drive that stretch with my wife's equinox diesel 80-85 I still get good mpg's but with my gas F250 I drive it at 70 because of mpg.

 

[ArchetypeSucks]

The MOST you can expect from running higher octane is 3% improved MPG—and that is only if that premium fuel is ethanol free. Premium fuel is almost always 3% more expensive than 87, so it you are looking at it from an economics standpoint it is almost always cheaper to run 87.

Any difference you've seen beyond 3% has to do with driving conditions/style.

Personally around town I get about 16.5 MPG. On the highway I can get up to 23 MPG—particularly on the flat-and-boring Ohio Turnpike. Towing I get around 14.1 MPG.

Idk - theres convexity to take into account in this type of situation. Extreme example - if you eat just enough to sustain life, that results in infinitely more m like then youd have with any amount of food below that level (dead). Then there’s diminishing returns, then negative returns/losses (obesity). That 3% could be > 3% gas mileage.

 

[JT58Bronc]

I have never used anything other than 87 octane in my 2022 Sas 2 door to get my good (22) MPG. And it runs great on 87 so why change. Even though I don't think the 22 is that good.

 

[Badrap]

Wintertime MPGs also suffer because of additional O2 added to fuel. My Braptor is averaging 14mpg highway at 85mph into a head wind and about 16.5 heading in the opposite direction. I expect a bit more after she breaks-in - only 1700 miles thus far. Not bad for my lead foot. I have to admit, I love the sound of the motor when that 10 speed kicks down after mashing the throttle.

 

[UncleBrad]

The second that traffic light ahead turns yellow, my foot is off the accelerator pedal. Brake wear is reduced significantly. Pads and rotors also last far longer due to less heat build-up.

On a side note, brake pad heat is dissipated out through the sides of the pad. So as the pads become thinner, their ability to efficiently dissipate heat decreases. Thus pads run hotter and inherently the rotors as well. But change your pads more often and they all run cooler.

Yes! Another strategy is to downshift and use some engine braking to slow the vehicle down before applying brakes. My last Wrangler JK made it to 110,000 miles on the original brakes; the pads and rotors were still good even at that point. Yet another advantage to the manual transmission...

I also wonder how AWD torque-vectoring and strategic breaking eats into the life of the brakes for vehicles like the Bronco Sport.

 

[bloominguez]

I just drove to Off Rodeo TN (500 MI RT)

75-80 mph with cruise control on the way there. 18mpg

Stop and go traffic w/snow and never topping 50 on the way home. 19.2mpg

In worse conditions, it went up considerably.

Counter intuitive for sure but
driving habits and techniques matter!

Not sure what is counterintuitive here, this is exactly what you'd expect.

 

[AZ_Craig]

Not sure what is counterintuitive here, this is exactly what you'd expect.

Probably was thinking the city versus highway loop effect would be enough for gas mileage to go down at the lower speeds. There's a significant aerodynamic penalty once you are up at 75 mph that gets significantly worse with every 5 mph higher speed though.

My bet in the "snow" situation the poster was probably largely swinging between maybe 20 and 40 mph with minimal true stops. True stop and go, especially with a lead foot could outweigh highway driving at 80 mph. But if you just try to keep yourself rolling slow and steady, it's going to beat the high speed driving in most cases from what I've seen also.

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