Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Eastern Canada Tried something new.

I did the drive from home to my other home last night. London to Port Perry. I drove my Z-tec MTX. I filled up on the 401 just outside of London. Since there was very little in the way of traffic I decided to go the posted speed limit. After 250km's on the tank I have only used 1/8th of its fuel. Who knew? Not only does speeding cost you in tickets if you get caught but also in the price of fuel. Now it felt like it took forever to get home compared to usual but with the improvement in milage...... I'm gonna try to run this tank for a personal winter best record. Usually I get just over 600km's per tank in the winter doing highway driving @ 130 or so. In the summer i'm more likely to get 700 or so doing the same speeds. Anyway I thought I'd give it a go to see what kind of mileage the car really can do. I'm thinking I could probably get the 700km's on the tank like I do in the summer. Any guesses? Well know that I just wasted some band width imust get ready for work. TTFN.

Yeah. Somehow, the Zetec seems to act like the Duratec, from what you folks tell me.

If I cruise under 120 km/h or at a VERY steady 130, I can get great mileage. Any variations or above 120 trips sees the gas needle go down. I got the automatic too, and that makes it worse

A small 4 cylinder pulling a large car will have pretty bad mileage if you push it hard. The lower you keep your revs and the less your injectors are open, the better the mileage you'll get.

Some other stuff to make your best better:

Check all tyre pressures - too high or too low can make your them wear out too fast, or make your mileage worse.

Don't use your heater on defrost or floor. That will run the compressor (for whatever reason) and will eat up your mileage. Just use the panel setting to keep warm, and defrost only to clear the windows.

Get rid of all excess weight. ie - extra speakers, junk, etc.

Clean all the snow off the car.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Best of luck. I once got 807Km in my 5.0L on 85L of regular. Contour's personal best is 500+ on 50L of premium.

Since we are on the subject, I think the best I have gotten on my SVT has been about 545km on about 50L on mainly highway driving between 118km/h and 130km/h

The best I have gotten in the winter is maybe 500 and in the summer say 520ish or so.

Yea, my Zetec is the same...One day it will go 370kms on a full tank and others it will go just over 300kms a tank.

I've already been doing most of what Dana said. Not using the defrost and what not. As of tonight I'm at 3/4 still in the tank and 358km's on that top 1/4. Now I've been [censored] footing it around mind you. Plus the top of the tank always last longer than the bottom end but still none the less I've never gotten that kind of mileage on the first quarter. I still think I'll get 700ks on the tank. On the v6 the best I've gotten in the summer was around 550k to the tank. That was with some spirited driving as well. I wonder how it would do at a dismal 100kmh. Anyway nuff said.

Dam all of you get good gas consumption. My car is anywhere between 300 and 400 nomatter what

I was following my GF in her POS car once, on a LONG road trip. She afraid of breaking down. Her car would shake itself apart at about 85kph.

That trip was the best mileage I've gotten on a tank, about 570km with my V6 Mystique. I set the cruise control around 80kph and held it there for the trip. It was aweful driving like that, but good gas mileage. I was on fumes when I pulled into the gas station. I think I put like 53L in the tank? Long time ago, don't recall exactly.

On a related subject I drove a Focus wagon last week. I got about 450km on a tank. It pissed me off to have to fill up more often. Grrrr. Must be the small tank, 40L?

Lardy.