2018 Expedition XLT Gas Mileage Questions

[st381183]

I’ve been seeing some really good mileage reports from everyone which is great, but my 2018 Expy XLT Max only get about 17.8/gal highway doing about 82mph and 15-16 city using 87 octane. I see a bunch of you reporting 18-20 city and 20-22 highway. Are you guys running premium fuel or driving super conservatively? I’m not too much of a lead foot but I want to make sure I don’t have an issue with tuning or the adaptive transmission not running as efficiently as possible.

 

[dlcorbett]

Running that fast you wont get anywhere near the epa est. I usually run about 72 with cc, barely run mine at 75 and the drop is significant. At 72 i get 22, 75 about 19. Try running at 65, i get 25+ at that speed. Thats the only negative about the eb, if you have to wrk it, it will happily, but at a cost to your efficiency.

 

[Tampa Expedition]

I am only getting about 14.5 in the city, but mine is true city without any freeway driving. I was never impressed with the mileage in my exsploer sport either. I think if you push these engine hard it really cuts into the gas mileage more than a v8. On the highway around 20 with a luggage carrier on top at 74 and eco drive mode.

 

[aggiegrad05]

Running that fast you wont get anywhere near the epa est. I usually run about 72 with cc, barely run mine at 75 and the drop is significant. At 72 i get 22, 75 about 19. Try running at 65, i get 25+ at that speed. Thats the only negative about the eb, if you have to wrk it, it will happily, but at a cost to your efficiency.

This. On our last road trip I had the 30 minute mpg screen up to watch it. Doing 80-85 I was getting 15ish. Got behind a tractor-trailer doing 65 for a while and it jumped into the mid to high 20s. I think the 65-70 mph zone is the sweet spot. Anything above that and the EB is sucking dead dinos a lot faster.

 

[Paddler]

Air resistance is related to the square of your speed. Twice the speed means four times the wind resistance. Steady 65MPH will get you maybe 23MPG. On my first tank, combined city/highway, I'm getting about 21MPG. I've driven about 280 miles, the DTE reads about 300 miles. At 82MPH, your air resistance and probably the tire rolling resistance is 60% higher than at 65MPH.

 

[07xln]

Running 80+ your mpgs are gonna suck. Drop it to 70 and you should see a big improvement.

 

[proeasy]

Drove mine brand new home from Chicago, cruise set at 77 (waze indicated 78) for 300 mile computer indicated 20, that included a closure/detour off I94 for about 15 miles (Expy Max, with Tow) I think the 3.73 gears may actually help MPG in the city a bit, get the big rig rolling easier and into higher gears sooner but with negative impact on the highway

 

[Paddler]

Drove mine brand new home from Chicago, cruise set at 77 (waze indicated 78) for 300 mile computer indicated 20, that included a closure/detour off I94 for about 15 miles (Expy Max, with Tow) I think the 3.73 gears may actually help MPG in the city a bit, get the big rig rolling easier and into higher gears sooner but with negative impact on the highway

That doesn't make a lot of sense. First gear with the 3.31 gears is plenty low to get it rolling. I think it actually starts off in 3d gear often.

 

[proeasy]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. Fisrt gear with the 3.31 gears is plenty low to get it rolling. I think it actually starts off in 3d gear often.

I do not think they will launch in 3rd at 2.14:1. when 1st and 2nd will allow the engine to stay at optimum Speed/RPM more often. This would lug the engine too much and negates the effectivity of small gear steps in modern 8, 9 and 10 speeds

 

[Paddler]

I do not think they will launch in 3rd at 2.14:1. when 1st and 2nd will allow the engine to stay at optimum Speed/RPM more often. This would lug the engine too much and negates the effectivity of small gear steps in modern 8, 9 and 10 speeds

I'll check it when I drive home if I can remember. Overall, the 3.31 should give better mileage, o/w the 3.73 would be standard, right?

Edit: When I drove home tonight I paid particular attention to the gear selection. It drops into 1st gear when you come to a full stop. When you accelerate, the trans shifts to 3d very quickly, as in 1/2 way through the intersection or less. It skips 2nd entirely, so it essentially starts off in 3d. Maybe it's because I've been driving with a feather foot, but that's what I'm seeing. By the time I'm at 35MPH it's in 7th gear. Bottom line, I don't believe that 3.73 gears improve city MPG.

 

[Googley74]

We did our first road trip in our 2018 Expedition this past weekend. We drove from Fort Worth to Austin and I reset the trip miles on the way back and we got 23.7 miles per gallon. My speed was between 72-80 mph. By the way, I love the adaptive cruise control feature as well. Slowed me right down when someone would jump in front of me. It was awesome!

 

[Paddler]

We did our first road trip in our 2018 Expedition this past weekend. We drove from Fort Worth to Austin and I reset the trip miles on the way back and we got 23.7 miles per gallon. My speed was between 72-80 mph. By the way, I love the adaptive cruise control feature as well. Slowed me right down when someone would jump in front of me. It was awesome!

Which model? Standard or Max? 4WD or 2WD?

 

[Meeker]

Another data point: drove from Calgary AB to Emerald Lake near Field BC. Total distance about 450km. Got 9.2 L/100km which is 25.5 mpg US!

And yes, this could be considered slightly "hyper-miling". Most of the trip (~75%) was in a 90km/h zone and I drove 60 mph (95 km/h) most of the time. Up to 68 mph for the rest. It was a round trip so wind and hills should have cancelled out.

2018 Expy XLT standard length, HD Tow

 

[shane_th_ee]

FWIW, the owners manual does say that you should pretty much ignore the fuel economy numbers until you've got 2000 miles on it...

 

[Paddler]

Another data point: drove from Calgary AB to Emerald Lake near Field BC. Total distance about 450km. Got 9.2 L/100km which is 25.5 mpg US!

And yes, this could be considered slightly "hyper-miling". Most of the trip (~75%) was in a 90km/h zone and I drove 60 mph (95 km/h) most of the time. Up to 68 mph for the rest. It was a round trip so wind and hills should have cancelled out.

2018 Expy XLT standard length, HD Tow

4WD or 2WD?

FWIW, the owners manual does say that you should pretty much ignore the fuel economy numbers until you've got 2000 miles on it...

Yes, but that's probably because it improves after 2000 miles, which is a good thing.

 

[Meeker]

It's a 4WD (all HD Tow are 4WD aren't they?).

Next weekend we're doing a similar trip to Radium BC - but towing a travel trailer. Looking forward to seeing how it tows now that we've gone past the 1600 km break-in period. Not looking forward to the gas bill but hey that's the price for towing a house behind you...

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[Paddler]

It's a 4WD (all HD Tow are 4WD aren't they?).

Next weekend we're doing a similar trip to Radium BC - but towing a travel trailer. Looking forward to seeing how it tows now that we've gone past the 1600 km break-in period. Not looking forward to the gas bill but hey that's the price for towing a house behind you...

View media item 6579

No, the HD Tow Package and 4WD are different options.

 

[Meeker]

I went to the ford.ca website and tried a build. There isn't even an option there to delete 4x4. I guess only a dealer can do it when sending in the order. It's too bad the online stuff doesn't match what is actually possible.

 

[Paddler]

Probably because you're in Canada where I expect most people would want 4WD. Not necessary in many parts of the US. Not sure what the ratio is between 2WD and 4WD here, but many in the southern US don't really need it.

 

[cmiles97]

Probably because you're in Canada where I expect most people would want 4WD. Not necessary in many parts of the US. Not sure what the ratio is between 2WD and 4WD here, but many in the southern US don't really need it.

Have you ever been stuck in wet clay or sand? Still a need for them here especially if you have a fishing boat.

Personally I will never purchase a truck or suv without AWD or 4x4 even if I don't need it often, there will be that 1 time you wish you had it plus resale is so much easier than 2wd trucks/SUVs.