GT Highway Gas Mileage in Cold Weather

[greerl]

I changed the EV Mode when I was seeing poor mpg, but I could not see any difference.

When on the highway, there really is no breaking so there is no regenerative breaking. I don't know that it can be turned on or off anyway?

Since you asked, I just used my credit card history to pinpoint my location for each fillup and then I used weatherunderground to look up the average temperature for that location for that date. I updated this info in the table below.

Thank you for the discussion. Although the Corsair GT is a very comfortable way to travel, it is clear to me that it is not well suited for long range travel in the cold weather. It has limited range (200miles) and the mpg are pretty poor, IMHO.

View attachment 19924

You have an 11+ gallon tank so even your worst shown mpg gives you a 220+ mile range; best shows about 350. Plus maybe another 15-20 miles EV if you start fully charged.

It's certainly true that the Corsair is not a high mileage vehicle if pure highway driving but:
You drive way too fast;
Most are not pure highway drivers.

My current overall average at 4100 miles is 70.4mpg.

No boxy SUV will get good mpg at your speeds. What you report is similar to my 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

EPA said to expect 33 but that it's not at sustained high speed.

 

[kingdre]

Fred, I was literally going to post the exact same thing this morning! I just got back yesterday from a 160 mile trip of all highway driving, with the cruise control set at 78-80 mph, and the temp ranged between 0 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit. I averaged between 22 and 23 mpg for the trip. I initially had the car in Normal mode, and then moved it to Conserve to see if that helped (which it did not). My 23 GT only has 2,100 miles on it. I know that in general cars don't get their optimum gas mileage until they are well broken in and have between 5K and 10K miles (in my experience), but this is usually only a very small percentage difference. But I was shocked at the fact that I averaged 10 mpg less than what it's rated for. I considered taking it to the dealer so see if something was wrong. I won't need to do that now, since other GT owners are experiencing the same thing. I've only had the car since December 21st (less than a month), so I'll have to see if this improves in the warmer temperatures. All I can say is that I'm extremely disappointed with the gas mileage I'm getting, and with the tiny gas tank it's the opposite of what I wanted (longer between fill ups). I fully understand the smaller range in Pure EV mode, since it's well documented that cold weather significantly impacts EV batteries, and that does not bother me at all. I specifically chose this vehicle and model (GT) for the gas mileage, and avoided other non-hybrid vehicles because I wanted something with higher highway MPG than upper 20's. I have a Corvette that I drive in the summer, so this is my Michigan winter vehicle, so better mpg in the summer isn't going to help my situation. I may contact Lincoln and see if there's anything that they will do. Depending upon Lincoln's response, I may contact the EPA/DOT to report this situation.

All cars have a break-in period. Your mileage naturally improves after the engine is broke-in.

 

[kingdre]

You have an 11+ gallon tank so even your worst shown mpg gives you a 220+ mile range; best shows about 350. Plus maybe another 15-20 miles EV if you start fully charged.

It's certainly true that the Corsair is not a high mileage vehicle if pure highway driving but:
You drive way too fast;
Most are not pure highway drivers.

My current overall average at 4100 miles is 70.4mpg.

No boxy SUV will get good mpg at your speeds. What you report is similar to my 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

EPA said to expect 33 but that it's not at sustained high speed.

YESSIR. I love your quick assessment. I noticed driving at 60-65 around town, in excite mode, I still get 38-44.

 

[kingdre]

I changed the EV Mode when I was seeing poor mpg, but I could not see any difference.

When on the highway, there really is no breaking so there is no regenerative breaking. I don't know that it can be turned on or off anyway?

Since you asked, I just used my credit card history to pinpoint my location for each fillup and then I used weatherunderground to look up the average temperature for that location for that date. I updated this info in the table below.

Thank you for the discussion. Although the Corsair GT is a very comfortable way to travel, it is clear to me that it is not well suited for long range travel in the cold weather. It has limited range (200miles) and the mpg are pretty poor, IMHO.

View attachment 19924

Thanks for sharing the details. Its always good to see things. I know elevation changes arent good, cold weather arent good, running heat and all features with extra weight, and high speed arent good for gas mileage. Keep us updated. I think my first 10k miles were 40% lower than the second 10-20k miles. I had to learn how to work the EV system.

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[FL_Bill]

Just got back from a trip from Tampa, FL area to Arlington, TX and back in our 2022 Corsair GT. Started with a full tank of gas and fully charged at 28 miles for electric. Temperatures were mild (60's) when we left, but turned cold (for us in Florida ) into the 25 to 30 degree range outside by the time we got to north Florida area and beyond. We drove about 2/3rds of the 1135 miles trip the first day and ran in the "Preserve EV" mode (wanted to save some electric for starting out the next morning, but overall no particularly good reason to do that). Drove the 2nd day in probably low 20's degree weather in the "Conserve" Mode, depleting the battery. Mostly drove I-20 and I-10, pretty flat the whole way (only about a 500 foot elevation difference between start and finish locations) and probably driving at 75 mph most of the time. I didn't record the car readings, but kind of remember it was showing me getting about 25 mpg. This matched pretty much the gas I used (44.7 gallons) over that distance.

On the return trip about 5 days later, it was much warmer (40's to start, high 70's by the time we returned to Florida). Again started with a full tank, but no charge on battery. Ran pretty much in the "Conserve" mode the whole way, on same roads and same driving speed. Only used 39.2 gallons on the return = 28.9 mpg. Strange thing was the car dash reading indicated I got 30.6 mpg on the return trip. I can't explain how the car is recording that good of mpg - that seems way off. It did say I got 72 miles on electric (as a regular hybrid from regeneration of course), but the miles driven divided by gas used was the 28.9 mpg.

The battery really isn't much of a factor on a long trip like this with the ICE running all the time. But it does seem that the gas mileage is much worse in cold weather than warm. It could be driving in the "Preserve EV" is a bad choice. Also, we only have about 16K miles on the car, with probably 11K on electric (we mostly drive short trips completely on the electric - perfect for a PHEV!), so it is also possible the ICE was still breaking in and ran better on the return trip? A lot of variables going on here.

And another weird thing since taking this trip into cold weather - since we got back, the car will only charge to 24 miles of electric (instead of the 28 miles to as high as 32 miles charge we previously got) and it is warmer here now. Typically got the high charge numbers when it is hot here.