1,445.7 miles on one tank.
Combining the best hypermiling techniques in the book, and a few professional drivers, Ford did it. Their goal was 1,000 miles on one tank of gas with a bone stock Fusion Hybrid, and here at KarFarm, we were a little suspicious of that goal. Hitting that mark would require a total tank average of 57 mpg, and the EPA rated test cycle shows that the car can do 41 City/36 Highway. Obviously, some serious work was to be done to hit 1,000 miles, and more water cooler talks in the office were in order.
Ford’s drivers swiftly swept past that mark with 1/3 of a tank remaining. That’s right, when we were here thinking Ford might come up short, or just eek out that distance, they blew past it grinning from ear to ear. Looks like we’ve been set up by their marketing gurus as the Fusion covered a total distance of 1,445.7 miles before that last of the useable fuel was consumed. Covering that distance means that the Fusion held a total tank average of over 81 mpg. Those are some serious numbers.
While the average driver has only a slim chance of getting to those numbers, seasoned pros should be able to get close. On top of proving it was possible, Ford continued to run hypermiling clinics for the public to help educate them on the black art of fuel misering. Finally, for the hypermiling impared, the driver can rely on the Fusions Eco Guide in the instrument cluster to improve mileage.
Ford has done a great service to the automotive community with this challenge. Anyone can build a car that runs a 10 sec 1/4 mile, tow a jumbo jet, or any of the other stunts we have seen. Promoting a green product, and educating your consumer market on how to be more efficient is a leap forward that other manufacturers should try to emulate.
-KF
