Poor Mileage on 2009 Flex SEL

[surfCity_flex]

We recently purchased a 'certified used' 2009 Flex SEL with only 13,000 miles on it. We live in Southern California, so I don't know if gas blended for California gets worse gas mileage than other areas of the country. We have yet to get 17 mpg on any tank of gas (combined freeway and city). Last week we took a 90 mile round trip to the L.A. Zoo, mostly freeway driving at 65 mph. We didn't see any increase in our MPG. We've been averaging less than 16 mpg. We're wondering if there's a problem with the engine management system. If anyone else is seeing this kind of mileage from their Flex or knows what could be the culprit (we DO NOT drive with a LEAD FOOT), please let us hear from you.

[theoldwizard]

I would definitely get it checked out.

One Flex owner swore to me he was getting 28 mpg when driving a steady 75 mph.

[mjunghans]

Originally Posted by theoldwizard

I would definitely get it checked out.

One Flex owner swore to me he was getting 28 mpg when driving a steady 75 mph.

I typically get 25 to 27 on the highway depending on traffic and terrain. Are you resetting the mileage parameter it prior to your trip? If you don't reset it I believe it's cumulative mileage since it was last reset. Takes a long time to change 13k worth of mileage. 17 to 18 in town, stop & go with traffic is pretty normal.

[surfCity_flex]

We reset the Trip 'A' odometer setting with each tank of gas, then base the mileage on what the new trip miles are and how much gas is pumped to fill it up again. We average less than 16mpg combined driving. It's in the shop at a Ford dealer right now. They're going to check the mileage themselves. We'll see what happens.

[surfCity_flex]

Originally Posted by surfCity_flex

We reset the Trip 'A' odometer setting with each tank of gas, then base the mileage on what the new trip miles are and how much gas us pumped to fill it up again. We average less than 16mpg combined driving. It's in the shop at a Ford dealer right now. They're going to check the mileage themselves. We'll see what happens.

The Ford Dealer checked the transmission and computer - both OK according to the specs. They only took it out for 20 miles to check the mileage. Said it was getting 16 - 17 around town, but didn't get a chance to do any highway driving. They wanted to keep it another day to do that. I brought it in on Monday afternoon, they kept it all day Tuesday and still didn't get it out on the freeway, so I picked the car up at 2:00pm on Wednesday. They did show me how to 'reset' the AVG Miles, so I'll be doing that after each fill-up. While driving back to my house the AVG MPG did bounce into the 17's (all surface streets). We are driving to Fullerton this afternoon - a 40 mile roundtrip - mostly freeway. We'll let you know if we see any improvement.

[surfCity_flex]

Originally Posted by surfCity_flex

The Ford Dealer checked the transmission and computer - both OK according to the specs. They only took it out for 20 miles to check the mileage. Said it was getting 16 - 17 around town, but didn't get a chance to do any highway driving. They wanted to keep it another day to do that. I brought it in on Monday afternoon, they kept it all day Tuesday and still didn't get it out on the freeway, so I picked the car up at 2:00pm on Wednesday. They did show me how to 'reset' the AVG Miles, so I'll be doing that after each fill-up. While driving back to my house the AVG MPG did bounce into the 17's (all surface streets). We are driving to Fullerton this afternoon - a 40 mile roundtrip - mostly freeway. We'll let you know if we see any improvement.

After resetting the AVG MILES we did see it get into the low 20's.

[mark v]

Please keep us posted.

[balogne_t]

New EPA MPG puts the 2009 Flex with all wheel drive at 16 city, 22 Hwy, 18 combined, while the Front wheel drive model is 17 city, 24 Hwy, 19 Combined.

Find a Car

Cheers