2011 Ford Mustang Cracks 30 MPG

This pretty much shames every I4 powered Japanese compact sports coupe/sedan on the market. I think the tC gets 30mpg with 160hp. The Civic Si gets 29mpg with 197hp and no torque. Even the GTI only gets 22/30 with 200hp.

Very nice. Good for Ford.

Sign me up.

The new Motor Trend issue has a very favorable story on the '11 Mustang 6. They did not actually drive it, but rode shotgun.

EPA testing has become a joke. Manufacturers are so focused on having the biggest number on the window sticker that they just make 6th gear lower and lower. I bet to make a highway pass you're shifting that mustang to atleast 4th gear, if not 3rd. So yea, if you're out crusing from Oklahoma to kansas with cruise control set to 55mph and an overall elevation change of 8 feet, you might get 30mpg. Real world driving with traffic, highway merging, and stop lights - that mustang will be lucky to crack 23mpg combined

1487 and a couple others were quick to yell that the IL staff drive with too heavy a foot and are unfair to the cars. Thats a really weak argument. They drive in accordence to their surrounding enviornment. When youre on I-5 and everyone is going 85mph, you drive accordingly. When in town, who actually bogs around shifting at 1800rpm to conserve fuel? There is a stark difference between daily driving and the closed test circuit used by the EPA.

It's not rocket science...a HIGHER torque engine can turn the gears at a lower RPM and usually put out some pretty good MPG numbers, IF you are petting it. See the Corvette for proof.

It is certainly not a perfect system.

"1487 and a couple others were quick to yell that the IL staff drive with too heavy a foot and are unfair to the cars. Thats a really weak argument. They drive in accordence to their surrounding enviornment. "

I have frequently said its not easy to get EPA ratings. What are you talking about? I also said IL cant drive in a way that defeats the tranny shift logic and then complain about not meeting EPA figures. If you try to compensate for the lack of power in a smaller engine by mashing the gas pedal to make it "feel" like a more powerful vehicle you can rest assured you wont come close to EPA ratings.

That's actually quite impressive...What was the mpg rating on the last ~300bhp Mustang? 16/24? That's a pretty dramatic improvement, and it'd be interesting to see a comparison between this, the V6 Camaro and V6 Genesis Coupe...

Bragging rights.. our numbers are higher! And of course they will promote only the highway number, not city or combined. Like the Camaro, I'm sure real-world figures will be closer to 19 than 30 or 31.

"EPA testing has become a joke."

Now that the domestics are beating the imports....

Good time for a comparsion test then. Take a V6 Mustang and Camaro, add in some 4 cylinder coupes rated about the same hwy mileage and go on a road trip. See who really wins.

I'd also throw in a city section to show that real world mileage has very little to do with hwy mileage (except maybe for travelling salesmen)

Pretty compelling stuff. The Mustang seems to have it all goin' on. Better interior, good handling, and suprising fuel economy. The V8 has some great features too (and will likely be too good to pass up), if not miserly fuel economy. Just hope the steering feel isn't numb!

The LT tests of the Terrain and Camaro are showing that those cars, while getting real world mileage that is very, very good compared to their competitors, are not coming close to the EPA ratings. I have a feeling the Mustang will be the same. Manufacturers are getting good at designing cars to perform exceptionally well in the EPA tests. Ultimately I don't mind, since they still get relatively good mileage and this helps the automakers meet arbitrary CAFE standards, meaning we can still drive them. I just think the new EPA test is becoming as irrelevant to the real world as the old one.

keep in mind that the 31 is for highway. The average will be in the low 20's, below many of the I4 engines. The camaro with its impressive 29 averages out at 22.

but don't take my comment as being a dig at the Mustang, I'm thrilled with the new MPG ratings and will be one of those glossy eyed idiots on the Ford lot as soon as they arrive. And I'm the opposite of a Ford fan.

@stoppre75

With 300 HP BMWs people are still seeing high 20s and low 30s on the freeway. Still plenty of power to keep moving at 65-75 without downshifting.

Honestly though, I'd RATHER really tall gearing and a drop from 6th to 4th when an incline shows up as I buy cars to shift them. I want to be turning 2k RPM at 70 MPH. I want to have the engine loafing. I do not want the other side - 6th gear and at only 75 the car is near 3k RPM. That's poor gearing. Yeah, it's good for lazy people but I'll take 30 mpgs in my cars on the freeway and an occasional drop a gear or two if needed.

Tmanz, possibly low 20s. In my 335i (300 HP) with a split of around 50% highway/50% city and constant WOT starts/shifts I'd get 22 MPG. An easy foot on the juice would net me 23-24. On long freeway drives high 20s was easy.

This doesn't shame the I4 powered cars that you list, 1487 (and there are American ones that get similar mileage to the Japanese ones, even though you only mentioned the Japanese). It is a no-brainer that a powerful V6 with a very tall sixth gear will have low highway RPMs and therefore get better mileage than many i4s that have to rev hard to make power. The TC hums along at nearly 3000 rpm even in 6th gear on the hwy so it is no wonder the mileage suffers. This mustang will probably do the same at about 1500 rpm.

This is why I can't understand the four cylinder craze. The fact that you have to work the engine hard to make power and merge onto the freeway, etc. pretty much cancels out the gains in fuel efficiency.

The EPA numbers are a good thing. Even if the Domestics are beating the imports. Thats coming from a fan of Imports. These are good numbers for a powerful v-6 so good for Ford.

BUT, for people like me with limited freeway driving I'm not going to get 31 mpg. So the advantage of tall gearing is gone. Id get 22-25 mpg with this thing. My 2003 G35 got 22 mpg everyday driving.

I can speak from personal experience. My car has a supercharged V8 and is rated 18 city 25 highway. However in real world driving, I routinely get about 12 city, 29 highway.

My point is that any high torque engine with a decent transmission can get good highway mileage, but drive onto a city street and your mpg will drop so low it will make you cry.

While a four cylinder car won't get drastically better mileage on the highway than high powered car, it will in the city.

"Now that the domestics are beating the imports...."

Exactly. Now everyone wants to dismiss EPA ratings.

zoomzoom:

It does shame them when you consider how much hp is offered in the Mustang. There arent many domestic four cylinder coupes- just one that I can think of- Cobalt SS. The Cobalt offers 260hp which is a hell of a lot more than a tC, GTI or Civic Si. If its simple to get 31mpg from a V6 then maybe they need to put a V6 in the Civic Si.

"BUT, for people like me with limited freeway driving I'm not going to get 31 mpg. So the advantage of tall gearing is gone. Id get 22-25 mpg with this thing. My 2003 G35 got 22 mpg everyday driving. "

Thats not really bad when you consider the Civic Si is rated for 22mpg in the city. I think everyone knows that cars get much better mileage on the hwy- this is true for four cylinder and V6 powered cars.

"keep in mind that the 31 is for highway. The average will be in the low 20's, below many of the I4 engines. The camaro with its impressive 29 averages out at 22."

This vehicle gets about 3-4mpg worse than the average four cylinder sports compact in the city. That is not major when you consider the hp advantage. Cobalt SS, tC, GTI, etc. all get 22-23mpg in the city and less than 31mpg on the highway. The A5 with a 2L turbo gets 21/27 with only 211hp on premium fuel.

another unusable 6th gear

@kevinlch
I never had to shift out of 6th in either a 99 Z28 or my 06 Corvette. At 80 mph the gearing was perfect in both cars. Heck, if anything, I wish they made sixth even taller so there was less performance in 6th.

My 6MT G35 gets 21 mpg combined, and 26 highway on roadtrips at best. But, the gearing is low, and kinda irritating at freeway speeds, unless you keep it 65 mph or less. This Mustang engine is a leap forward, but only if it has an entertaining character!

kevin, what is 6th for in your eyes? In the 80s and 90s, the tallest gear was to cruise. You expected to shift if you wanted to suddenly get going. Not sure why people feel shifting is so bad...

Regardless of vehicle, I get between 10% lower and 20% higher than the EPA highway rating on my current commute. It's mostly country roads with speed limits 45 to 55 mph. Ideal for fuel economy. If this Mustang is rated at 30 with the manual, that'll give me 27 to 36 mpg. Might be time to trade in the Focus (I've gotten 30 to 41 mpg in that).

Green pony, what year is your car? Pre-2007?

Ford is really on a roll....... I agree with Edmunds, Ford will be the #1 domestic automaker by years end.

oh, if only I had bought Ford stock when it was $1 a share....

please, please get a fully optioned 2011 V6 mustang as a long-term vehicle!

sure, the 5.0 mustang is gonna be fast and with the track pack will be really fun to drive, but we already know that. the v8 mustangs have been tested to death along with the v8 camaro and v8 challenger...

what would it be like to live with a 300hp v6 mustang? that's what inquiring minds want to know.

is it a good-enough (for the majority of us) replacement for a v8?

are they offering a track-pack on the v6? i hope so. i take my 2006 mustang gt to the road course, not the drag strip. the lighter weight of the v6 mustang would be suhweet...