[BLK18]

First off you can never go by what the vehicle says your fuel economy is. Every car I've ever owned from Chevy to Hyundai to Ford to Oldsmobile to Porsche to Honda etc. etc. etc. they've always been off by at least 3 mpg or more and sometimes substantially more. Driving down long grades tricks my Hyundai into showing I got the fuel economy of a Prius at 45 mpg but in reality it was 28 mpg. I never trust the computer. The accurate way is to keep track of the miles you've driven per fill-up and divide it by the gallons you put based on what the receipt says. Your driving habits and the external environment also play a huge role. Fuel economy plummets the moment the turbo gets spinning and boost builds, even if you think you're driving conservatively. An example of this is driving in a headwind even at low speeds. In this scenario my F-150's boost gauge shoots up even though I'm light on the gas. The 2.0 won't be any different than my 3.5 EcoBoost. And immediately after filling up the vehicle will show fuel economy as being bad but it'll eventually stable out after driving many miles. The 2.0 isn't the most fuel-efficient I-4 in existence but the tradeoff is having lots of power on tap.

 

[BLK18]

Hey there,

would you say you noticed a long term difference in burning premium versus standard? I get decent mileage with standard 87. Wondering if it’s worth the xtra cash for a few extra miles each tank.

The whole regular vs premium fuel economy debate has been beaten to death for years and evidence has shown there's virtually no benefit to using premium in terms of gas mileage, including my own tests. If anything, using something like 88 ethanol-free should boost mileage by about 1-2 mpg as it did in my '19 Hyundai Tucson 2.0 since there's no ethanol. I don't know a lot about the 2.0 or 2.3 EcoBoost but with my Tucson using premium fuel halted my fuel-oil dilution problem. When using 87 it kept creeping up, same with ethanol-free fuel. But switching to 91 stabilized it and the oil level hasn't changed much since. I also use 91 to further decrease the likelihood of knocking, which can cause catastrophic damage over the long run and lead to things like piston slap due to abnormal, unintended combustion forces the cylinder experiences. With Tucson's with the 2.0L Nu like mine and especially Elantras the engine appears to have a predisposition to piston slap starting at around 60K miles. I'm at 23K so far. I think of using premium fuel as preventative maintenance. My 2.0 EcoBoost experiences some fuel dilution too based on the oil level. And the oil, like in our Tucson, '18 F-150 3.5 EB and '14 Chevy Equinox, all smell like gas.