2013 Ford Focus ST Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2013 Ford Focus ST Long-Term Road Test

A report of the fuel economy of Edmunds.com long-term 2013 Ford Focus ST for July 2013.

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greenpony

Consider that this car has the power of a typical mid-sized V6, that it's fun to drive (read: it's pushed harder), and the "sound symposer" encourages higher revs with its aural stimulation (go ahead, read that one out loud). Did your long-term Mustang, Camaro, and Challenger do much/any better? Still, there is clearly a problem with the EPA tests that needs to be addressed so that the EPA estimates more accurately reflect what the "average" driver should expect.

agentorange

@greenpony Trouble is the "average driver" changes for different types of car. Does the average ST owner drive the same way as the average 4-cylinder Camry owner. Probably not. If the EPA decided to try and come up with an "average driver&q

greenpony

Average is a statistical concept. It's easy to calculate when you're working with numbers... not so easy when working with people, hence the "quotes". In the case of defining an average driver, a lot of assumptions need to be made (acceleration rate, idling time, deceleration rate, maximum speed... you get the point). Assumptions that, over time, no longer reflected "average" driving conditions. Car performance/capability increased, technology advanced, traffic grew more congested. To get a reasonable approximate of the true "average" driver, the EPA ought to randomly select some percentage of the driving population and monitor their driving habits for a year, then use that data to approximate an "average" driver and design new test protocol around that. Part of the reason that work hasn't been done is CAFE and the legislation that is tied to it. Changing CAFE would require lawmakers to actually design meaningful legislation rather than continue operating on a decades-old set of rules that relies on test protocols developed half a century ago.