NTXTremor
Well-Known Member
TLDR: If Tow Mode performed better in EPA tests, Ford would have made Tow Mode the normal mode, but there is a very remote chance that Tow Mode could perform better in "real world" economy.
I am also skeptical. With people complaining that the Ranger shifts too early to maintain lower RPMs for improved fuel economy while others find that the fuel economy is better in Tow Mode, it does not jive. You would expect that Ford engineers did everything they could to maximize fuel economy performance for the EPA CAFE numbers, so why would they make the Ranger drive worse AND get worse fuel economy than making Tow Mode the standard?
BUT...
In the early 90s I worked at a petroleum research facility, and my job was to "drive" cars on a dyno following the EPA courses used for the fuel economy numbers you see on window stickers for City and Highway. We were not an EPA facility, but we did the tests for oil companies to test different gasoline formulas for fuel economy and emissions.
I believe that the tests changed in 2007 to better reflect driving styles and conditions and to add higher speeds since the original tests were based upon a 55mph highway speed, but ultimately, these tests do not truly reflect how YOU drive. In other words, your mileage may vary.
My experience driving literally hundreds of these tests was that the "City" driving portion was pretty aggressive, at least for the 1980s/1990s cars we were driving (probably not by today's standards), while the "Highway" driving portion was pretty slow even by 1990s standards. In other words, back then, you could easily improve on the sticker mpg for city but you were less likely to hit the highway mpg unless you drove under 55 all the time.
Back to the "BUT," and it is a very big "but," even with the variety of driving conditions covered by these tests, which are undoubtedly very well known by the automotive manufacturers (ex: see VW's cheating on the diesel tests), optimizing for fuel economy and emissions performance for these tests MIGHT NOT yield the best overall performance for a particular vehicle. It is possible, however improbable, that for a given vehicle something like Tow Mode MIGHT outperform the regular driving mode in real world driving but perform worse in the EPA tests, and therefore the Tow Mode is not the standard mode.
Again, the additional tests added in 2007 probably close the gaps that existed in the original testing procedures, so this is a big stretch in my opinion.
I am also skeptical. With people complaining that the Ranger shifts too early to maintain lower RPMs for improved fuel economy while others find that the fuel economy is better in Tow Mode, it does not jive. You would expect that Ford engineers did everything they could to maximize fuel economy performance for the EPA CAFE numbers, so why would they make the Ranger drive worse AND get worse fuel economy than making Tow Mode the standard?
BUT...
In the early 90s I worked at a petroleum research facility, and my job was to "drive" cars on a dyno following the EPA courses used for the fuel economy numbers you see on window stickers for City and Highway. We were not an EPA facility, but we did the tests for oil companies to test different gasoline formulas for fuel economy and emissions.
I believe that the tests changed in 2007 to better reflect driving styles and conditions and to add higher speeds since the original tests were based upon a 55mph highway speed, but ultimately, these tests do not truly reflect how YOU drive. In other words, your mileage may vary.
My experience driving literally hundreds of these tests was that the "City" driving portion was pretty aggressive, at least for the 1980s/1990s cars we were driving (probably not by today's standards), while the "Highway" driving portion was pretty slow even by 1990s standards. In other words, back then, you could easily improve on the sticker mpg for city but you were less likely to hit the highway mpg unless you drove under 55 all the time.
Back to the "BUT," and it is a very big "but," even with the variety of driving conditions covered by these tests, which are undoubtedly very well known by the automotive manufacturers (ex: see VW's cheating on the diesel tests), optimizing for fuel economy and emissions performance for these tests MIGHT NOT yield the best overall performance for a particular vehicle. It is possible, however improbable, that for a given vehicle something like Tow Mode MIGHT outperform the regular driving mode in real world driving but perform worse in the EPA tests, and therefore the Tow Mode is not the standard mode.
Again, the additional tests added in 2007 probably close the gaps that existed in the original testing procedures, so this is a big stretch in my opinion.
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