I'm thinking there might be something seriously wrong with my other halfs sportka. Filled it up Monday night (right to the brim) she went to work and back, about 4 miles each way, and I took it out last night and took it up to just over 50 miles since the fill up and it's used 1/4 tank of fuel!

I was driving like a granny too just to see if I could eek out some more miles but it didn't happen. It doesn't smell of fuel, last MOT co2 was fine (it's always been this bad on fuel) so I'm a bit stumped.

Any ideas?

 

when i had one a few years back, thrashing it down the lanes and mixed driving on country lanes would use a tank in about 200 miles aka roughly 21mpg. If you just nail them everywhere you can get even less.

they arent very efficient cars but they should get more than 21mpg on a steady high speed run so something must be up.

 

we've had our sportka 2 1/2 years now and its always been rubbish on fuel, on a long run it uses more fuel than my v6 mondeo.
has it been serviced reguarly? or
are you sure youve worked out your mpg right?

 

Well it's a 40 litre tank, I filled the thing up to the top of the neck so I guess another litre? It did 52 miles to 1/4 of a tank so 11 litres. 11/4.54 then 52 divided by that.

It hasn't been serviced for the two years I have been with her but it has prob only done 8k in that time. I'm reluctant to do it because I can't see it making that much of a difference (I don't treat all my cars like this!)

 

But have you filled it back up ?

Fuel gauges are useless

I could get about 32mpg out of my 4i on a run

Steve

 

The needle isn't proportional to what is actually in the tank. I always find the last quarter goes out the window a hell of a lot faster than the first quarter does so the only real way is to do back to back fill ups or use the odometer and run it till very nearly empty after you know how much fuel you stuck in and give yourself a small percentage for rounding error if you don't brim it but then it is never going to be that accurate anyway. Defo something wrong with 21mpg...they are only a 1.6 aren't they in a tiny little KA? That said if it does 70mph at 4000rpm that might be your problem on a long run

Although still don't explain why it would do 21mpg in normal driving!

 

it is comedy. I used to get 200-250 miles out of a puma tank which is the same size and that was FRP spec and driven to death everywhere.

be better off putting a puma lump in it, more fuel efficient and the kind of power the sportka deserves in the first place

 

My other halfs got one its worse than my focus rs mk1, does about 230 mile to a full tank of juice

 

Unfortunately they are old fashioned (1970s) south american 8 valve engines that are far from effiecient, in terms of either performance or power.
It's not uncommon for them to average 25-30mpg on a run. 21 does sound a little thirsty tho.
If V6 mondeos are better on fuel as said above, it really says it all!

 

I get more than that on a run in a supercharged range rover

 

Last one I had would do 35 mpg sitting at 4,000 revs.

Horrible engine but should still return 30+ all day long.

 

Bang on there.
I've got a 1.3 ka duratec (the smaller version of this motor) with only 15k on it and when I go from Cumbernauld to Carlisle at about 90mph,up and down hills etc you can visibly see the gauge coming down through the first 1/4 really quickly,but then it goes all the way to stoke at that speed still with fuel in,it's about Ł40 to fill and it gets me 300 odd miles with no probs at all on a run.
The sport ka's are shite on fuel,I don't even find them any faster than the 1.3,look cool and corner well but that's it really.
Mine does 4000 rpm at 80 odd so whoevers getting 70 at 4000 rpm needs to check the rolling radius of his wheels/tyres combo as that's way out.
Try as Steve said,brim to brim then calculate.
Otherwise sell it and get a 1.3 sport lookalike,I doubt she will even notice!!!

 

^^ 4000 rpm at 80mph, bang on, i often go to change up a gear then relise im already in 5th,
its a shame about the mpg and performance as they are quite nice to drive,they handle really well, just need more power. surely a zetec engine would of been better suited??
also due to poor emmisions the road tax is quite high,only very slightly less than my st220, about Ł50 per year i think.
but the mrs loves it so the the sportka stays.

 

I was guessing at the 4000rpm at 70mph as little town cars aren't geared great for motorways which is why you sometimes don't get the mpg you think you should. My Chevy Spark rental car sat at about 4000rpm at around 75mph

 

My bro had one and it was shocking on fuel! Its just an old style engine so not very efficient at all.

 

Nah there 4000 rpm for 80/82 mph,I really like them as cars but I've heard that the 1.6 is very thirsty.
I'm with warren that the 1.7 puma lump would have been ideal in these,I'm sure it fits straight in as well???

 

bit of trimming of the front crossmember to clear the inlet manifold. KA floorpans are same as fiesta mk3.5 except behind rear struts and infront of front struts where they are slightly shorter.

this guy got a bit friendly with the grinder though:

 

cutting that out like that makes it look rough,
ive seen them with a 1.8 zetec fitted before but never the 1.7

 

As a bit of a update its done 87 miles and its resting on half! I'm filling it up tonight so I will see what it takes to do it.

If I can find the time I'm going to give it a service to see if it makes a difference.

 

What do Ford quote for fuel consuption? Get it serviced asap the airfilter maybe choking it if old.

 

Blimey, 21mpg

My Impreza turbo returns 20mpg on a run......

 

Sounds like something is wrong as we did Swansea to Chester on the weekend with a shit load of stuff in the car and averaged 30 mpg with a turbochanged sport ka (well, normal ka with 1600 sport ka engine and a t2 turbo which comes on boost at the touch of the throttle).

SportKa gear ratio's are really close which won't help, they're slow even with a close ratio box lol

Service it (and do the fuel filter) then go from there, coilpack and lambdas would be next on the shortlist if the service doesn't help much

Sport Ka injectors are 230 cc/min which is the same as a 2 litre zetec so it's probably humping the fuel in!

 

definitely something not right.

my old KA had an rs1800 zetec in it:

not rough at all in the fitting. Seen puma lumps fitted neater than that pic i posted earlier too. Puma lump better as its lighter so better for the handling on them.

130 spec zetec is still fun though and will almost go off the clocks even 3 up

 

the hand book states 37mpg iirc on a combined cycle, but thats on a brand new one,

 

that looks better put together! what happend to it?
would like to be able to do something like that myself one day,
a 2.0 version possible?

 

i crashed into a roundabout Pumabuild repaired the suspension damage and then performance ford bought the car as the basis of "project peanuts" then lied through their teeth making out theyd bought a 1.3ka. Was convenient for them as mounts etc were already in place.