New Foed Focus With Super Fuel Economy (SFE) Boasting 40 MPG Highway

2012 Ford Focus ST

The new Ford Focus with the SFE (Super Fuel Economy) package is EPA-certified at 40 mpg on the highway and 28 mpg city. Focus becomes the fourth vehicle in the Ford Motor Company vehicle lineup with an EPA-certified rating of 40 mpg (on either city or highway cycles) or more.

The Focus is fitted with a completely new 2.0-liter gasoline direct-injection DOHC four-cylinder engine that combines high-pressure direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT) for enhanced performance and fuel efficiency. This engine delivers more power than the current 2.0-liter Duratec unit featured in the North American Focus, while contributing to fuel economy gains of more than 10%.

To maximize its performance and economy advantage, the engine is mated with the latest dry-clutch six-speed Ford PowerShift automatic transmission. A high-efficiency dual dry-clutch design, the transmission alone can help to reduce fuel consumption by up to 9% compared to a traditional four-speed automatic.

The SFE package also includes 16-inch steel wheels with aero wheel covers, active grille shutters, high-efficiency tires, four-wheel disc brakes, rear spoiler and a special SFE badge.

The Ford Focus employs full active grille shutters to help optimize aerodynamics by using vents to control airflow through the grille to the cooling system and engine compartment. If air is required to cool the engine, the vents are opened. If no airflow is needed the vents are shut, contributing to significantly reduced aerodynamic drag.

Mounted in the grille aperture ahead of the radiator, the active grille shutters feature motorized horizontal vanes that can rotate through 90 degrees to block the airflow. Automatically controlled by the car’s electronic control unit, the vanes can be rotated into 15 different positions—from fully closed to fully open—depending on the amount of cooling air required. When fully closed, the reduction in drag means the active grille shutters can reduce CO₂ emissions by 2%.

As an additional benefit, the system keeps the vanes closed as long as possible when starting from cold, so the engine reaches its most efficient operating temperature more quickly. This also helps reduce fuel consumption.

The three other 2011 models achieving at least 40 mpg are the Ford Fiesta SE with SFE package (40 mpg highway) and the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid (41 mpg city).

Source: Green Car Congress