What doe the bars on the instantaneous fuel economy gauge mean?

[Chris B.]

What do the bars on the instantaneous fuel economy gauge mean? Those that have the interior upgrade package would know what I mean if you ever cycled through it the info center.

I know no bars means you have it floored and the engine is sucking down gas like it should and all the bars across seems to be above 25 MPG. But do the different number of bars lit up actually have any relevant meaning to real fuel economy? Do they mean a certain number of MPG per bar?

Some of my Dodge owning friends are already inpressed with the kind of mileage my Mustang GT gets compared to their new hemi powered cars. I'd like to know if the gauge actually has relevant info so I can shove both my MPG and track times in their faces every time they bring up Fix Or Repair Daily or whatever Ford acronym they come up with next.

 

[RKW]

Cycle to the avg fuel economy and hit the reset button. If you do this driving on the highway and go for about 20-30 miles you will get a good idea of your highway average. For overall driving, hit the reset button when you fill up next time and it will calculate the average fuel economy for that tank.

 

[Chris B.]

Thanks, but that really doesn't answer my question. I'm wondering if the bars actually mean anything in terms of MPG or are they just a pretty display?

 

[rojizostang]

my guess is that they're vacuum related...more manifold vacuum, smaller bars, worse fuel economy

more bars, less vacuum, better fuel economy

just a wag (wild a** guess)

 

[Hawgman]

My guess is that Ford had an extra "click" in their feature cycle so they stuck them in there to make people go "OOOOOOOOOOH" and they are about as relevant as a narrow band a/f gauge.

 

[jsawyer]

My guess is that Ford had an extra "click" in their feature cycle so they stuck them in there to make people go "OOOOOOOOOOH" and they are about as relevant as a narrow band a/f gauge.

+1
It is a Ford after all. Most ford buyer like me are simpltons/easily amused
They should come out with a gauge cluster with a bunch of shiney different colors......hsnap:

 

[Charlie Sheen]

+1
It is a Ford after all. Most ford buyer like me are simpltons/easily amused
They should come out with a gauge cluster with a bunch of shiney different colors......hsnap:

Yeah! Then we could all change them to blue.

 

[don_w]

Yeah! Then we could all change them to blue.

I thought everyone did that already!

 

[Charlie Sheen]

I wanted to be different so I changed mine to green.

 

[Steedman07]

I dont dare look at my fuel economy..

 

[o0Dan0o]

I wanted to be different so I changed mine to green.

I like red...

 

[shatter]

I set mine to black!

 

[Charlie Sheen]

I set mine to black!

And you know what they say about that...

 

[thump_rrr]

bars what bars? I don't see any bars!

 

[KIM_05_GT]

bars what bars? I don't see any bars!

+1 on that

 

[gijosh28]

Yeah! Then we could all change them to blue.

And not match the leds behind the radio and AC controls

 

[Bingo]

The bars are stupid - why couldn't they do instantaneous fuel economy? I just leave it on 'average MPG' when I drive.

 

[Enitalp]

bars what bars? I don't see any bars!

Same.

peharps an evolution of the IUP in 2008.

Not in a 2005.

 

[Bingo]

Same.

peharps an evolution of the IUP in 2008.

Not in a 2005.

2005 has it...you need the IUP...or something else...I forget the name.

 

[Charlie Sheen]

And not match the leds behind the radio and AC controls