Haven't calculated exactly yet. I would say it's close to 30. Seemed like the last road trip we did with it was around 27-28 overall, maybe a little higher, but that would have been with it loaded as well. I know I can put about 20 bucks in the tank which nearly fills it up, and if I'm using cruise and all, mostly highway driving(I drive 400-500 miles a week commuting to work, 32.49 miles or so one way) I can run on that tank for about 3.5-4 days depending how long I stretch it.

Like yesterday, I put exactly 4 gallons in which gave me half a tank, drove to work yesterday, home, and back today and still have 1/4 tank after roughly 105 miles.So maybe more. This was the car my wife was driving before we bought the focus, so she's still got things I need to clean out. Reduce a little weight, maybe help fuel slightly more.

As I save up I think I'll try to do plugs and wires and a new air filter to try and get a little more mpg from the stratus. After that gotta save for new tires. Only thing about 4 cylinders after driving a 6 for so long, is no low end grunt. The Taurus even felt like it had a bit more torque on the lower end. However, the ford focus feels sometimes like a 6 with the double clutch tranny. You won't set speed records with it, but I will say there are times I've been in a 55 mph zone, look down and I'm doing 65 without realizing it, and have to slow back down. The other thing is how it sits up, even though it's a small car feels like you are in a micro SUV. We drove a newer 2012 Dodge Avenger I think. Not bad, but the blind spots in that car were horrible imo. If you haven't driven one, the area at the back of the passenger window was blacked out on the rental we had when someone hit the stratus(someone backed into the car at a yard sale of all places, thankfully insurance covered it). But when I got to drive the avenger, I felt like I was having to guess if there were people in my blind spot. Stylish car otherwise.

Am getting to like the stratus because it feels and looks a bit newer than my old Taurus. Coming to the conclusion it may have not been treated great always in earlier life and is in need of TLC. When we got the car there was wiring like someone had run a sub. Even a speaker wire it looks like that fell from under the glove box. But once it gets on the highway it does ok. Maybe mostly highway driving will be easier on it than straight city driving.

 

The 4 is actually better in the low end then the 6, but the 6 more then makes up for it on the mid-high end.
Ours would run with a lot of performance cars from a roll (WRX, Mustang, Camaro, Focus ST, some others), but from a dig they would destroy it. It was very quick, but then again it was tuned, not that it was bad stock, I just can't leave anything alone.

 

Suprising. Don't know if it's just me, but I'm used to 6 cylinders. Most of my primary drivers had 6 cylinders in them. Always felt like they had more torque on the lower end. What scares me a little on that 4 banger is the high revving engine. So I'm a little afraid to punch it sometimes, seems like it can shift a bit hard out of first or second at high rpms. Getting used to it, but you know how it goes.

One car I do wish I had back sometimes is my 95 chevy beretta. I had one of those with a 3100 v6. Not a fast car, but it was a fun ride. Something that weighed in about the weight of a chevy cavalier but with the torque of the 6 cylinder. I beat the snot out of that poor car and it ran good for a long time.

Sometimes the stratus with the auto, on the low end feels like winding up a rubber band lol.

 

My Strat used to break the tires loose on the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. The 2.7l ran 6750 at redline. It sounded awesome, drove great, and was a riot to drive.

 

On an auto? If mine could do that, that's awesome, but intend to baby it at least until I can trade it in, or sell and get something else. Although, if it will run for a good while I'm fine with that. Just trying to at least get to where if I needed to get rid of the car, I would be able to get into something else. Although on the flip side, I haven't sold my Taurus yet, so could drive that, just needs more work than I want to put into it.

I guess I'm used to motors that like the 3500-5000 rpm range so the idea of 6000+ rpms is a little different lol.

 

Ya that was on the auto. My car destroyed my friends RT sedan with the 5-speed. He could get me off the line, but once I hit the revs I was gone. I do miss that car, been debating getting it back.

 

Ah. Lol. You had a 6? Kind of glad to have a 4 in some ways, read so much about the 2.7 v6 engines having sludge issues.

My friend had a neon srt-4. Liked the car, had it modded and all. But he had a cold air intake on it. Hit a puddle one night during rain after he left our house. Sucked water up the intake and into the motor. Ruined the engine. He took it to a place here in town and paid to have the motor swapped out. The new one they never could get running right. I think the company had a warranty on it, and even swapped it again and the car was just never right and used oil and things after that. He got sick of the car and got rid of it.

Now he's got a 96 camaro z28 that he's modding. Think he's got a new camshaft for it and other stuff. The guy he bought it from seems to have beaten on the car. So he's getting things together one thing at a time.

 

Mine and his were identical cars other then his being an RT with the 5-speed, both 2.7l V6s.
Mine would kill modded SRT4s from a roll.

As far as the sludge issues, mine had 218k when we traded it, my friends now has 380k, both still going strong. The owners were more the issue then the engine itself. Poor maintenance and poor oil choices led to the sludge issues. We bought ours with 18k, I ran valvoline synpower and mopar oil filter, every 3k. Oil still looked good every change, right up to the day we traded it at 218k, never once did we have an engine issue. Never had a trans issue either. Did suspension 3 times, brakes probably a dozen or better, exhaust once. It was a great car.

 

Good deal. Hopefully that is the case with ours. Another question, ever have any tranny issues? When we first got ours, we thankfully had a warranty from the dealer, but the first 3-4 months we owned it, it was in their shop for tranny troubles almost as much as it was at home. It seems to be ok now, but sometimes if I feel it shift hard I still wonder.

 

We never did, had the trans computer tuned when the car was tuned, it shifted very crisp.
It always shifted crisply since we bought it, the tuned just tightened it up more.