Swami Shivananda
Member
Hi Sport Trac folk! Just got our 02 and considering getting the Superchips Cortex 1950 for the MPG increase tune. Can anyone here recommend and report good results?
Superchips Cortex 1950, worth getting?
- Thread starter Swami Shivananda
- Start date
Help Support Ford SportTrac Forum:
Richard Toms
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't bother getting anything other than a SCT tuner x4.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
- Messages
- 5,638
- Reaction score
- 515
- Location
- Kailua-Oahu, Hawaii
- What engine do you have?
- V6 engine
- What year is your Sport Trac?
- 2005
- What Generation is your Sport Trac?
- 1st Gen Owner
Even then, don't expect more than a 1 MPG highway increase. I gained nothing city, still a dismal 12-13 MPG average. Improved shifting alone was worth the SCT price for me.
Last edited by a moderator:
Richard Toms
Well-Known Member
I believe the SCT x3 helped a great deal for my truck on the shifting. MPG, I think I get around 16-18 hwy. And you gain a code scanner with it.
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2003
- Messages
- 22,363
- Reaction score
- 752
- Location
- Long Island, NY
- What engine do you have?
- V8 engine
- What year is your Sport Trac?
- 2010
- What Generation is your Sport Trac?
- 2n Gen Owner
Chips suck !!!! Period.
Contact torrie
Todd Z
Contact torrie
Todd Z
Hmmmm? I used to get 21-22 MPG easy on the highway and 15-16 MPG in the city with both my 2001 and 2003 Sport Trac. No chips, no exhaust system, no special intakes, etc. Just a K&N drop in filter to replace the stock paper filter.
Save your money ! MPG has more to do with your driving habits and the environment that you drive in.
One add-on that will help you monitor your gas mileage is an Ultra-gauge or Scan-gauge that gives instantaneous MPG read outs, That will allow you to see exactly how your driving, the weather, terrain, and traffic effect your MPG.... You can only change your driving habits, but that is often good for 2-3+ MPG. Sometimes leaving at a different time, or taking a different route will avoid heavy traffic and give you better overall mileage even though the route might be slightly longer. Remember, when you are stopped at a traffic light, you are getting 0 MPG !
....Rich
Save your money ! MPG has more to do with your driving habits and the environment that you drive in.
One add-on that will help you monitor your gas mileage is an Ultra-gauge or Scan-gauge that gives instantaneous MPG read outs, That will allow you to see exactly how your driving, the weather, terrain, and traffic effect your MPG.... You can only change your driving habits, but that is often good for 2-3+ MPG. Sometimes leaving at a different time, or taking a different route will avoid heavy traffic and give you better overall mileage even though the route might be slightly longer. Remember, when you are stopped at a traffic light, you are getting 0 MPG !
....Rich
Duane Foster
Active Member
I have no experience with chips, tuners, or any other mods listed, but I can get 19-20 on the highway with my totally stock '02 - and it doesn't have cruise control which would probably help. It gets about 15 in city driving. A lot of the city driving I do is the worst kind, just far enough the engine is just getting up to temp when I get to where I'm going.
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2003
- Messages
- 22,363
- Reaction score
- 752
- Location
- Long Island, NY
- What engine do you have?
- V8 engine
- What year is your Sport Trac?
- 2010
- What Generation is your Sport Trac?
- 2n Gen Owner
Any Power adder can help with MPG but the extra power goes to your foot and you wind up driving harder thus getting less because of the new found power.
Todd Z
Todd Z
I agree with Todd Z to a point.
Some power adding mods can improve gas mileage, but you need to take into account the cost of the added power mods vs their actual fuel savings...which is really hard to do until you have bought them, installed them and tested them for MPG improvements. Even if they can improve your MPG, it will still require you to modify your driving habits to get the maximum benefit from the modifications.
I always recommend that you get and Ultra-gauge or Scan-Gauge to monitor your fuel mileage. It is a great tool to show you how fast you accelerate, how fast your drive, how hilly terrain and even dips in the road effect your gas mileage.
I was amazed after getting my $60 Ultra-Gauge how much a minor change in my driving habits improved my gas mileage. I found that cruising the Interstates got better mileage if I drove about 1 MPH slower than the traffic in the right lane. I would set my cruise control and drive for miles without changing speeds or needing to pass anyone. I found the even the smallest increase (1-2 MPH) in speed needed to pass a vehicle reduced gas mileage significantly...drive at a steady speed and you can save a lot of gas.
That's also when I discovered that if I was going on a long trip, I would leave late at night and be able to drive for hundreds of miles on the interstate without ever changing speeds or even having to hit the brakes until I had to stop for gas...That always yielded the highest MPG.
Before you invest in anything, try my tips to see if they improve your mileage. If they do, you are a prefect candidate for an Ultra-Gauge or Scan-Gauge which will quickly pay for itself by guiding you to better driving habits and better MPG.
...Rich
Some power adding mods can improve gas mileage, but you need to take into account the cost of the added power mods vs their actual fuel savings...which is really hard to do until you have bought them, installed them and tested them for MPG improvements. Even if they can improve your MPG, it will still require you to modify your driving habits to get the maximum benefit from the modifications.
I always recommend that you get and Ultra-gauge or Scan-Gauge to monitor your fuel mileage. It is a great tool to show you how fast you accelerate, how fast your drive, how hilly terrain and even dips in the road effect your gas mileage.
I was amazed after getting my $60 Ultra-Gauge how much a minor change in my driving habits improved my gas mileage. I found that cruising the Interstates got better mileage if I drove about 1 MPH slower than the traffic in the right lane. I would set my cruise control and drive for miles without changing speeds or needing to pass anyone. I found the even the smallest increase (1-2 MPH) in speed needed to pass a vehicle reduced gas mileage significantly...drive at a steady speed and you can save a lot of gas.
That's also when I discovered that if I was going on a long trip, I would leave late at night and be able to drive for hundreds of miles on the interstate without ever changing speeds or even having to hit the brakes until I had to stop for gas...That always yielded the highest MPG.
Before you invest in anything, try my tips to see if they improve your mileage. If they do, you are a prefect candidate for an Ultra-Gauge or Scan-Gauge which will quickly pay for itself by guiding you to better driving habits and better MPG.
...Rich
Swami Shivananda
Member
Thank you so very much Rich & Todd! Have definitely abandoned the Superchips idea and will be ordering a Scan-guage. Had no idea such a thing even existed and it will most certainly pay for itself over time! Easy enough to get and use/learn from one of those for half the cost of the questionable Superchips unit.
Swami,
Smart move! I have the Ultra-Gauge, but I understand that the Scan-Gauge has similar features. My Ultra-Gauge plugs into the OBD-II port under the dashboard which makes it very easy to move to an other vehicle if you ever get rid of your Sport Trac. If you move it to another vehicle, it will require a little set-up and calibration to insure accuracy. Set up is not difficult. You need to set the fuel-tank size and perhaps configure the screen to display what info you want to see while driving. Some vehicles have sensors like Transmission Temp, and others don't, so you can only display information that is available on your vehicle.
Since it uses the Vehicle's OEM speed sensor, it needs to be calibrated to insure the speed and mileage are accurate...Most speedometers and odometers read higher than the actual speed and miles driven. The easiest way to calibrate this is to find a long straight interstate highway and pull up to a mile marker...put the gauge in calibration mode and then drive a minimum of 10 miles and stop at another mile marker. Input the distance driven and the gauge will calculate the adjustment factor to use in all speed and mileage readings. The longer you drive in Calibrate mode, the more accurate your calibration will be. I drove about 40 miles to calibrate my Ultra-Gauge...Now my speed and miles driven matches my GPS and shows that the speedometer/odometer on my Hyundai Tucson is reading about 3 MPH higher than my actual speed.
...Rich
Smart move! I have the Ultra-Gauge, but I understand that the Scan-Gauge has similar features. My Ultra-Gauge plugs into the OBD-II port under the dashboard which makes it very easy to move to an other vehicle if you ever get rid of your Sport Trac. If you move it to another vehicle, it will require a little set-up and calibration to insure accuracy. Set up is not difficult. You need to set the fuel-tank size and perhaps configure the screen to display what info you want to see while driving. Some vehicles have sensors like Transmission Temp, and others don't, so you can only display information that is available on your vehicle.
Since it uses the Vehicle's OEM speed sensor, it needs to be calibrated to insure the speed and mileage are accurate...Most speedometers and odometers read higher than the actual speed and miles driven. The easiest way to calibrate this is to find a long straight interstate highway and pull up to a mile marker...put the gauge in calibration mode and then drive a minimum of 10 miles and stop at another mile marker. Input the distance driven and the gauge will calculate the adjustment factor to use in all speed and mileage readings. The longer you drive in Calibrate mode, the more accurate your calibration will be. I drove about 40 miles to calibrate my Ultra-Gauge...Now my speed and miles driven matches my GPS and shows that the speedometer/odometer on my Hyundai Tucson is reading about 3 MPH higher than my actual speed.
...Rich
