Terrible Gas Mileage

[nir2s]

I've a 5500 Miles on my 2005 Pilot.
Looks like Gas Mileage is dropping consistently. last time I got 12.5
MPG. Mostly City Drivings. I have not got less than 14-15 so far in the city.
12.5 is way below the acceptable number. Now i've heard that it goes down in winter. but 12.5? I'm a very careful driver. Always check the tire pressure and maintenance schedule. Does anyone is getting this kind of Mileage on their Pilot?

[2muchfun]

Yikes! mine has never been below 15 but its still brand new and needs to break in. My friends 05' went up to 20 after 5000 miles.

[nir2s]

well, on long highway drivings, I get @ 19-21. But city mileage is getting horrible.I'm thinking about showing it to dealer. Don't know whether they will support it or not. They always have standard answer saying "Generally Mileage goes down in winter". This is my third Honda. I know how they perform in winter. 12.5 is like heart breaking.

[Bruce K]

I have been getting 16-18 MPGs mixture of city and highway driving. This past week we got some snow, and my mileage went down, due to the fact it probably was in four wheel drive. I was down to around 12-13 MPGs.

[nir2s]

2005 Pilots are full time all wheel drive, correct? So, sudden mileage drop should not happen.

[rocky]

ok, Pilots are primarily front wheel drive with the awd only kicking in as needed.

As for mpg, if you drive under say 5 miles from cold back and forth (your low miles count suggests a short commute) don't be surprised. Additionally, being heavy footed will harm mpg.

Last but not least the gas gets forumlated for winter does cause a drop in mpg.

[whizmo]

My suggestion is to keep track for a few tanks to get a better long-term average and try and get some highway miles on a tank to make a check of this. Urban mileage has so many variables, it's hard to know if there is something wrong or the deck was stacked against you - a Pilot will return 12 in some worst case driving. If it's getting 16 on the highway, then you are pretty sure there is something wrong.

In 3K miles since new, my overall average is about 15 with perhaps 20% highway, the rest generally short trips, hills, and quite a bit of stop-and-go. On one 200-mile trip, it got around 20. I'm somewhat disappointed, but am going to wait until 5K or so before asking the dealer to look it over.

- Mark

[krygny]

Originally posted by nir2s
2005 Pilots are full time all wheel drive, correct? So, sudden mileage drop should not happen.

That's news to me. Why would they do that?

I get 20 mpg in mixed driving, but it's mostly highway. I get 25 mpg on long highway trips.

[jdeanski]

Originally posted by nir2s
I've a 5500 Miles on my 2005 Pilot.
Looks like Gas Mileage is dropping consistently. last time I got 12.5
MPG. Mostly City Drivings. I have not got less than 14-15 so far in the city.
12.5 is way below the acceptable number. Now i've heard that it goes down in winter. but 12.5? I'm a very careful driver. Always check the tire pressure and maintenance schedule. Does anyone is getting this kind of Mileage on their Pilot?

Nobody gets that type of mileage unless you drive a Tahoe or Suburban. You must drive with a lead foot. I've averaged almost 20 mpg over the last year. The lowest it's been is 16.89, the best was 25.06!

[tss42637]

I have a 3.7 mile commute to work which entails exactly 7 stoplights, which miraculously are all red each day. Over a two week period when I decided to park my Accord and give the Pilot some commute duty, It took me 6.1 gallons of gas to go 74 miles, or 12.1 MPG. ( I know that checking mileage for just one tank is not accurate) I usually get about 16-17 mpg combined and have gotten 19+ mpg for all highway.

Short trips combined with warm up and lots of idle time can greatly affect mileage.

Overall, I am still disappointed with my mileage in my 2005 Pilot (5700 miles), especially compared to some of the 20+ mpg posts in this forum.

[doctorj]

Here's my two cents. Take it for what its worth. My daily commute here in Raleigh is city, and it includes a lot of sitting in traffic. I average 15-16 in winter and my driving style is aggessive and I floor it often when I'm fighting for real estate. Don't expect to get 20MPG if you do any city driving whatsover. I have an Accord which gets 21-23 on the same commute. 12.5 does sound low but maybe your traffic is worse than mine. Check the pressure in your tires. I run mine about 3 to 4 psi over the Honda's recommendation with no sacrifice of ride comfort. I will reiterate driving style matters as my wife normally drives the Pilot and she gets better mileage than me. Good luck to you.

[sfhondapilot]

I generally get about 13 mpg in city driving. 5 mile commute that takes 20 minutes in the morning and almost 30 minutes in the evening, so you can imagine how much stop and go traffic there is. Using the on-board computer from my other cars, I see that I average about 13 MPH in city driving. Add in the hills and it's a situation ripe for crummy gas mileage.

And remember, not all city driving miles are the same. If, for example, I lived 90 miles away in Sacramento, where the city is level with fewer traffic jams, I would expect to get higher city MPG.

Just depends on your specific city driving conditions.

just my $0.02.

[5Gs]

Originally posted by sfhondapilot
I generally get about 13 mpg in city driving. 5 mile commute that takes 20 minutes in the morning and almost 30 minutes in the evening, so you can imagine how much stop and go traffic there is. Using the on-board computer from my other cars, I see that I average about 13 MPH in city driving. Add in the hills and it's a situation ripe for crummy gas mileage.

And remember, not all city driving miles are the same. If, for example, I lived 90 miles away in Sacramento, where the city is level with fewer traffic jams, I would expect to get higher city MPG.

Just depends on your specific city driving conditions.

just my $0.02.

I can't imagine how much gas/power it takes to drive the pilot up california or powell in s.f.!

[Crawfish]

With Pilot, you have to go up to 50 mph to let the tranny switch to its 5th gear. That's why local driving is so bad.

So whenever you can, go up to 50 mph as soon as you can.

[cwa107]

Originally posted by tss42637
I have a 3.7 mile commute to work which entails exactly 7 stoplights, which miraculously are all red each day. Over a two week period when I decided to park my Accord and give the Pilot some commute duty, It took me 6.1 gallons of gas to go 74 miles, or 12.1 MPG. ( I know that checking mileage for just one tank is not accurate) I usually get about 16-17 mpg combined and have gotten 19+ mpg for all highway.

Short trips combined with warm up and lots of idle time can greatly affect mileage.

Overall, I am still disappointed with my mileage in my 2005 Pilot (5700 miles), especially compared to some of the 20+ mpg posts in this forum.

Your engine is not completely broken in. Wait until you hit around 10K before making a judgement.