Gas Mileage

[k9bf]

Hi all
I bought a new pilot with Navi last week. On the trip home from Chicago where I bought it, I got 17 mpg highway. Only had 12 miles on it when I started. After about 500 miles, I am still getting about 17 on the highway and 12 in town. Is this the best I can expect or will it get better after a few thousand miles? thanks
Ben
k9bf@uiuc.edu

[PNW-Pilot]

Originally posted by k9bf
Hi all
I bought a new pilot with Navi last week. On the trip home from Chicago where I bought it, I got 17 mpg highway. Only had 12 miles on it when I started. After about 500 miles, I am still getting about 17 on the highway and 12 in town. Is this the best I can expect or will it get better after a few thousand miles? thanks
Ben
k9bf@uiuc.edu

It gets better after break in. We were getting around 22 on the highway, it increased to 24 after about 5000 miles, stayed the same to 19K.

The speed you drive has a great effect on the Pilot, we drove on a trip to Portland, I set the cruise for 65 for the lower speed limit, set it for 70 when that was the speed limit. Drove around for about 40 miles of town the other 370 miles were all freeway, we averaged 23.8 MPG for the entire trip.

[BK_STYLEZ]

I have 4300 miles on my 06 Pilot now and I get about 14.1 mpg here in NYC with highway/local combination. But I got 19 mpg on two trips to Maryland. I just hope my mileage gets better after my first oil change soon.

[Hannahsmommy]

HAte to tell you guys im at 12,000 and I am still getting 19mpg

[BCinTX]

70 or lower makes a big difference. I got 22-24 on this weekend's long trip, rarely going over 70. If I get much above 70 I only get 19-21.

[chazexl]

so 80 85 is why i have crappy milage?

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by chazexl
so 80 85 is why i have crappy milage?

Maybe, but look at it this way.

Driving 80 to 85 gives you the free time to worry about your mileage!

[cwa107]

Originally posted by chazexl
so 80 85 is why i have crappy milage?

Mileage is incredibly variable, it's hard to pin a number on any one factor. But yes, the higher the speed, the lower the mileage because your engine has to work that much harder.

The big things to think about that might impact your mileage are the following:

- Accessories that impact aerodynamics (i.e. deflectors, running boards, etc.)
- Weight
- Use of A/C (A/C is always on by default unless you manually turn it off).
- Tire pressure
- Rate of speed and use of cruise on long trips.
- How heavy your foot is during times that you're not just cruising.

Unfortunately, the Pilot's mileage - much like the other SUVs in its class, is just not that great. If you bought your Pilot expecting economy car mileage, you were sadly mistaken. EPA estimates are just that, estimates - they are achieved under idealic circumstances and will vary greatly in real world conditions, hence the phrase "your mileage may vary".

[ThePilotster]

Originally posted by k9bf
Hi all
I bought a new pilot with Navi last week. On the trip home from Chicago where I bought it, I got 17 mpg highway. Only had 12 miles on it when I started. After about 500 miles, I am still getting about 17 on the highway and 12 in town. Is this the best I can expect or will it get better after a few thousand miles? thanks
Ben
k9bf@uiuc.edu

I think part of the issue is highway miles. The manual states no fast acceleration, braking, towing or constant highway miles for the first 600 miles.. motor & tranny need to be broken in. I could be wrong on the mileage, but it's in the book

[Wrazor]

I'm not all happy about my "city" mpg...but am thrilled about the "highway" mpg. Below is a spreadsheet showing my first 5 fillups with results:


Date Gallons Cost Milage MPG Odometer Distination
1 Jun 30, 2006 10.335 $29.65 472.2 Local
2 Jul 1, 2006 17.630 $52.52 398.1 22.581 870.3 Florence, Ala. to Maggie Valley, NC
3 Jul 5, 2006 12.039 $35.86 248.3 20.625 1118.6 Local
4 Jul 6, 2006 16.250 $45.16 397.4 24.455 1416.0 Maggie Valley, NC to Florence, Ala.
5 Jul 15, 2006 16.756 $49.58 204 12.175 1620.0 Local
6 Jul 22, 2006 9.438 $27.83 119.8 12.693 1740.0 Local

Let me know when your MPG improves

Wrazor

[Poki]

I am very disappointed in my milage also. I just took a trip to Reno from SoCal. I averaged just 18.5 for the trip. Although, I must say it was HOT (100 to 113) and very HUMID. I probably averaged about 80 mph. I had 3 people in the car along with luggage, golf bags and other stuff. I had expected to get around 20 or so. I've got around 5,000 miles now. I hope it improves.

[ctobio]

Originally posted by Poki
I am very disappointed in my milage also. I just took a trip to Reno from SoCal. I averaged just 18.5 for the trip. Although, I must say it was HOT (100 to 113) and very HUMID. I probably averaged about 80 mph. I had 3 people in the car along with luggage, golf bags and other stuff. I had expected to get around 20 or so. I've got around 5,000 miles now. I hope it improves.

Dude, you were laden with 3 people + their stuff, which is probably conservatively 800lbs, the a/c running on a VERY hot day, and traveling at 80mph, which is not an optimal speed for fuel efficiency. You got 18.5 mpg, consider me impressed you got THAT much.

If you drove by yourself with the a/c off at 65, your fuel economy would have been much higher. I'm not sure what you could have done to make your fuel economy worse, short of towing a boat too.

[Mystique]

Does the use of premium gasoline improve gas mileage?

I've been using 87 regular unleaded fuel eversince I bought my Pilot 2 years ago. It's been running fine on this fuel grade for almost 25k miles. My fuel consumption is around 15-17 mpg city driving and around 18-19 mpg highway driving.
On few occassions I would splurge on using 91 grade premium fuel when traveling long distance to the same destination. My mileage would go up from 18-19 mpg to 20-21 mpg.

[sjlee]

Originally posted by Mystique
Does the use of premium gasoline improve gas mileage?

I've been using 87 regular unleaded fuel eversince I bought my Pilot 2 years ago. It's been running fine on this fuel grade for almost 25k miles. My fuel consumption is around 15-17 mpg city driving and around 18-19 mpg highway driving.
On few occassions I would splurge on using 91 grade premium fuel when traveling long distance to the same destination. My mileage would go up from 18-19 mpg to 20-21 mpg.

Not likely. The Pilot's engine is designed for 87 octane. Using anything higher is just wasted money. In fact, premium unleaded is about 10 cents higher a gallon than regular unleaded. That's about 5% higher. You'd better be getting at least 5% higher MPG to make it worthwhile.

Just doing a few tanks with premium isn't a good test. Try going a few months with premium to see if you really get higher MPG. Like it has been stated before, there are so many variables that affect gas mileage (e.g. road conditions, temperature, load, stop-and-go driving, amount of idling, etc.).

BTW, we've had our Pilot since November last year. Since we got it, we've had an overall average of 17.7 MPG. We've got about 9500 miles on the odometer, and I've noticed that gas mileage has started to slowly improve. In our experience, our gas mileage has matched the EPA estimates (17 city/22 hwy).

Last week we went on a 350 mile trip and averaged 22 MPG. This was with the cruise set at 75 mph, the A/C on, fully loaded with cargo (both rows of seats down) and about 400 lbs in people. In addition, we have side steps and cross bars installed.

[helpless]

Originally posted by Mystique
I've been using 87 regular unleaded fuel eversince I bought my Pilot 2 years ago. It's been running fine on this fuel grade for almost 25k miles. My fuel consumption is around 15-17 mpg city driving and around 18-19 mpg highway driving.
On few occassions I would splurge on using 91 grade premium fuel when traveling long distance to the same destination. My mileage would go up from 18-19 mpg to 20-21 mpg.

I've noticed the same thing.
Everytime I use premium gas, my gas mileage goes up 1 to 2 miles to a gallon. I always use regular 87 grade fuel on my 04' Pilot. But when my employer assigns me to an out-of-town project, my gas allowance allows me to use premium grade. This now gives me a chance to compare. When comparing both grades though under similar driving circumstances, I don't notice any difference with the way the Pilot runs, just the added 1 to 2 miles to a gallon of gasoline.