40 mpg???

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by rrando
I believe that in the future (hopefully soon) we will see some astonishing leaps in gas mileage -- even for big, heavy vehicles.

Why?

Originally posted by rrando
The 2008 diesel accord is rumored to get 50-60 mpg. That said, in 1980 (more than a quarter century ago) I bought a diesel rabbit and got 44 mpg averaged over 100,000 miles.

Isn't this counter your argument?
We could get 44 with a diesel 25 years ago, and "maybe" will get 50 to 60 (more likely 50) in 2008.
This seems like a small gain.

Originally posted by rrando
The record gas mileage for extreme vehicles is in the thousands of miles per gallon, which proves we can do much much better.

Actually, it doesn't. It just shows how what unacceptable compromises need to be made to get better mileage.
Most of those "high Mileage contest cars use very little "new" technology, and simply reduce weight and drag in ways that are not practical for a "usable" vehicle.

[sjlee]

Originally posted by rrando


Well said. But just how much is practical? 20? 25? 30? ...

I believe that in the future (hopefully soon) we will see some astonishing leaps in gas mileage -- even for big, heavy vehicles. The 2008 diesel accord is rumored to get 50-60 mpg. That said, in 1980 (more than a quarter century ago) I bought a diesel rabbit and got 44 mpg averaged over 100,000 miles. It was a terrible car performance-wise but I don't see the best mileage vehicles (prius, etc) getting significantly more today.
The record gas mileage for extreme vehicles is in the thousands of miles per gallon, which proves we can do much much better.

Practical? How about realistic? For an AWD Pilot, I'd say that you're seeing the MPG limit that most owners will experience.

The Accord and Rabbit are anything but "big, heavy vehicles". The biggest obstacle up until now has been emissions for diesel passenger vehicles (none could meet CA emissions standards). Manufacturers are promising cleaner diesel vehicles in the near future, but then there's the question about how reliable these newer one will be as well as how their performance will compare.

Everyone keeps raving about wanting more diesel vehicles. I'm cautiously optimistic.

[whizmo]

Originally posted by rrando
Nothing in the laws of physics says you can't get 40 mpg in {any car}. Your driving techniques just have to take advantage of the laws of physics, such as inertia, friction, etc. etc.

What we're saying is that 40 mpg is probably beyond the theoretical limit for Pilot mileage. By that, if you compute the power required to overcome aero drag (even on a clean car with no external accessories), and road friction (even with over-inflated tires), and compute the power required to overcome this drag, it results in a fuel consumption higher than 40 mpg.

The steady-state speed for optimal mileage is actually quite low, around 35-40 mph for most vehicles. But even at this unrealisitcally low cruise speed and on perfectly level ground with no wind, a Pilot would probably only return mileage in the low-30's. This would be the absolute theoretical limit - no driver technique would be involved since the car would be crusiing at it's most efficient steady speed.

I view internet heresay about 39 mpg MDX's very skeptically.

- Mark

[rocky]

IF you start at the top of a mountain, and glide down in neutral relying on the brakes to slow you, you'l probably do 40mpg for the 2-3 miles it takes to get to the bottom

an instant MPG read out would be far more useful than the A/B trip meters

[madison07]

I just bought an '07 2WD Pilot.....getting around 27 mpg...most of the driving is on highways using cruise around 70 mph....

[BigDozer66]

Originally posted by rrando
Nothing in the laws of physics says you can't get 40 mpg in {any car}. Your driving techniques just have to take advantage of the laws of physics, such as inertia, friction, etc. etc.

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/1...a-go.2992.html

from the above link there is a post by wayne gerdes who is a well regarded hypermiler:



since the Acura MDX is similar to a Pilot, I think that yes, a hypermiler can get 40 mpg in a Pilot.

I don't know anyone who can drive on a trip and not go more than 51 MPH.

Maybe that is what the idiots were doing on our "interstate" here the other day. People were having to swerve around them during rush hour to keep from rear ending them.

That is a good way to get killed by not driving along with the flow of traffic.

BigDozer66

[rleech]

If one wanted to take a close look, you could visit the following web site:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/

and take a look in the "Mileage Logs" section and see if there are any pilot owners who have acheived anything close to this figure.

My personal thoughts are that it's quite possible to get 40 mpg while coasting.. or rolling down a hill, or if cruising at 45 mph 1' behind a semi even.. for a short perid of time, but my experience has been ('05 (awd)) that I'm lucky to get mid to lower 20's over the course of a whole tank of gas... At the same time, there is something to driving technique, ie, one who brakes less will turn less kinetic energy into heat on the brake pads, but, I would say that it's very unrealistic to expect anything even close to 40 mpg in the long term in a pilot.. I have a hard enough time getting a 30MPG avg in my accord.. (even when being concientously (not sure if that's even a word))

I was able to get >45 MPG on one tank in my father's Prius and >49 in another, but to expect close to 40 MPG in a pilot is not realistic..

A quick story of warning about "drafting" for mileage....

I was driving (with the family) along I-10 from San Antonio to Jacksonville, FL this past January.. Decided that I would "chill out" and follow a truck who was going a very reasonable speed. (in the Pilot) All was well, the family was asleep and all, and without much warning, the truch in front of me (I wasn't following excessively close thank God) swerved to the "passing lane" in a break in the traffic in that lane... and there was a **Stopped** maintenance truck of some sort in my lane of travel reporting that the right lane was closed ahead...
Uh Oh.
At this point, I can report that the Pilot's brakes will haul down a family of 4 and their dog and luggage quite well.. (Probably the quickest that i've braked in this car anyways..) It was unexpected, and I was frustrated, but I tell this as a warning to those who would decide to follow closely to a truck in front of them.. you don't know what they're thinking..