Gas Mileage

[09Touring4x4]

I know this topic has been discussed but the 2009-2010 model is now a year old so I wanted to know what are you guys getting out there.

I am still getting a little less than 300 miles on a full tank. and that is freeway driving.
City driving is way less.

[N_Jay]

Miles per tank is about the worst way to track milage.

[hondapilotjim]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

Miles per tank is about the worst way to track milage.

why is that jay?

[maxummus]

I did a test last weekend about mpg. The conclusion...if you drive slow and stopping less you'll get more bang for the buck. I drove on the highway at 10-15 miles less then the posted sign and I didn't gas pedal when going down hill. I also use neutral and coast before I come up to a stop light/sign. I manage to get 23.3 per gallon. So driving slower and using neutral gear for coasting will help your gas mileage.

[09Touring4x4]

Apart from the driving habits, city or freeway driving, coasting or not coasting, putting in Neutral on downhill, and other tweaks, what is your milage?
It also depends if you have a 2WD or 4WD.
I am sure most everyone keeps track of how many miles they got per full tank.
So lets just do a poll of what people are getting.

Thanks

[moda_way]

Straight-up highway travel on Shell 87, loaded for vacation, A/C on the entire time, the Pilot gave me 21.7mpg. On cheaper stuff it was about 20.9. Tires were inflated to 36psi and probably should've done 38-40psi, but given the load and heat, I didn't want to go there.

Daily driving in town (the wife's style), maybe 18-19mpg, but that is all short trip, stop and go, traffic light driving.

[AttilaTheHun]

On my first tank of gas since I purchased the vehicle new a wee and a half ago, I got 20.4 MPG hand calculated and that was driving about 75% highway at about 72mph and about 25% city driving. Not too bad for it's first tank. I will post the numbers on my second fill up at the end of this weekend. Hopefully it will be as good or better because that's about what are driving habits are.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by hondapilotjim

why is that jay?

First we don't know how "full" each persons "Full" is.

Even if everyone always stopped filling at the "first click" it is not the same for every car or every pump or every time.

Even if we assume it is the same for every car, pump, and time; we don't know how empty everyone considers their "Empty".
Is it when they start feeling it is;
"Too Low",
When the light comes on,
When the gauge in on "E".
Below "E"?

Even if everyone agreed that it is the same point on the gauge;
We don't know how far each person drove after getting to that point before getting gas.

Plus when looking at "Miles per talk" people focus on the "Best" or what they "Feel is the average", making any valid comparisons of something that is as variable as fuel consumption completely impossible.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by moda_way

Straight-up highway travel on Shell 87, loaded for vacation, A/C on the entire time, the Pilot gave me 21.7mpg. On cheaper stuff it was about 20.9. Tires were inflated to 36psi and probably should've done 38-40psi, but given the load and heat, I didn't want to go there.

Daily driving in town (the wife's style), maybe 18-19mpg, but that is all short trip, stop and go, traffic light driving.

Higher load requires higher pressure. Ambient temperature is mostly irrelevant.

[N_Jay]

On most vehicles these days coasting in neutral uses more gas then leaving it in gear since they shut off fuel completely when not needed.

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

First we don't know how "full" each persons "Full" is.

Even if everyone always stopped filling at the "first click" it is not the same for every car or every pump or every time.

Even if we assume it is the same for every car, pump, and time; we don't know how empty everyone considers their "Empty".
Is it when they start feeling it is;
"Too Low",
When the light comes on,
When the gauge in on "E".
Below "E"?

Even if everyone agreed that it is the same point on the gauge;
We don't know how far each person drove after getting to that point before getting gas.

Plus when looking at "Miles per talk" people focus on the "Best" or what they "Feel is the average", making any valid comparisons of something that is as variable as fuel consumption completely impossible.

Does it matter as long as we know the mileage at each fill up and how many gallons we put in to achieve that mileage?

[moda_way]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

Higher load requires higher pressure. Ambient temperature is mostly irrelevant.

If you mean ambient temperature doesn't effect tire temp, that is partially true. The rule of thumb is for every 10F, you get 1 PSI; so not a massive change. Add to that temperature from friction under load of highway driving, you could see a difference when you last inflated your tires in early spring to mid-summer vacation, be it over or under a fuel efficient psi.

If you mean ambient temperature with regards to A/C usage, clearly you are going to use the A/C more with an ambient temperature of 100F outside verses 75F while driving.

In either case, they are part of the load on the motor and effect mpg.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by cwa107

Does it matter as long as we know the mileage at each fill up and how many gallons we put in to achieve that mileage?

That was not what was being discussed.

"Miles per tank" is about the worst way to track milage.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by moda_way

If you mean ambient temperature doesn't effect tire temp, that is partially true. The rule of thumb is for every 10F, you get 1 PSI; so not a massive change. Add to that temperature from friction under load of highway driving, you could see a difference when you last inflated your tires in early spring to mid-summer vacation, be it over or under a fuel efficient psi.

If you mean ambient temperature with regards to A/C usage, clearly you are going to use the A/C more with an ambient temperature of 100F outside verses 75F while driving.

In either case, they are part of the load on the motor and effect mpg.

Sorry,. I should have been more clear.

I was addressing this part;
"Tires were inflated to 36psi and probably should've done 38-40psi, but given the load and heat, I didn't want to go there."

The greater the "cold" inflation, the less the temperature rise with use.

The greater the load, the greater the temperature rise with use.

Ac has nothing to do with tire temps or rise.

Pressure build due to temp rise from use is already taken into account when calculating proper and maximum tire pressures.

[cwa107]

If it helps the OP, attached is a summary of my mileage since May. This is based on a CSV file generated from 'Mileage' for Android.

Most of my driving (90%) is stop-and-go. You'll notice the last tank hit a high of 20.5 - that was a nearly all highway drive to Atlantic City and back.

HTH....

http://home.comcast.net/~cwa107/files/mileage.xls