I just got a 2012 RDX and the mpg avg is 16!!? Air intake filter is brand new. I did have a heavy foot here and there to experience turbo but damn if this thing doesn't guzzle. Any recommendations? I see that the inter cooler is dirty... Could cleaning it help much?

 

You didn't mention if you were city or highway. City, not the worst out there. If it was highway, were you doing 85 or more? Once the turbo kick in, it sucks gas. Between 55 and 70, I can average 28 (on computer). Once over 70, it is a crapshoot. Watch the instant gas mileage indicator.

 

It takes some practice to learn to drive this thing efficiently (if you should care to, of course). I am not a lead foot, and I have done pretty well over the nearly 9k and two years I've owned the car. If your 16 is pure city, you're doing pretty well.

 

It won't hurt anything to clean it. Don't use too much force on the fins or they will bend and restrict air flow.

If it was dirty or restricted it would increase intake temp vs clean and unrestricted.

As for changing fuel mpg- zero effect.

To explain- take the example of winter vs summer air going thru the intercooler. A huge difference in charge air temp results in no noticeable mpg change.

 

What gas do you use? And what is your trip A avg. speed?

 

16 MPG in city driving with lots of stop and go is totally plausible. If I feather it in the city, I might be able to get 18 MPG. The key is to pretend the gas pedal is made of glass and accelerate only very slowly so as not to engage the turbo. Even then you'll still not crack 20 MPG in the city. I hope gas mileage wasn't a high priority when you bought your car.

 

And lets be honest here no one buys an rdx if they want amazing gas mileage

 

It can't be much fun is trying to squeeze every last inch per drop

 

It's funny, the rental car I have, 2016 Cadillac SRX gets 17 city , 24 highway which is way worse than the current V6 Acura RDX, but similar to my current RDX. As a daily driver, I get about 21 with the FWD RDX, all city for the most part. As in 25 minutes to go 9 miles. If you can get it to 45 mph without flooring it, i get over 30 mpg per the fuel tracker guage. Though as we all know, if you are first in line at the light, hard not to want to engage the turbo.

 

Welcome to the RDX life..........


On a related side note, I'm pretty ecstatic that my girlfriend is thinking about getting a Honda fit soon!

 

With my driving habits, I never got below 17 mpgs in the city or higher than 22.5 mpgs on the hwy (speed limit 75 mph). I notice a slight bump in combined mpgs with Hondata reflash and another slight bump with the ETS intercooler along with very noticeable power gains. I spent about $1000 for those two things mainly for the added power; but, it was nice to get about 1.25 - 1.75 mpg combined bump as a side effect.

I hear folks adding the 1st cat delete down pipe right after the turbo saw about 2-3 mpg increase along with +30 hp.

 

Thanks! I think my initial results were just me in my first couple weeks of excited driving. Now I'm averaging 24.7 and can maintain 26 for a couple days at a time mostly highway. I think I found the sweet spot in speed and acceleration that keeps it sipping a little better. Also I don't know how much the quality of one gas stations octane is compared to another if that's even possible for the same octane at one place to be any worse but I could swear when I go to the bigger name gas stations it seems I get better mpg.

 

When I first got my car, I was the same as you. My lifetime (Trip B) MPG was 23.5 before winter. After, it is now 22.5, but it will get back up to around 23 this summer.

I noticed I do get significantly better MPG at Shell, compared to Speedway or Circle k (Holland Oil). I am not normally by a Shell thou, and the extra tier 95 gas is usually much more expensive (Maybe 15 cents above Circle K's premium price for 93).

 

I recently got talked into having my fuel injectors cleaned on my 07 and suprisingly saw about a 10% increase in mileage. from 17.5mpg to 19.5mpg. I also just put some rims that were 7lbs lighter each on the car and perceived a small gain with that too (less rotational inertia?). I also have the reflash. Mostly City driving with a bit of highway. kp

 

I have an 07, I just got 12.6

Just shy of 177,000 miles, pretty well maintained but I can't say for sure, got it used at 175,000 in late February...

 

Just wanted to share my latest MPG runs.

I fill it up and took a ride to Logan airport from Lowell, Ma. About 38 miles away with light traffic. I cheated by staying in the middle and right lane keeping a steadying speed at 60 to 63mph. I have the heater on as while. I'm impress that it can achieve such great highway numbers. City mpg is a different story. Please see Trip B for that.

 

I have noticed between 50 and 60 is the sweet spot on the MPG. I guess highway EPA MPG is still at 55 MPH, but I can get 30 at that speed on a rating of 24. But once I tick over 65 and start engaging the turbo to go up hills and such, I get closer to 25 on the longer trips.

 

My family and I just finished a trip from PA to SC/FL and back and saw about 25/26MPG doing 75MPH down i-95. Not bad considering a loaded up vehicle, 2 and a half passengers, heh, and that speed. Ours is a 2012 as well with about 44,500 miles on it. (bought it last April with 29,xxx)

 

you wouldnt happen to have k tuner and a 3" intake now would you??

 

negative.