I just purchased a certified 2006 RL w. tech package from a large TX dealer and am horrified that it appears to get very poor gas mileage. While I haven't burned a full tank of gas yet, I've put on 222 miles, 90% of it on the hwy, the computer says I only have around 120 miles of gas left. The trip A message which had over 900 miles on it when I "discovered" it, says that avg mpg is 15.6. The car is rated 16/22, and I was led to believe that it actually does better than that. My 1992 Legend got 24+ mpg. What can be wrong? I am having some serious buyer's remorse.

 

This has been discussed many, many, many, many, many times in various threads.

Be sure you understand key differences between INSTANT MPG, AVG MPG and the way the MID makes calculations and adjusts them relative to current driving (or idling) situations.

The bullet:

RL is a heavy AWD sedan....not a Civic.
City mileage will tank, especially if you leadfoot.
Highway mileage can be stellar with finesse, cruise control AND and understanding of MID metrics. Best if you clear out the MID metrics (Reset) and start fresh calculations. If you bought a used RL, it likely has accumulated idling time at the dealer and leadfoot test drive which will contaminate your AVG MPG metrics.

YMMV

Read up...you will see patterns, wide ranges, misconceptions, unrealistic expectations, utter satisfaction and more. Have a therapist on standby.



https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hlight=mileage

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hlight=mileage

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hlight=mileage

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-2005-2012-76/rl-2006-gas-mileage-%96very-poor-am-i-alone-752352/

*Greetings: At sea bound for Buenos Aires*

 

reset Trip A and B and you will see mpg for your driving characteristics
I have 05 and on 50/50 highway/city average 19 to 20 mpg

 

I had same feelings and after three month all that had confirmed. In city RL is very poor on gas (When I drive as grandma best I can get in NY 14.5 mpg) When I want to drive to have a fun top is 10 mpg. Yes. Worse then most American guzzlers. Sad.
On HWY RL shows better mileage (doing 65-70 mph=23-24 mpg), but still it reacts on your left foot very fast.
I could manage ~300 miles on full tank on pure HWY and 220 (max) in city.
There is nothing wrong with your RL. People on this forum claim to get 25-29 mpg. With all respect I don't see how that possible. Maybe they measure this when the roll from top hill. or when they are last from green light

By the way I have TL which is way better on gas (same driver, same city) City I get 22 mpg (easy) and HWY 31 (easy), but RL is way heavier compared to TL and slower. We chose RL for its soft ride, better quality. Also rember RL is bolted in Japan (big plus).

Enjoy your car. Save few $$$ on coffe and other crp you may waste manoe anyway. Buy additional tank of gas and drive.

 

I typically get 18 MPG or so around town. Granted, it's not NewYork City driving but there isn't much highway in that. On the highway, I get a pretty consistent 28 MPG although I do hit 30 on occasion (31 once) but that's between Philadelphia and Atlantic City (cruise control) which is about as flat as it gets.

LL

 

My mileage is the same as ILAND. 18 city and 28 hwy. Sometimes I have got 30 highway and I am sure it depends on the gas brand not octane. I always use 89 octane and taking the same highway trip, I can get 28 or 30. I need to pay attention to the brand I am using and stick to that one. Change your air filter. That will increase your mileage. Not the easiest to do just takes patience and a liitle muscle. Your remorse will turn into buyers delight. It is a great car.

 

I live in NC with 70% interstate driving and average about 20.8. 100% interstate averages about 26.5. All town driving averages about 16.

Love my RL. Great throttle response. Never gets stuck. Comfortable. When needed, it kicks butt with agility and acceleration. Just wish it had a larger trunk and more legroom for back seat passengers.

 

I've posted this before, but I have a 62 mile round trip commute each day - 40% small town back roads and 60% highway with no traffic. I average between 21-24 mpg. Better in the summer and worse in the winter. The summer vs. winter blend gasolines in the Northeast also make a noticeable mileage difference.

Averaging 15-16 mpg in strictly city driving is definitely possible. I used to take the train into Boston daily and would drive my car 4 miles each way to the train station and back. Even with mostly those short trips I still got around 17-18 mpg on average. If you are getting 10 mpg then there is either something wrong with the car, the way you drive, or your understanding of the mpg information in the MID.

To the OP, reset the Trip A mpg readout in the MID, then track it over a few full tanks of gas. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the replies. I should have done my homework before buying the car instead of relying on my wonderful experience with the Legend. My assumption was that gas mileage would have improved over time with better technology, and didn't take into consideration that the RL appears to be quite a different car. I tend to keep my cars a long time- had the Legend for 13 years and 240k miles- so I will need to get my mind right about the RL. As to the therapist, I won't need one- he probably drives a Lexus or Mercedes anyways!

 

What type of tires/wheels do you have on your RL?
Do you have the OEM 17" michelins or you have aftermarket rubber and 18 (or 19") wheels?
Tire pressure?
How old is your air filter?

Grippy/more aggressive tires will affect your gas mileage! I put better tires and 18" wheels on my 2006 RL and i lost ~1-2MPG on both city and highway. However my car does handle and look a lot better than stock!

With the OEM setup, i used to get 19-21MPG city ALL the time and i do not have a light foot. I do NOT race from stop lights, yet i like to push the car now and then. On the freeway, i was getting 27-28MPG doing smooth 75-85mph.

With my new 18" wheels and tires (they weight the same as the OEM wheels/tires) i get 18-20mpg in the city and 25-26MPG on the freeway.

I keep my tires are 35-36psi!
My air filter is replaced every 10k miles.
I use only high quality, brand name 'premium' (91) gas.
I run injector cleaner every 10k miles.

I am sure all these things do make a difference.

 

Interesting! I have 18" wheels. Why would 18" wheels have lower gas mileage. The 18" wheels/tires have the same outside diameter as the 17" set up. Is there a greater rolling resistance with the wider footprint?

Bill in NC

 

The size of the wheel is not the reason for the worse (or better gas mileage). What makes the difference with aftermarket (non-OEM) wheels/tires are the following factors:

1. Weight of the wheel compared to OEM wheel. The heavier the wheel, the more (negatively) your gas mileage will be affected. Only 2lbs difference can make a difference. Keep in mind, we're talking about rotational mass. 1lbs of weight on wheel can equal up to 8lbs in rotational mass. Lots of people neglect this fact. Imagine if your new aftermarket wheels are 5lbs.each heavier than stock wheels. Do the math and you'll see why your gas mileage and performance will suffer.

2. Rolling resistance on new tires. Grippy, aggressive tires often have higher rolling resistance than less aggressive, OEM tires. Also, some tires are a lot heavier than other tires in the same size. This will cause slightly worse gas mileage.

3. Aftermarket wheel design - some wheels are center heavy, some are heavy at the outer end, etc. There are tests conducted that show that two 18" wheels with the same weight can give you different gas mileage on the same car simply because they are constructed differently.

 

Amazing that you can get over 25mpg going 75+. I have set cruise control at 75 on the flat section of san mateo bridge and instant mpg is less than 25. Going 80, its barely at 20mpg.

 

Very good data!

 

what kind/type of injector cleaner do you use?

 

BG44K Power Enhancer Can.

 

I do NOT believe the trip computer for "live data". I measure the actual gas mileage at every gas tank fill up.

 

What differences do you get? Just curious.

Many 2006 cars have the Honda odometer error, and I wonder if that plays into it?

 

Interesting. I'll do the "manual" calc on my next tank and compare to MID mpg.

 

There continues to be confusion over Instant / Live / Reatime metrics and AVG MPG metrics. Both readings can be displayed by the MID or the Trip Computer. Thos the Trip Computer (NAVI Screen) can display AVG MPG and Instant MPG simultaneously, the MID must be toggled between these readings.

AVG MPG is tempered by idling, loads, leadfooting and even headwinds. AVG MPG is also enhanced by coasting, downhills. But they all are factored in as the average of total miles driven with fuel amount burned (whole tank or not).

Instant / Live or Realtime mileage is the efficiency at THAT very point in time. Coasting will yield 50MPG (or max out the scale) but it will have little impact on the AVG MPG as it lasts a few seconds at best. Likewise a floored launch from a stop will show awful Instant MPG, but the AVG MPG will tick down just a tenths. If you drive in this pattern, indeed you will be the friend of oilmen everywhere.

To achieve the best AVG MPG, fill your tank, reset the MID and immediately hop on a highway with the cruise set. If you do not have to stop, slow or pass traffic, the RL will achieve high 20's AVG MPG. I have hit 30 on 3/4 tank.
But as soon as you stop, slow or start varying the throttle, that number will rapidly decay to mid 20s. Likely your AVG MPH will be in the 50+ MPH on the MID when all is said and done.

City driving is much more difficult to summarize as by nature city driving introduces much more variance into engine performance, stopping, starting, idling, how long, etc, etc, etc. So the low end is much more difficult to trend. Your AVG MPH on the mid may be 20MPH in contrast.

In short, just because your Instant MPG may show a high (or low value) it does not represent the average mpg the car will produce over the span of miles and fuel burned. On the flip side, a high or low AVG MPG metric does not mean your RL has not produced stellar or tragic mpg on any particular driving situation durein the span of the miles traveled and fuel burned to equate the AVG MPG.

I find the AVG MPG of my MID dead on with manual computations I make on fuel station visits.

 

tampa - I'm well aware of differences between the instant and ave readings.
My comment relative to the instant reading was that I was seeing a very consistent instant reading of less than 25mpg going 75mph on cruise control on a very flat highway. As I increased speed to 80mph, the instant reading hovered at around 20mpg after acceleration was complete and speed steady.
Given that, there's no way average was going to work out above 25mpg at speeds of 75 or greater.

 

I should add other factors:
OEM Wheels
New Pilot AS tires
Tire pressure all at 33/34psi
Just had 105K service, so brand new plugs (however I did same test many times at lower mileage)
No wind, absolutely flat road

Over life of 105K miles, my average mpg is consistent between 19 to 20 where commute is approx 40 miles each way with 50/50 city/highway

 

Apologies if you thought my post was directed to you specifically or challenging your experience, it only followed yours. My post was directed to the overall dialog and other threads on this topic that persistently waffle between instant and avg mpg as if there are interchangeable metrics.

I would agree that I have not seen north of 25mpg at speeds in excess of 75mph. My personal observations of high 20-30mpg was with cruise set 60-65mph. I do not drive many roads that offer that high a speed limit.

I will refrain.

 

tampa - did not take your comment direct to me, but rereading my post it certainly came across thay way. no offense and always appreciate your posts

 

Itd, here's my comparison between 06 RL (just traded in) and 91 Legend coupe stick shift (still owned, 106kmiles and almost 19 years!):
- city (hilly, suburban): RL 16mpg, Legend 20
- highway: RL 22, Legend 27+
spirited driving. The Legend is much, much lighter, has much skinnier tires (thouhg they looked fat and aggressive when I bought it) and no awd. Rl had 17inch tires, much much heavier, and of course awd.

An interesting comparison is my VW Phaeton, a 5200 pound behemoth with a 4.2liter V8 and all-wheel drive:
- city: 8mpg
- highway: 23 to 24 mpg

 

Loved my Legend. And I would agree on the comparison, except that on the highway with my RL, I have gotten as high as 29+ on a trip from VA to SC, but more like 26-27 on the way back, but the difference is my wife drove on the way down, and I drove on the way back, and I think we made a lot better time. With the Legend, pretty close to 30, but that was on US 29 in VA where I had to go no more than 65 or get a ticket.

 

I would be curious to hear what the op has on the car right now for rubber. I recently went from the oem tires to a set of pilot sport AS+ Was getting 21-23 back and forth to work, and 28 on longer highway trips. This mileage got cut by 3-5 mpg the instant I put the tires on. It was probably compounded by the arrival of winter blend gas, as well as my newly found confidence it the cars handling, and my desire to drive it a bit harder.

 

pretty sure Pilot Sport A/S give a nice mpg hit, I'm using them right now. I have installed a short ram intake which bumped my mileage about 2mpg, I''m guessing it's mainly because I can now hear my self revving higher and obstain from it.

Otherwise I would routinely hit 5k rpm with little drama.

 

When I run on my Yoko Advan S4's definite mileage hit, even after speedo error, because the 255/40-19 is a little bit bigger than optimum.

 

Maybe it is time to revive an old thread? Does anyone know which tires did 2010 Acura RL Tech models came with? My car has Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 and stock 18 inch wheels . I guess previous owner put these on. I can't complain about quality of the tires but I have read here that these could contribute to a semi-low MPG. I drive mostly in the city and sometimes few miles on the highway. I get about 15MPG. If I drive 20 % highway then car gets a bit more.

 

Your car came with 245/45 R18 tires; as for the Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires contributing to poor fuel economy, not buying that; at lower speeds the rolling resistance of tires is far less of a factor than when on the highway. Regarding your RL getting 15 mpg when driven in an urban environment, that isn't even remotely surprising; think about it, given enough traffic, even a tiny little econo-box will get that fuel economy, or worse. If you want to figure out if your car has a fuel economy issue, take it on say, a 300 mile trip and then look at your economy; if it above 25 mpg, you're good to go.

 

And they most likely came with those michelins too. Most iirc did.

Tire choice, unless u plan some racing activity, really depends on the weather where you live. the michelins are good. I have Cinturato p7 and dunlop wintermaxx . both really good. Check detailed ratings and contrast at tirerack and/1010tires

 

I'm running the Cinturato P7s on my TL as well; a reasonably good handling tire (a tad soft from my perspective), very comfortable, still quiet after well over 30,000 miles, and best of all, they appear to be easily capable of going another 30,000 miles.

 

I guess that is not too different from Acura's estimate of up to 16 MPG in the city. I don't keep anything heavy in the trunk or in the cabin and use 92 octane gas. Soon I will have to travel 20+ miles one way to a place and will see the MPG readings.