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I have an 2004 TL with Nav right now and considering a used 2005 RL. However, I read something in one of the forums which stated that the RL only gets 13 miles to the gallon. COULD THAT BE TRUE?

Can anyone give me an idea? I would think the RL would not be as good as the TL for gas mileage but how much worse is it?

Also, will I pay a lot more for insurance?

I want to go with RL but I want to be prepared. Please let me know. Thanks.

crazytsxmods

No, I average about 16-18 mpg in city driving and 22-24 on highway. Its not good mileage but its not bad. The gas tank hold about 3 more gallons of gas than the TL did at fill up from empty. Also the TL gets better highway mileage but not much.

vp911

In the city I averaged 17mpg and on only highway I was always at 27-28 with the RL. Only slightly lower than the TL when I had the TL.

I paid $60 less for the RL on insurance. Check with your agent.

jfprl

I had an 05 TL which got about 2 mpg better in both city and highway driving.

lflorack

I only have ~2500 miles on my '05 RL that I picked up in November. It get's about 24-26 on the road and 20-22 back and forth to work (mix). It's not broken in yet and it's a bit cold now , but I expect the mileage to improve over time and warmer weather. I had an '04 TL with Nav (like you) before the RL. You will get less mileage with the RL, but not 13 mpg. Of course, if you drive it agressively, it may get less than what others get, but that's always the case.

Go for the RL, you will love it. I love mine more every day.

1HOT NSX

You can count on around 20MPG overall in combined city/hwy driving. The insurance cost is something only your insurance company can answer because this cost is so dependent on individual circumnstances.

hondamore

I get a bit over 20mpg city and a bit over 26mpg highway. The insurance rates might be explained by the stability of AWD or by the fact that the RL is considered more of a luxury sedan whereas the TL is rated as a sports sedan.

lindros2

My 2004 TL got 30MPG highway, 20 mix (mostly highway), but honestly I didn't get much more than 17MPG over the life of the car.

My 2005 RL (with 700 miles) does about 25-27MPG on the highway (pretty good for a new car), and I can see about 20-22 since I'm less aggressive than I was with the TL.

Remember that the RL has a couple things working against it (compared to the TL):

1. It's all wheel drive all the time.
2. "300HP" (or 290 with new SAE rating).
3. 4000+ pounds.

NorCalRL

Wow.

You guys are getting much better mileage than my 2005 RL.

I have about 9000 miles with an average of 18.4 MPG over the life of the car. On two long trips it averaged about 20.5. Otherwise I have never seen 20 MPG on any tank of gas.

My average trip is 20 miles with 95% highway driving.

My temperature gauge never reaches the halfway mark, so maybe it's running too cold.

I'll see what the dealer has to say when I go in for the next oil change.

I'm driving modedrately agressive, but no more so than my 2001 CL, which gave me up to 26 MPG on the highway.

All ideas are welcome.

hondamore

NorCalRL, what is your average speed during highway driving? As I've mentioned before, I get just over 26mpg highway at an average speed of 75 - 80 mph (the speed limit in these parts is 70). Obviously mileage is inversely proportional to cruising speed especially at anything above 55 mph. That is, the mileage achieved cruising at 1400 rpm is significantly better than cruising at say 2000 rpm.
My gut feeling is that your engine temperature is unrelated to your mileage. The biggest factors, apart from cruising speed, are how quickly you accelerate and how early you brake. The other factor which can be controlled somewhat is gasoline octane - the better your gas, the better your mileage.

vp911

Yeah, what speed on the highway? Did you reset your trip computer when you took the highway trips?

1HOT NSX

I have 22K miles on mine and the average I'm getting is 20.3 mpg with 80/20 hwy/city driving. My average has been calculated by checking one of every 3 or 4 tanks full during the life of the car, and done the old fashioned way: #of miles divided by the number of gallons at refill - not by reading the computer. I agree with the previous poster that the running temperature is not a factor affecting your milleage. Acceleration, cruising speed and tire type and inflation pressures are the most significant factors - your driving style is important. I also like to accelerate by flooring the throttle up to cruising speed when getting on freeway ramps, etc., and my average freeway speed is around 75-80 most of the time.

My advice would be to inflate your tires to 38 psi all around and check your mileage the old fashioned way like I do for a couple of tanks full - don't change your driving habits and you will get a good idea of what your real mileage is. If it is 18 or less then look into it because you are doing worse than the average. Oil viscosity is also a factor but I assume you have not replaced the recommended 5/20 for a higher viscosity oil - even 10/30 would not make much of a difference but it would reduce your mileage.

AcuraRLBlue

I got the worst MPG.

Half/half of city/highway driving, and my average is 17.5 mpg.

Tires are inflated to 35/32 front/rear.

NorCalRL

I appreciate all the advise.

Here are the answers that have been requested:

I have been calculating my mileage the old fashioned way, with a spreadsheet. Each time I fill the tank I write down the mileage and the gas quantity. It's added to the running total on the spreadsheet, which calculates the mileage for each tankful and the average of all gas purchased since the first fill up. All spreadsheet calculations have been checked for accuracy.

My average speed is 70 MPH on the freeway with minimal speed changes or braking because it's normally a reverse commute with moderate traffic.

The only time I accelerate strongly is getting onto the freeway. Even then, I'm not flooring it, just getting up to highway speed with traffic.

Tire pressure is set at 32 front and 30 rear based on Acura's specs.

I would have expected that I would get better than average mileage based on my 95% freeway driving and conservative driving habits, but that obviously hasn't been the case.

Any other ideas are always welcome.

hondamore

The only other thing that I can think of that would cause you to get poorer gas mileage is frequent short trips. Starting up eats a lot of gas, so if you start your car several times a day, this may be contributing to your mileage woes. The absolute worst mileage I have gotten was when I a bunch of little errands to run and had to start the car about 20 times in a day. Even then, with 100% city driving, I still got almost 19 mpg for the tank.
Apart from that, maybe your gas station is ripping you off and you aren't getting as much fuel as you are paying for - or maybe my gas station is giving me a lot more fuel than I am paying for???
I must admit that most of my mileage statistics are based upon the MID but I've checked it twice the old fashioned way and it was very very close to matching the MID number both times (within a tenth or two).

Ken1997TL

I'd inflate those tires to 35/35 all around. Its AWD afterall

Zanello

In city stop-and-go driving I get 13 and on the highway in the mid 20s.

Big Dog

Same here. My daily commute is 7 miles one way; all stop and go (many unavoidable traffic lights).

texas_acura

I had an 04 TL and traded up to an 05 RL. I have been pretty pleased with the gas mileage on the RL; it seems to only average 2-3 mpg lower than my TL in similar scenarios. That is to be expected from a car that weighs 500 pounds more, puts out about 15% more power and is all-wheel-drive.

I also think that my mileage on the RL is less affected by shall we say "spirited" driving; seems like when I get on it a bit, the numbers don't dip as much as the TL.

In terms of insurance, I think I pay about $10 more a month for the RL versus the TL.

Go for the upgrade...you'll love it!!!

jftjr

The car is massively nose-heavy. I'd keep the fronts a little higher than the rears.

I go with 35/32, feels pretty good to me.

Oh, and my gas mileage averages about 18.5 MPG. Less than stellar, and premium gas gets expensive.

texas_acura

I went from an 04 TL Navi to 05 RL about 2.5 months ago.

I pay about $10 more a month in insurance; your insurance costs should be negligible.

I have found that in normal around town driving I get about 18 MPG in my RL, in my TL I think that number was about 19 MPG. I see the biggest difference on the highway...my RL does about 25 MPG on the highway driving between 75 and 80 whereas my TL would do 28-29 diriving that same speed.

This last tank of gas, I have been in a hurry and have been driving my RL rather aggresively and I have averaged 15.7 MPG...not too bad for a big (heavy), all wheel drive, 300 HP car...IMO...

I have never seen numbers as low as 13 or even 14 though on the gas mileage.

Treblig

With all of 323 miles on the odo, I am getting 16.7 mpg city driving (according to the trip computer). Not great, but I'm sure there will be some improvement as the engine loosens up. And besides, I'm really enjoying the drive.

NorCalRL

I've made the following changes to improve my gas mileage:

I filled the tank with premium. In the past I used regular unleaded.
I inflated the tires to 35 front and 33 rear, 3 pounds over the suggested pressure.
I'm using cruise control as much as possible on the highway.

After filling the tank with premium and running it down about 80% before refilling with premium, the gas mileage on this tankful was 20.0 MPG. That's the best mileage I've gotten except on long (over 70 miles non-stop) trips.

That's within the range of acceptable.

However, premium gas costs about 20% more than regular but increases the MPG by about 10%.

When I fill it up again, I'll go back to regular to see if the gas mileage is improved due to the change in tire pressure and the increased use of cruise control.

Thanks for all the suggestions and maybe this will help other forum members.

Nocturnal

Ok, I wrote up a long post with all kinds of blah that might kick some people in the shins. So I deleted it

Before anyone worries about a few miles to the gallon please do the math and see how much money per year you're talking about. Do the same before you decide to feed your RL 87 craptane. See if that amount of money is worth it to you.

I'm guessing if you can afford a $50K luxury sedan you shouldn't worry about a few hundred $ more or less gas per year. If you -are- worried about that you may want to consider selling the car and getting something a little more economical.

BTW I get around 20 I think.

NorCalRL: your RL needs several tanks of gas to fully adapt to 91 octane gas. Before jumping to conclusions you may want to burn at least 4 tank fulls. Long term adaptation by the engine computer takes some time to get used to the better gas.

ArchiChris

Where do you live? Is it high altitude? Hilly? Are you keeping it in "manual mode; and never leaving 1st? )
You definitely should get it checked out. I got 26 mpg [with less than 1K miles on the odo], driving 65~75mph.

ArchiChris

Hey NorCalRL,

I encourage you [and all RL owners] to always use Premium grade gas. First off, the engine is tuned specifically for that, with the admonition that using a lesser grade will cause diminished performance.

I got into a very lengthy discussion about this on the Audi A6 [my last car] message boards, and I found out that others had the same experience I had with my A6 2.7: when I used Premium vs. the mid-grade [not even Regular] my mileage improved almost 3 mpg on the highway. On an 18 gallon tank, that works out to about 54 miles, equal to +/- 2 gallons. So, while the 18 gallons cost me $1.80 more, I saved $4.90 for those 2 gallons of gas.

Dr. E in TN

I have never gotten less than 18mpg and if I buy the higher grade gas (which is rec.) I always get at least 20mpg. I have gotten better than this only when driving on long trips. I think 25-26 is an outlier and will never happen.

Dr. E in TN

What he says is absolutely true if you can afford the ridiculous higher premium gas right now. The bad thing is that I can afford it but often don't because it makes me so angry to be taken advantage of by the gas companies. I do realize that I am sacrificing efficiently.

lflorack

But as I'm sure you must realize, you're actually giving the gas companies even more money buy NOT buying premium because of the reduced efficiency you get with less than premium AND you're getting less performance and potentially adversely affecting your $50,000 car in the process.

jftjr

I never get more than about 19 MPG. Mileage on this car is, IMHO, pathetic.

vp911

how it can be considered pathetic. You have AWD with a car that weighs more than 4,000lbs with 290HP, what can people expect?

hondamore

The mileage you get is 50% the car and 50% the driver. Take a Civic to the racetrack, keep the engine reving above 5 grand all day and you'll be lucky to get about 15 mpg. Drive an RL on the highway at a steady 55 mph and you might even get 30 mpg. The point is that there is a HUGE range to the mileage numbers that different drivers will get. This is why the EPA does standardized tests to allow a fair comparison of vehicles. So before you buy your RL, look at the EPA number, compare it to other vehicles and then don't bitch or be dissappointed with the mileage you get because any disappointment is a result of your own driving style. It is certainly your choice to accelerate hard, brake late, drive well over the speed limit, etc. but don't describe the mileage you get because of it as being pathetic. Like Vik said, 4000+ pounds with AWD, big wide tires and 290HP is not going to get the mileage of an econobox.

vp911

^ 100% correct. It does depend on the driver also. I have been able to get the RL in city driving to be above 20mpg - keep rpms low, no flooring it, etc. I have had it down to 12mpg in very agressive driving.

bluemule

I'm getting about 25 overall with mixed driving in relatively open countryside here in Mississippi...and that's without attempting to get high mileage. I consider my driving to be conservative (disputed by some) leaning towards aggressive, but tending to much higher speeds on open and unimpeded roads than most folks.

My present commute is about 50 miles. If I fill up, get right on the highway and drive very conservatively without traffic, the mileage will creep up and top 27 and 28 after about 30 miles...the mpg would be possibly more if the distances were greater when operating under those conditions. Recently, I've been watching the computer, and find that allowing the car to decelerate slightly on hills (as opposed to accelerating to maintain a set speed), not punching the accelerator when passing, and driving about 60mph or so, gives what I consider to be excellent mileage results, considering the nature, weight, and sporting character of the RL.

I certainly can't explain why some folks are getting such poor mileage, but know that you have to get the beast rolling and keep it rolling for the mileage to get up there.

Using premium gas only!! And, tires at 32 and 30 as per Acura recommendations.

ArchiChris

Hey y'all. I took a 850 mile round trip this past weekend. Overall, with only 90 miles of driving on non-interstate highways, I averaged 26.8 mpg, with an average speed of 65 mph. [In-town driving + 65~70 on the highway.]

On the last segment back yesterday, from Shreveport to Houston, [250 miles] I averaged 30.8 [!] mpg, keeping it at 70 mph. [Weather was clear, cool, with low humidity]. It really helps make up for the 13~15 I get in the short-mileage trips I have in town. (PS. I also keep my tires inflated to 36psi, still well below the suggested maximum. It really hasn't affected the ride quality that I can tell, and I'm sure that it has added to the good mpg I'm getting.)[/FONT][/SIZE]

static808

I own both '04 TL and '05RL.

My wife drives the '04TL to work, (15miles one way). The trip computer almost always displays: Average mph is 30, Average mpg is about 22.
I tried all the grades of gas: regular, plus and premium. They all note about 22-23mpg.
The car has about 26,000 miles.

My '05RL, I drive mix highway/city (30 miles one way). The trip computer displays:
Average mph is about 35-40mph, Average mpg is about 21 - 22. When my wife drove it to her work for a week, it averaged about 19mpg. So I would guess there might be a 2-3 mpg difference between the cars. The RL has 6400miles, 1st oil change servicing this week.

Can't go wrong with either car....

ralteredstates

There was a long discussion on the BMW board a while ago (when I had the 740) that compared MPH at different cruising speeds on the highway. The best was around 75 MPH (about 27mpg)...great for the large V8. Has anyone noticed that cruising the RL at 75 gives better MPG than at 65? Some of these cars were designed to run more effeciently at higher speeds than the econoboxes.

Nocturnal

Energy requirements to drive 75 are quite a bit higher than when driving 65. Very odd that you'd get better milage that way. If this was true you should downshift to a lower gear at 65 to get the engine at the same sweet spot. I think there were other reasons you and others got better milage at 75 than 65 but who knows. I'll try it myself.

jftjr

No, I mean I don't get more than 19 on the HIGHWAY. My overall average is about 17 MPG.... given that this is a V6 car that's ONLY got 290 HP, I think that's pretty bad.

I don't consider myself a leadfoot... I just expected to get around 20 MPG given that it doesn't have a V8 under the hood. I don't think that's unreasonable.

I've increased the tire pressure to 34 all around, but it doesn't do much good. It's just the nature of the car, i suppose. When that VTEC kicks in, it sucks fuel pretty hard -- but given that the car's basically underpowered, it's pretty hard to keep it under 4000 RPM.

Hell, my old 94 Caddy STS used to get 20 MPG, and it didn't have the aerodynamics that the RL does..... and I drove it like it was a rental car.

lflorack

Well, there are many variables that contibute to the gas mileage everyone gets. Things like personal driving habits, traffic, temperature, how the car is running, power-to-weight ratios, premium vs lower grade gas (you're using premium aren't you?) and many more. However, given similar cars and temperature, one would expect mileage to be similar if driving habits and driving mix (city/highway). Since we're talking about highway mileage, I'd say it's either the car or you.

My drive to work is a mix of highway and city and I'm getting ~22. When I go mostly highway miles, I'm getting ~27-29 -- once I got 30 but that was the odd time. Both of these are in a car that's got ~4,000 miles on it and in the winter (it's cold). I'm not easy on the car either. When I say highway miles, I mean ~300 miles or so at 75 mph+.

Anyway, in my experience, the driver has the single largest impact on the mileage a particular car gets.