You can thank that on the wonderful gas we have here in the corn-belt.

 

I tend to agree with the doubting thomases in the group. There is no way in hell that the Acura 3.2 TL is getting 40 miles to the gallon.... none.... nada.... zippo.

Maybe you miscalculated.... maybe you used an improper test method. I dunno, but your car is NOT getting 40 miles to the gallon. The advertised milage for the second generation TL is 19-27 on a 99 and 19-29 on the 00-03 as reported by edmunds.com. These milages are important selling points for cars and are generated under some of the best possible conditions. Now you may have a especially good running car, and perfect conditions, and a very conducive to good mileage driving style, which may buy you a few miles per gallon...... maybe to the low 30s... maybe even to 35 but you are NOT... i repeat NOT getting 40 miles to the gallon on a 3.2TL.

Here is the correct way to check your mileage....

1. Fill your gas tank completely full. Make sure the nozzle clicks off because it is full. Then pump slowly until it clicks off again to be sure it wasn't caused by backflow.

2. Reset your trip calculator to zero. This could be your second trip calculator if you wish or you could just write your mileage down from your odometer and compute later but to eliminate possible errors let the trip calculator do all the work.

3. Drive your car around as you normally would. Smile at all the friendly people... flip off all the rude people. Take passenegers, drop off the kids at school, smuggle drugs out of the country... whatever you do.

4. When the car gets to empty or near to it (the lower you get the closer you get to a true average but do not let your self get too low and run out) go to the gas station. Fill your car up with gas using the same method described earlier. This will get you back (in tank fullness) to where you started from.

5. Look at the gas pump. It will tell you within 1/100th of a gallon how much gas you have used. Much more accurate than guessing when you are at the halfway mark or any other method.

6. Look at the trip calculator on your car. It will tell you within 1/10 of a mile how far you have gone since your last reset (which was when we filled up last remember).

7. Miles you traveled divided by gallons you used equals miiles per gallon. (trip computer number / gallons shown on pump = mpg)

This method will tell you very precisely what mpg you got for the tank you just used. To see trends etc you will have to repeat each time you fill up or whenever you wish to check mileage.

I get around 26-27 mpg on mostly open road trips (beltlines/bypasses) with a small amount of city driving (stopping every block or so).

When I do more city driving I get more like 20-21 mpg.

I have gotten as high as 30-31 I believe on long trips but did not compute the numbers and am just guessing from "the feel" and rough estimates. These numbers are not reliable as they are scewed by expectations.

Anyone who says they get 40 mpg please try my method of mileage calculating and post your results. I am not saying you are lieing I am simply saying you may be thinking you are getting one thing when in fact you are getting something else.

Gingerbreadman
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Run, Run as fast as you can.......

 

I personally have never gotten to 40mpg but I have gotten 37/38mpg with 350lbs in the car include myself, luggage and 1 passenger. No mods, using 93 gas, 100% highway except for getting onto the on-ramp and the off-ramp to the next gas station traveling 80mph to 95mph. Full before I leave the city, about 540 miles later, the gas light comes on, get off the next exit and full all the way up about 14.5 gallons. These are close to the exact #s but I have definitely gotten 35mpg+ on all my road trips that are about 450miles + one way since i am on the highway the entire length.

Normal driving I get 17mpg to 19mpg at most w/ 60/40 city/highway which is what most people seem to get that live ni NYC.

 

EVERYONE, and I mean, EVERYONE bitched about the 91 octane as soon as we got into Iowa/Nebraska, because their cars started knocking. My gas mileage went way down to about 18 mpg all highway, then after a couple of tanks, my PCM adjusted, I guess. That's when I started getting a higher mileage, but I was also taking it easy on the higway after getting that 90/65 ticket.

Question -- what percentage of gas is ethanol? In Michigan, it's 10%. Just curious.

 

Did you not read earlier that a possible problem was the fact that US gallons and Imperial gallons are different? A US gallon is 3.8L i think, and the imperial gallon is 4.5L (i think).

 

I've been driving an RL loaner for almost two weeks and I've been keeping an eye on its trip computer and cruising at 75mph it will consistently show MPG in the 30s, so I don't think gas mileage decreases significantly, if at all, past 55mph.

That said, the RL seems to use a lot of gas in city driving! Much more than my TL-P.

 

I always check my PSI, wheel balance, alignment, and I dont engage Vtec that much, but am I running 18s rim, and that killed my mpg, in a loss of almost 50-100 miles per tank, which is ridiculous, maybe is the lower profile tires? anywayz, it sux