SouthernBoy

While fuel economy takes a distant place in my order of things when purchasing a performance machine, it's still out there and when it's good, I jsut consider it to be icing on the cake.

My TL is one month old today; 31 days. I currently have around 1735 miles on it. I noticed that the weekend before the one just ended, my mileage had shown an improvement. I jumped from around 25.7 to 26.93. Well this past weekend, it's up again and now to 27.91. Mind you, this is all around town and suburban driving with A/C in use from time to time, moderate to slightly heavy traffic, and lights with the occasional full throttle run. When I say town, I don't mean Washington D.C. (God forbid). But western Prince William county is growing quickly and between it and Manassas, there are a fair amount of vehicles on the roads.

But this is also a good indication that the engine is breaking in nicely. Heck, if it tops 28 MPG back and forth to work, as I suspect it will (especially after changing over to Mobil 1), that's Ok in my book.

leo221

if you don't post your average MPH, your MPG number doesn't mean anything. i get 18-20mpg with average 23mph. my school starts this week, so i will have chance to test freeway driving.

rets

Feel jealous... I know my baby would run like that, too... if moving out of NYC...

SouthernBoy

To leo221;

The average MPH is meaningless for me since this was in-town and suburban driving. I never use the on-board computerized mileage check since I calculate MPG the tried and true way. However, I fully agree with you when taking a trip and hitting different roads with differing speed limits.. something I'll be doing in 4 weeks.

As a point of reference, these mileage tests I have seen are relevant to me since my former 2002 Altima SE got around the same economy in these conditions. I can use this to compare with that car for my tests.

I imagine I'll see around 29 MPG back and forth to work once the engine is fully broken in and on a diet of Mobil 1.

SouthernBoy

To rets;

NYC has to be nuts for a gearhead and a nice car. My hat's off to you and your patience. Do you live right in the city? And if so, where do you keep your car?

icex731

I only get around 240 miles off a full gallon...avg mph being 20

koobreez

My 6MT TL just turned about 1500 miles this weekend. My mileage is definitely going up now. Was averaging 17 and am now averaging 19. I live in Socal and am constantly driving in lousy traffic and when the traffic clears, I love to hear the motor breathe when the VTEC kicks in. Probably why my mileage is so bad... :-)

tlguy99

I'm only averaging 18 MPG. Then again my MPH is at 37. I actually had it at 47 MPH for a full tank of gas after the break in period.

arkk

Why would MPH have any meaning at all. If one were trying to see how far a tankfull would take them during "their" normal week, what difference could MPH possibly make?

Alan

tlguy99

It's kinda an indication of how a person drives. If you do a mix of city and highway driving it's very tough to keep your MPH above about 40. You really have to be on it all the time.

cM3go

man you guys have sucky gas mileage, are you driving hard? i have no problem getting 22MPG and 300+ miles on the tank, i have a 6MT and shift at about 3000 RPM

SouthernBoy

To ctlgo;

You call 28 MPG on a engine with 1500-1730 miles sucky? (heh, heh). Just had to do that.

thegabrielles

I am getting around 22 in city driving and 28-29 highway. Tha average mph is 37 city and 80 highway. Wonder how it would do with out my lead foot??

leo221

why not, if avg MPH is 60, then MPG at 20 is too low. if MPH is 23 like mine, then MPG showing 20 is no problem any1 need to re-learn elementary algebra?

i m talking about everyday driving condition, if you rev the engine up to 6000 all the time. that's a different story.

arkk

You guys can say what you will, but in my 6Mt my first tank mileage was 26.5, and on my second tankfull I got 27.9 mpg. I didn't record the mph and frankly, I don't care what they were, I only look at the mpg. And may I add, I'm one happy camper, or should that be driver.

Alan

rets

I average 16-19 MPH with 80% of time in City (bumpy and crowded) and 20% on highway (traffic and slow). Living in Queens, but driving often into Manhattan 3-5 times per week and driving a lot among NJ, NYC, Long Island, and Westerchester.

Yes, cars are always garaged, but my car is usually valet-parked while in Manhattan.


BTW, my rear bumper has 10 scratch or dings already.

SouthernBoy

To rets;

Valet parked? Man that would make me crazy. The thought of even taking my car to the dealership for service upsets me since I know they will be driving it. I'm really anal in that area.


To leo221;

I don't use MPH when recording a mileage test in normal driving around town/back and forth to work because what with the lights, stop signs, and traffic, for me it wouldn't make any sense. But on a trip I definitely pay attention to speed and its effect on mileage. For example, my Altima would return 32 MPG at 60-62 MPH on a two-lane flat country road. With the A/C running no less. On interstates at 75-76 MPH, the mileage dropped to 29 MPG also with the A/C on.

From what I've been reading about this car and my own experience so far, I suspect the mileage will be a little more than what I was seeing with the Altima. This will be interesting in the 75 MPH range because the TL has a bit lower drag coefficient than did the Altima. I wouldn't be surprised to see somewhere in the neighborhood of 33-34 at 60 MPH and maybe 31-32 at 75.

Something else I noticed with the Altima that didn't make any sense at first but did later. My mileage was noticably better in the warm summer months than in the cold of winter. At first, this didn't make any sense because the colder air contains more oxygen per cubic foot than does warm air. But that IS the reason for the better mileage in the summer. You see, colder air, being more rich in OX, creates an oxygen-rich environment in the cylinders. So the ECU has to compensate by causing the injectors to deliver a little more fuel per intake stroke in order to maintain the optimum 14.7:1 ratio. In the summer the reverse happens. So we get less power in the warmer months but better fuel economy. I wonder if the same will happen with the TL.

DMZ

Ut oh Rets!

Have your bumper refinished, then immediately proceed to and follow the 9th post in this thread:

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...ghlight=bumper
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