Anybody out there with short commutes 10-20 minutes to work, please post your MPG and MPH, travel time and trave distance each way. I would greatly appreciate it as I am trying to get to the bottom of my mileage problems. Thanks!

Background:
Ok, I know that there were several threads about fuel economy. But I wanted to add another twist. No matter what I do, I get 12 to 13 MPG in the city and if I do some highway driving, I get 14mpg. That is insane to me on my new 04 TL and gas prices are very high in LA. I do not drive it very agressively since I'm trying to understand the problem and tried everyone's suggestions. With each tank I get the same mileage.

My MPH are also about the same 12-13MPH. But the interesting thing is that I have a short comute to work which is about 15 minutes each way and on the Navy it is exactly 3 miles each way. That constitutes about 90% of all of the driving since I got the car in May 04. I understand that because the trips are short, the car may not have sufficient time to warm up, thus causing inefficiencies. But I don't really get that becuase the needle gets to the middle within minutes.

So based on the MPH and the fact that I make short trips, do you think it warrants 12-13MPH, that is 7-8MPH less than what I'm supposed to get. I do not think traffic is that bad on the local streets and I assure you that I am not driving the car very agressively.

I just don't get it, any thoughts "again?"

 

I think what happens is that this is all based on time . . . so if you are stopped at red lights
for 3 minutes of your 12 minute commute, you are going 0 mph for 25% of your drive.

My commute is 26 miles each way. About 22 miles are highway, and 4 miles are suburban.
Whereas I average driving about 75-80 on the highway, my average miles per hour, when
the 4 miles of stop and go suburban driving are factored in come to about 50 mph.

This is the only logical explanation I can come up with.


Rachel

 

I have a 1000 miles on my 04 TL auto.
I do about 1 hour total commute in city/hwy mixed in LA averaging 25MPH and my MPG is at 19 right now.

 

My commute to work is about 7 miles or so. I've only had my car for about a week and a half so far.
Since I still have my other Acura I've been splitting time between the two but I take the TL almost exclusively around town and not on any long trips (>50 miles) yet.

My computer says I'me averaging 25 MPG. I have only filled the tank 1 time so far so I can't really confirm but that sounds about right.

Let me ask the question this way; how many miles are you getting out of a full tank of gas?

 

Moah, that is interesting. My comute is from Overland Av. to Century City. All city, no hwy/freeway. In your case, for those 30 minutes each way, how many minutes do you spend on the fway and your average MPH (you think, like 75-80, or is it tight traffic)? Thanks!

I thought the short trips for me also had something to do with it, because the engine was cold or something. That is what I heard from another thread.

 

My commute is 4.5 miles each way, I have 5 stop signs & 2 stoplights (where I always catch red) & I avg 22 mph & 19 mpg. 3600 of my 4800 miles have been short trips & I have never avg'd less than 18 mpg, my best is 21 mpg. I just returned from a 1200 mile round trip & avg 74 mph & 30 mpg. My best mpg was 32 on a 350 mile stretch avg 73mph.

 

25 MPG with all city driving, that is incredible. Perhaps you don't have many stops. Is that right?

 

OK, this is a very similar example. The only other piece I need is how long in time is your commute. I do about 3 miles in 15 minutes. I don't have that many stops, just a few bottlenecks.

 

7 miles each way, typically heavy traffic, average speed on most tanks of gas 17 - 19 mph. I get 17 - 19 mpg under these conditions, which coincindentally is what I got with my last car (which had a 0.7l smaller engine, 75 fewer horses, 400 fewer pounds, and manual transmission).

Mike

 

I am averaging about 27mpg all city driving. Luckiily for me most of it is at offpeak times, so traffic and I have it timed that I get mostly green lights. My commute is roughly 22 miles one way.

 

Hey Big Ped,
As a fellow commuter in your part of town I'll share that I drire 16 miles to work each day (all on surface streets).
I average 18-19 MPG for all city drives. I've gotten up to 28 MPG on longer freeway runs.
You're average seems really low.

 

6 miles round trip to work.
All stop and go. 10 minutes driving.
Max speed 25 mph. No Highway.
Curvy mountain roads for 1.5 miles each way.
Difference in elevation ~1000 feet.
Average........................................... ....................14-15 MPG

Freeway driving with ~65 MPH 3 passengers..................................26-28 MPG

Freeway driving ~75 MPH sustained 6th gear (just me)......................28-30 MPG

Good thing work is so close!

 

*SIDE COMMENT*

I was amazed at gas prices where i lived. (I don't have a TL, I have a Accord Coupe) I bought my car at a dealership in a city 10-20 miles away from mine, and when i was passing by gas stations in those cities, they had gas prices as low as $1.82 , $1.92, $2.02. It was unbelievably cheap. *I live in TEXAS*

 

I'm happy for you man, but it dissapoints me and affirms that there must be something wrong with my car. Not hating you, you know, just dissapointed cause I know the dealer is not going to do anything about this .

 

I don't think there's anything the dealer can do. Short trips, congestion and low average speeds suck gas.

Mike

 

Thanks SBTL, nice illustration by the way. What is the MPH your getting?

I have the same 6 miles round trip but I do 15 min each way which would support me having a bit lower mileage than you. But then you mix in the elevation and curvy roads, now that's some new sh*t that I've never thought about so now I don't know. But it goes to show that there are people out there with low mileage. But you at 14-15 is only 5-6 off the mark. I don't have those conditions but a bit more traffic I'm off by 7-8. That's bad. Thanks!

 

I bought gas here like 2 weeks ago at 2.62. Insane. If I found a place for 1.82 out here, I would buy it in tanks and buy at least a year's supply. Better yet, I'd become a broker out here.

 

Maybe what you need to do is take a nice long all-highway road trip on a tank and see if you get decent mileage under those conditions. If you do, the car is likely fine and it's just the conditions of your commute that result in the low mileage.

Have you driven any other car on that daily commute? Was the mileage significantly better relative to its city mileage rating?

Mike

 

Yeah Mike that is the dilema. But honestly man, I think there's something wrong. I moved to LA a year ago. I used to live in NYC. When I drove my 02 TLS to work it was only 7 or so miles and it took me 30 min to 45 minutes cause I had to drive from Brooklyn (Williamsburg) to Manhattan. Under those conditions I would average anywhere from 15-18 miles a galon. No freeway, just had to cross the Williamsburg Bridge and then all was city drivin. And on a trip to Canada from NYC (all hiway) I did 32mpg going and 30 mpg coming back. So I'm not going to give up just yet. I don't feel that such a great car should be doing this bad under these conditions.

 

Yeah, I had an 02 TLS. But I recently moved from Los Feliz to West LA, as soon as I moved, I got my new car, so never got to test for mileage. On my comute from Los feliz, it was 11 or so miles each way and that took for ever. Almost always 45 min, like clockwork. I was averaging 220-230 or so miles per tank (no trip computer). Fillups were about 13-15 galons max. That is still better than what I get now. Any thoughts?

 

That's still only in the 14-17mpg range and an average speed of 14-15 mph, so given your shorter and even slower commute, 12-13 doesn't seem that out of whack to me. Engines run richer when cold, so your mileage is worse until it's warmed up and then compound that with what sounds like hellish traffic and there you are.

Mike

 

OK, guys. Here's mine. I start and stop my car 7-10 times a day in my line of work and drive 80-90% city miles. Most drives are short and range from 1 to 10 miles. So far I have about 1100 miles on my car. For the last tank, I am getting 15 MPG and 16 MPH with the A/C running about half the time. I sit in a fair amount of red lights and city traffic jams. The engine in the TL seems to warm up pretty quickly in the morning though. I've averaged between 18 and 19 MPG before the A/C was used in similar traffic conditions.

dsc888

 

Mike ,
I just took a trip to the office to finish some things due tomorrow morning (benefits of living close to my office). Just got back and counted the number of lights. Its a total of 15 lights. However, in LA the lights are in sequence. So tonight at midnight I only stopped three times. Once was a turn on read so no wait time. The other two were very short stops (a few seconds). I figure that I stop twice that much, 6 times in the morning and about 6-7 times in the evening on the way back home.

Your point makes sense and I'm almost ready to give up. But not just yet, dude its 12-13 MPG, that suuuuuucks!.

Who knows what is the criteria they use and test plan for testing mileage for all cars. Meaning how they come up with the mileage that goes on the stickers on all cars sold in the US?

 

I don't know under what conditions the car companies determine highway and combined MPG, but if I were them, I would...

Do the test on a day with as much of a tailwind as is allowed.
Use a 100 pound driver, no passengers.
Only one or two gallons of gas in the car.
Climate control off.
Windows and sunroof closed.
Overinflate the tires.
As slow as possible acceleration keeping rpm <2000.

I bet they do all that...

Hell, I bet they'd even drive downhill if they could get away with it....

 

 

THAT EXPLAINS IT!

 

Elevation changes will KILL your fuel economy, unless you coast down each and every hill in neutral, and then still it's bad. You use up all that energy to change elevation (potential energy gained), and then on the way down you don't get it back because even in neutral it's like your car is idling (because it's on), and friction is eating some of the energy (either through braking, turning, or just the wheels touching the pavement), so you never get it back.

 

I haven't gotten under 19 mpg yet on a tank. I spend about 30min to an hour sitting in traffic every morning on 395 going from VA to DC.

 

I don't want to take a long trip yet, I'm just breaking into 600 + miles. I wanted to wait till at least 1000 miles. Any thoughts on that?

 

What is werd?

 

Perhaps other people have other meanings for . But I will tell it how I know it and saw in person how " " came to be.
When I was younger living in Brooklyn, NY, the first time I heard it was in a situation where one guy (he was thuggish) was telling another guy (another thuggish guy) a story. After a strong comment (I think it was about him punching another guy or something), he said "that's my word yo." He was implying that he was serious about what he was saying, and that he was saying the absolute truth. Furthermore "a man's word" those day's (in the streets) was supposed to be a valuable thing. If your "word" is not worth anything, no wone would have any respect for you, such as in a liar's case. So if he says something followed by "that's my word," what ever he said, had more substance and "truth" value because he's putting "his word (a man's word) on the line.

Soon, that phrase became very popular and was generally used by folkes in the ghetto when telling a story or making a statement that was either funny, or regarding an upsetting topic. It was also used to add project with more umph what someone was saying.

One problem with it though was that it was only being used by people regarded as "thugs" or people in the ghetto parts of NY. However, like a drug, the phrase or its meaning was too good to keep only in the ghetto, used by certain people or localized.

As the phrase became more popular it started reaching other segments of the population. But for some people or segments to use the original meaning or expression, they shortened the phrase to just "WORD." Now folks that did not want to be regarded or associated with thuggish or ghetto could use it the same way. At this stage using the whole phrase was kind of "ghetto" but just using "WORD" instead, was cool. It still had the same meaning as the whole phrase ("that's my word").

Its use now reached a wider population and became so popular that it was as if its use was necessary when telling a doubtful story. It was so widely used and necessary, that if you dared to tell a doubtfull story or statement, your audience would challenge you. They could use the word to question if the story or statement was true or not. So if someone said something, onother person could say with an asking or question tone to it "WORD? (meaning is that your word?)" The guy/girl (girtls started using it too) telling the story would have to say "word!" If they didn't whatever they said was not backed up, had no substance or value. I never heard anybody not say it when challenged, so a lot of those stories or statements were actually lies anyway. However, giving the audience the right answer "werd!" would elliminate any or most of the doubt the other person might have. Occasionally, the audience would not beleive it anyway and say something like "yeah righ" with a sarcastic tone.

In its latest stage of development, the word got so popular that it was being used to agree with, or corroborate a statement or story. So if someone said something, you can say "word!" as if you agree or corroborate the statement someone else says. At this point, this was such a huge phenomenom in the streets on a national level that the word didn't even belong to the dictionary anymore. It belonged to the people in the streets. It was too cool for Websters Dictionary. So like many other words that have street meanings such as the word "PHAT," wich is really "Fat", but becuase it means cool, awsome, nice, ect., instead of overweight or the oposite of thin, it was evolved or converted into "PHAT". Likewise the word "WORD" evolved into " ." Today, we are still in this latter stage. However, one can still use the previous expressions, or phrase in retro. However, doing so, in my eyes since I am now an adult, would be "ghetto."

In business or in any formal setting (on a date for example) I cannot use "any" versions at all, becuase it is now so popular, but so "slang or street" that it is unnacceptable. In these instances, I am limmited to only "Websters and historically known "English" words or phrases.

And that my friend is the whole story behind as I lived it. Others may see it another way, but that is the Brooklyn, NY history I lived; that's my .
So I in the above example when I used , I was simply agreeing with, or corroborating what you said regarding ideal test conditions that would benefit the car manufactures. Hope this helps!

 

It should be broken in at 600 miles.

Mike

 

I think so too, but don't people recomend 1000 to be on the safe side and for even better longevity, or something?

 

I have about 340 miles on my car and avg about 20-21 MPG city driving. I hardly pounce on the car since she is still in break in. I still shift pretty early, but I can't imagine where my gas will go once its broken in, dammm, I can't wait. BTW, I drove the car back to Tampa from Orlando doing about 60 - 70 mpH and was getting 30 MPG in 6th gear. That was with the cruise off.

 

They might, but that doesn't make them right or wrong. An engine being "broken in" is not a binary condition. The manual says 600 is the recommended break-in period, so go with it. I put more stock in what Honda says on this count than others opinions.

Mike

 

My commute is 12 miles round trip and has one stop sign and one traffic light. Most of the ride is between 35 and 40 MPH, but there is one stretch that is about 30 MPH. I just rolled over 2100 miles and my MPG is increasing as the miles roll up. I used to get around 22 MPG, but now am nearing 25 MPG. When I filled up the other night and reset the trip computer, I wanted to see how high I could get the MPG to register. I had it up to 44 MPG over the first 8 miles, but was really babying it. Now with 40 miles on the trip odo, I'm down to 28. I think overall it really is going to depend on stops, starts and hills on your commute. As others have mentioned, A/C, windows and other factors certainly play a role.

 

My commute is 18 miles, 90% freeway, then later in the morning, an 8-mile commute from hospital to office, all city, then a 5-mile commute home from the office, 60% freeway. My mileage when the car was new was 19-20 mpg with this routine, and it is now 23-24 mpg on average. 12-13 mpg is simply too low. I agree with others who have said that you should take a long freeway trip now that you're broken in, perhaps 50 miles each way, and use the MIL to measure your gas mileage. If it's in the normal range, then don't worry, it's your driving conditions. If not, go to your dealer for an examination.

 

I just used up my first tank of gas on my burn in. On the refill, I got average 16 MPG. During this burn in, I drive local mostly, up hill roads and some freeway. This car drinks lots of gas! I guess I'm broke soon! :'(

 

I've got about 12L/100 km's
thats what it says in the Trip Computer Currently

 

Currently I am averaging 22 freeway. That is almost pure freeway. Surface streets are getting me 16 miles to the gallon. Combination of city and freeway is getting me 18. This car is, without a doubt, a gas hog. If I really wanted to stomp on the gas pedal I could probably get it down to 14 easy.

What would a dealer look for in a car that is consistently getting crappy mileage. By the way, this is all taking place in San Diego, where gas isn't exactly a bargain($2.45 a gallon for premium).

I'm not currently having any other major issues with the car except for the overly light steering. But this gas mileage is costing me money that I shouldn't be spending.