2010 TL SH Manual .. 80% city driving, typically in 10 mile trips.

I am LUCKY to get 11.5 mpg. I have been grandma driving the car. I recently swapped out the Michellin PS2 with Michellin AS/3 in hopes of carving out a few more mpg nope. Had the tires filled with Nitrogen (I know I know, chasing a pipe dream). I've tried shifting below 2,000 rpm, 2,500 rpm, etc etc.

I'm lucky to see 190 miles a tank. There's got to be something going on or are Acura's EPA MPG incorrect? I was willing to put up with the 17mpg when I bought the car, but don't see how city driving can yield anywhere close to 17mpg Acura reports.

Any input? Sigh. Had the car for a short while, thinking about trading it in for a 335 already and reaping the benefits of real world 25-30mpg I'm seeing on f30post.

 

Post your MID calculated MPH data and we'll be able to help you more. It will be < 25 MPH and will likely be your problem. In fact, I'll go on a limb and predict it's less than 20 MPH.

 

OP...You are seriously considering trading a vehicle so you can save 20-30$ a month?! You do realize the money you will lose on the trade will never be recuperated. In addition, you are doing mostly city driving so you can't expect to get good mileage. Who's to say that you will get the mileage as being claimed on the forums...We get good mileage so that could mislead people. I am averaging 9L/100km which is about 26mpg.

 

The TL 6MT is indeed rated at 17/25 city/highway.

I've been driving mostly city (<35-40mph) with constant stop and go and I've been getting ~16.5mpg, and that's with heavy city traffic and winter gas blend.

Something doesn't sound right. Are you using premium gas? Are you using synthetic 5w-20? Did you reset your trip computer 'A' and then seeing what the MID tells you?

 

MPH average is ~24. In what real world does city driving average anywhere over 25 ?

Yes, my gas MPG resets each time I fill on A. Each time, its under 12 mpg. Running only premium.

Weather, I got a fairly great deal on my car, the loss would be minimal. I would essentially be over doubling my gas mileage.

 

^^ Well, if the loss is minimal, then that's not too bad but its still a shame that you would be giving up on an amazing car simply because you are not getting great fuel mileage. Give it a chance for the weather to warm up and test it on non city driving.

 

Ease up on the throttle maybe? Lol. I'm mostly hwy and average around 23 mpg, FWD and I like to haul on it. It's the stop and go that kills you. Doesn't seem so bad to me but then again my truck only gets 10 mpg on the hwy which makes anything look good.

 

No response to whether this is "computed" or by the MID. The MID in my 2009 RDX is pretty accurate (pun intended), but the MID in my Chevy truck is consistently low by 1.5mpg which would still only give you 11.5 + 1.5 = 13mpg. And when you say per *tank* how many gallons is that for a fillup? 12 or 16 gallons?

 

I average 17 in my TL, I only top out at 20 on the highway so far, but that's at 80 mph.

 

Paying thousands more for a car to save 20$ a month on gas lol. Thats like saying I have a C class and it doesn't give me good gas mileage, let me go buy a tesla since it will save me money on gas

 

I think there might still be some discrepancies that need working out for the real reason for poor MPG:

1. First the MID gives you a discrete value- it is not approximate. I'll assume ~24 means 24 and is not an estimate like people do about %city driving. If the MID is set to automatically reset, I trust you are actually looking at the MID's MPH value and not guessing what it might say. If this is going on, I suggest turning off the auto-reset feature and reset the MID manually so you can see the MPH data. That's what I do and one reason I can predict MPG via MPH information.

2. I have learned to trust the Acura MID as being very close to actual but the OP doesn't actually say what the actual MPG is so perhaps there is
something going on with the MID's computation of MPG possibly.

3. There might also be some discrepancy in the accuracy of the gas pumps used possibly. This can happen is the OP goes to lots of different gas stations. It would be nice to hear how the OP fills up his tank and if multiple gas stations are used.

All I can say is if the MID says 24 MPH for a tank's worth of driving, you should be getting 17-20MPG. Note the MID's MPH calculation simply divides the car's total engine running time by the distance traveled and should be extremely accurate. The MID's MPG calculation is similar but it calculates distance traveled by gas consumed and also is very accurate.

 

My 2013 FWD TL gets about 13 around town, compared to my 2007 Avalon which got 20 in the same scenario. I don't drive enough miles to really worry about it though, but when the lease is up I think my next car will be a hybrid or something like a Tesla since I mainly drive around the city.

 

Some of you guys must be really heavy on the foot! My wife's 2013 TL gets at WORST 17-18 mpg based on her driving on city streets 3 miles to work and 3 miles back from work every day with occasional longer jaunts. More realistically we have gotten 19-20 mpg since we usually do at least some freeway driving once a week.

 

I get around 13 too... and that is totally normal actually because the area I live has lot of traffic congestion and hills (San Francisco) while I was driving around Anaheim i used to get around 17mpg so it really depends on variables of the city driving too. But I agree with some other comments here if you bought this car for gas mileage you probably have wrong car... selling it for an extra 30 dollar savings is not worth it. I got the car just for SHAWD and so far love it!

 

this is the first i've ever heard of trading for a bmw to save money

 

bmw only lease.. do not never buy

 

Im getting 21 and I drive city all day everyday.

 

The TL Sh-AWD gets pretty decent mileage for such a big heavy car and AWD...I am getting 1mpg more on average with a 2.0T ATS RWD....A car that is much lighter, smaller, and not AWD..

 

OP, are you Italian too?

 

Regardless of if the OP uses certain tires, gas, oil or what his average speed is, the main thing that is truly going to affect his gas mileage is if the car is getting up to operating temperature during the times that he drives it. If he's doing average trips of 5-7 minutes in length, then the coolant and oil will not be warming up enough.

Other things he could need include an alignment, maybe he has low tire pressure and this cold weather is killing a lot of MPG numbers right now for everybody. Seat Heaters being on will also make the alternator work harder, making more load on the engine.

 

^There are probably a dozen things that can affect fuel economy, engine oil viscosity comes in really low on the list. I don't think a five to seven mile trip is going to provide the poor MPG's (two or three mile maybe).

I would consider these factors first:

Excessive idling.

Quick acceleration and heavy braking. (Again, OP might be a Mario)

Running electrical accessories.

Driving on hilly or mountainous terrain.

Cold weather and winter blend gasoline.

Cargo or cargo racks.

Carrying excessive weight.

SH-AWD.

 

I also do about 80% highway driving but that really doesn't tell the whole story. I live in the suburbs of the NYC metro area and my average speed is only 27mph. Also, I tend to idle a bit to warm up the interior during the winter months so that it is comfortable enough for my toddler to get in....which would make my 20 or so mpg make sense.

Should really take a look at your driving habits. If I was driving in Manhattan all the time, I think I would be lucky to get 11.5mpg.

Take your TL on a highway trip of 100 miles or so... and I am willing to bet, if you car is in tip top shape, you will be getting 400+ miles per tank.

 

you right food is the problem, I would see about trading that in....

 

That seems about right if you're driving in a super metro area.

 

I'm in San Francisco too, morning / evening traffic jams, idling on freeways due to traffic, up hills, stop signs and the list goes on and on. Read an article about cities that provide the most time wasted in traffic.... #3 San Francisco.

I get about 13-17mpg on average, I do drive pretty aggressive at times and SH-AWD 6MT!

 

^ This. Compared to my wife, I get about 1-2MPG less in the same car under the same driving conditions. I simply drive harder and it is reflected in the MPGs.

 

For this new 2012 owner this explanation is super helpful!

 

Okay, 11.5 mpg seems ridiculously low, but if you drive hard in the city, sit idle in traffic, and live in a hilly, congested area .... it is possible.

You might get 13 mpg in a 4 cylinder Accord in those conditions.

My computer says I am getting 29 mpg in my 2012 FWD. I run premium, use 5w 30 synthetic oil, and drive normally, and it is flat where I live, with very little traffic.

Would like to hear what type of mileage you get with another 300hp vehicle, under the exact same conditions.

 

The OP should check the air filter for dirt and dust - this can rob the car of some MPG.


Proper inflation of tires also.

 

My RL is rated at 18/24 I think, but I've been doing a lot of testing, and it seems more like 10/30. Every time I come to a complete stop I will get 10mpg until I breach cruising speed. The only way I can get more than 15mpg in stop and go traffic is to coast a lot, which balances it out. Accelerate slowly, coast, and 20mpg city is possible. I can easily get 30+mpg on the highway by using the same tactics.

PS, a hilly terrain may be what OP is dealing with. In that case, I'd focus on accelerating on the down slopes, and coasting over the peaks.

 

My data points, for what they are worth:

Total of about 13K on my odometer so far.

When averaging about 23mph for the tank, I get about 18mpg. This is on relatively flat ground with about 80% stop-and-go traffic on my 6AT. My air conditioning would be on frequently, while I'm idling on the freeway.

When averaging about 30mph for the tank, I get about 22mpg.

When I averaged 70mph on the tank (on vacation on the highway), I got about 27-28mpg.

I use premium unleaded and am on 5W-20 oil in my 3.7L.

 

no matter what the conditions are.. if you are doing stop and go traffic alot then you are getting raped in mpg.

it takes a good amount of gas to get this heavy car going from a stop.

 

my 50mph average turned out 24.5mpg on the only road trip that i've taken so far with my '14. What's strange for me is that suburbs with 23-25mph average, no matter how hard I drive it seems to always do between 19-20. As a matter of fact early on i recall getting 17-19 going easy and then the next time I would drive it hard and do essentially the same lol.

 

Just like the other poster said, what's a real killer is when I'm idling in traffic with my air conditioner on. Starting and stopping repeatedly to 10 or 15 mph can quickly absolutely kill my MPG's.

Oh well, I didn't buy a 4000lb AWD sports sedan for the best gas mileage anyway. It's like eating an ice cream sundae, then complaining about getting fat!

 

11.5mpg?! I drive a 09 TL SH-AWD and I average anywhere from 14-17 driving city..

 

11.5mpg seems way too much. During the worst traffic days (stop and go situations) I am still averaging 16-17mpg. Under normal mixed hwy and city driving and moderate traffic I get roughly 20mpg.

 

Your numbers definitely jive with my observations for 8 years. The TL is one consistent machine for MPH implies=> MPG. I see this everytime I enter a few months worth of receipts into www.fueleconomy.gov. As soon as I type "MPH=XX" the resulting tooltip in the comments field will give me a line with "MPH=XX MPG=yy" and there might be just one variation of one MPG. This is with 65,000 miles worth of entries so I have learned to trust the MID's MPG calculation.

 

I have an auto SH-AWD with less than 3k miles. Reset after filling up and during my stop and go commute to and from work totaling 6 miles in city traffic, I was getting 11.8 mpg per MID in "S" mode. Once I mix up freeway driving which is just 10% of the time on weekends, it bumps avg to 16-17mpg. Fyi I'm not driving it like a Prius to save gas.

 

On the flip side, if you drove a Prius like your Acura, you'll get 30mpg, instead of 50mpg. However, instead of the satisfaction of a high-revving AWD sports sedan, you'll see how it feels to drive a straining rolly-polly Rubbermaid tin-can with a dustbuster engine really sounds like .

I'm also in the Bay Area, and I have to admit that there is one commute route, if I bypass the freeway and take the city streets (50 minutes, 16 miles), that my (former) 2011 Prius got 50mpg on Regular Unleaded, while my TL gets on 18mpg Premium. In this context, the Prius REALLY kicks butt!