vbgregg

Hi,

I am a new TL owner (white 2014 TL with Tech). I admit that I am still on my first tank of gas, but something seems wrong with the MPG gauge. I already have a 2013 RDX, so I am familiar with this gauge.

I only have about 50 miles on the car, but the instantaneous MPG is mostly in the 30-40 MPG range, while the average is only up to 18 MPG. Most of these miles have been on the highway, at speeds of 60-65.

On the RDX, if I fill up and drive reasonably, the average MPG goes up very quickly, often about 0.5 MPG every 20 to 30 seconds, until it gets above 20. Eventually, it levels out at some value around 25 (or 30 if we are on a trip). On the TL, the average goes up 0.1 MPG every few minutes and is still only at 18, even though there are not yet many miles over which the average is being computed (so it should go up fairly quickly).

It certainly seems that either one of two things is happening:

1) I am getting horrible gas mileage and the instantaneous readout is way off.

2) I am getting good gas mileage and the average readout is way off.

Clearly, if most miles are being logged at an instantaneous MPG of 30-40, then the average should be much higher than 18. Hopefully things will get better over time. Is there some reason the first tank or two is really bad? And even if that is true, why is the instantaneous MPG so high? It seems like the computer is malfunctioning.

Thanks,

Gregg

potmilkz

first off.. the car gets better in mpg once you break it in.. give it a few thousand miles.

secondly.. run a full tank.. record how many miles you drive till light came on.. then fill it back up.. record how much gas you filled then divide the amount of gas you filled by how many miles you drove before you filled.. you should be able to tell how much mpg you got.. approximately.

compare that to your readings on your car. it should be off by .5 mpg more or less

carbonTSEX

If you bought the SH. Has mileage is gonna be around 18mpg for a little while. Been there. I took mine on a road trip and it bumped up to 21.3 or a little more. Like pots said, the car needs break in time. I'm at 4600 miles now and it has improved from the 18mpg the first day we bought it.

Civic2TSX

I just hit 4000 miles and I'm finally starting to notice an improvement in mpg.

vbgregg

Hi,

Thanks for the responses. I do not have the SH-AWD, though perhaps I should have splurged! I realize that the MPG should get better over time. Maybe 18 MPG is what I should expect for a while. The main reason I brought it up is that the instantaneous MPG is so high. If the average is 18, I would expect the instantaneous to bounce around between 10 and 30, but for most of the miles I have driven, the instantaneous has bounced between 30 and 40 (and a few times hit the max at 50).

I will keep track for a few tanks. I just thought that there was clearly a problem here, though it may be that the instantaneous MPG indicator is way more optimistic in the TL than in our RDX.

Thanks,

Gregg

dtrayers

My 2012 is approaching 50K miles and I'm getting better gas mileage now than ever before. City, Highway, doesn't matter. I'd say the combined average has easily gone up 3-4MPG since when it was new.

sockpuppet

Although I realize the importance of oil, I never appreciated the effect on gas mileage until just recently. I was noticing that my fuel econoomy had dipped, notwithstanding that my driving behaviour had not. Then I got the MID warning about oil life, got a change, and my mileage immediately jumped from 16.8 mpg to 18.6.

LaCostaRacer

You're car is fine. What you may not be looking at is the AVERAGE MPH that also displays on the MID. That is what's causing your 18 MPG mileage. I bet the MPH read is < 30 MPH. Try clearing the MID and drive in the city before getting on the highway, you'll see your MID read < 20 MPH if you have a lot of stop signs or lights. Once you get on the freeway, clear your MID again. You'll see your MPH shoot up to 50-70MPH along with a huge jump in MPG.

This experiment should tell you that you get 15MPG in city driving and 30+ MPG cruising on the highway. Depending on what the split is (in time), your actual MPG will reflect where you spend the most time: city or highway.

The instant MPG read is not a great predictor of actual MPG. Take a look at the instant MPG when stopped at a light- it will read zero and that's the reason for poor MPG. It isn't predicting your actual 18 MPG any better than a read of 40MPG when on the highway. The only thing it predicts is what you're burning the second.