| MPG has improved!!!
- Click HERE for Original Thread
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| BigHersh |
OK, apparently it took 3,000 miles for the "magic" to hit my MDX, but I am proud to tell everyone that my fuel economy (city) has improved by what I consider an amout worth sharing. (I'm currently nearing 3,800 miles)
My MDX has slummed around in the 10.1 - 12.5 MPG range for all of it's first 3,000 miles. But, in my last two tanks, I scored 14.4 MPG and 14.3 MPG respectively. (Trip PC showed 13.4 - 13.7 MPG)
My last fill up was on June 18th, (Today is the 27th!) and in that time I'm almost down to half a tank, and my trip computer says I still have 189 miles to go before empty. I have roughly 175 miles showing since the last refuel, which- if measuring by 10.25 gallons to half a tank, puts me around 17 MPG (but, 72 of those 175 miles were highway miles).
I know my fuel economy won't jump to 17 MPG, but I can live with 15... I'm almost there. I'm just GLAD to be out of the 10's and 12's... I don't know what changed, it still revs to 3000 - 4000 RPM on the average take off, but- somehow, my fuel economy has improved by 14%.
I might end up learning to love this truck! |
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| cycler15 |
I've always been able to get 14-15mpg city driving. Those stops and starts just kill the mpg due to the VTM kicking in on acceleration from a stop.
Highway I can get 20-24mpg if I cruise at 70mph. |
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| socalJD |
quote:
Originally posted by BigHersh
OK, apparently it took 3,000 miles for the "magic" to hit my MDX, but I am proud to tell everyone that my fuel economy (city) has improved by what I consider an amout worth sharing. (I'm currently nearing 3,800 miles) . . .
I might end up learning to love this truck!
Well buckle your seatbelts, the best is yet to come. In my experience with 2 different MDXs, it took about 6,000 miles for the motor to 'settle' and realize consistent mpg figures. So, you may experience better fuel economy from here until apprx 6k. Of course, YMMV . . . |
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| BigHersh |
quote:
Originally posted by socalJD
YMMV . . .
Took me about 30 seconds, but I figured it out...
Your Mileage May Vary...
Nice. |
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| mdxforever |
a few questions -
how exactly are you getting the mpg numbers ? are you resetting the mpg gauge at every fill up ? or calculating manually ?
What grade fuel are you using ? and have you been using the same grade and brand of fuel all along or did you change at any time ? |
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| carguy1234 |
quote:
Originally posted by BigHersh
OK, apparently it took 3,000 miles for the "magic" to hit my MDX, but I am proud to tell everyone that my fuel economy (city) has improved by what I consider an amout worth sharing. (I'm currently nearing 3,800 miles)
My MDX has slummed around in the 10.1 - 12.5 MPG range for all of it's first 3,000 miles. But, in my last two tanks, I scored 14.4 MPG and 14.3 MPG respectively. (Trip PC showed 13.4 - 13.7 MPG)
My last fill up was on June 18th, (Today is the 27th!) and in that time I'm almost down to half a tank, and my trip computer says I still have 189 miles to go before empty. I have roughly 175 miles showing since the last refuel, which- if measuring by 10.25 gallons to half a tank, puts me around 17 MPG (but, 72 of those 175 miles were highway miles).
I know my fuel economy won't jump to 17 MPG, but I can live with 15... I'm almost there. I'm just GLAD to be out of the 10's and 12's... I don't know what changed, it still revs to 3000 - 4000 RPM on the average take off, but- somehow, my fuel economy has improved by 14%.
I might end up learning to love this truck!
I can't get my milage that low no matter how hard I try. I drive it pretty hard too. I get about 22.5 highway and 16 city in the summer. Combined 18 or so depending on the mix.
What gas are you using? I continue to run 93 since mine pings on 87 when driving it hard. |
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| BigHersh |
quote:
Originally posted by mdxforever
a few questions -
how exactly are you getting the mpg numbers ? are you resetting the mpg gauge at every fill up ? or calculating manually ?
What grade fuel are you using ? and have you been using the same grade and brand of fuel all along or did you change at any time ?
1.) I am manually resetting the trip odometer at every refuel, and dividing how many miles I traveled prior to the refil by the number of gallons I put back in the tank.
I use the same gas (Racetrak) at the same grade, (89), to the same point (3rd click on the pump).
It's not an "exact" science, but the variation can't be more than +/ - a pint or two.
My numbers are better than what the trucks says now. Me 14.3 & 14.4 truck, 13.4 - 13.7. |
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| G. COLTON |
If I want to know what the "real" numbers are I never use just one tank of gas to determine the mpg. I want at least 3 tanks and then use the total miles drives driven by the gallons of gas put in the vehicle. I have found that the computer numbers on the MDX are quite close to the real world numbers.
On other vehicles that I own/have owned I have found as much as 2mpg difference in actual and computer displayed.
I once had a Chev Blazer that was only off two gallons of fuel used out of 155 gallons actually used. The Blazer display said 157 gallons used and I had only put in 155 gallons. That is probably the most accurate I have owned.
G |
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| MDXanyone |
I have an 01 with 98K and have never got that bad of milage.
I get 18.1 to 18.6 in town and 20.7 to 22.1 at 70 mph.
Maybe they changed the gearing in the newer models which would lower the milage but increase the get-up-and-go feeling. |
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| BigHersh |
quote:
Originally posted by MDXanyone
I have an 01 with 98K and have never got that bad of milage.
I get 18.1 to 18.6 in town and 20.7 to 22.1 at 70 mph.
Maybe they changed the gearing in the newer models which would lower the milage but increase the get-up-and-go feeling.
Where is, "in-town" though? In town, in my hometown (Waterproof, LA) would fetch far better MPG than "in-town" for me, in Plano, TX (Suburb of Dallas, TX), with bumper-to-bumper traffic and red-lights every 50 yards...
When I last gassed up, I met a man and his wife with a white MDX, dressed up just like mine, no Navi. She bought hers EOM February (As did I) from David McDavid (As did I), she chose the chrome step rails (As did I). :D
I asked what did they think about the MPG, and the husband said "Not enough". His wife said she was getting about 16 MPH. I told them I had improved to 14.4, up from "12", but still quite a ways from 16.
Based upon this tank, it seems like I'll be close to 17, but we'll see.. I trust my numbers more than I do the computier and fuel guage.
"G", I averaged it across two tanks, I'll be topping off the 3rd tank tonight, and I'll have my 3 tank average. |
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| mdxforever |
quote:
...it still revs to 3000 - 4000 RPM on the average take off
I beg your pardon ? I think its your driving style then, or maybe you always drive uphill or towing or fully loaded or something ? I dont remember being anywhere near 4000 at start offs. I do drive hard sometimes and thats the only time I see it go into into the 3k-4k range.
One thing I have noticed over my 9-10 months of ownership of this vehicle is that it gobbles gas like crazy in the low gears and/or when VTEC kicks in.
You dont want to be there if you want to save gas. The auto transmission decides on its known when to shift in a higher gear based on the torque supply and demand it senses. you want to make it feel that you dont want all that torque in the low gear - aka accelerate slowly and let it shift out of the low gears,
Secondly, in that rpm range the VTEC is probably kicking in. Another gas mileage killer.
Starting off, stop-and-go traffic and idling kill the gas mileage like nothing else. On the highway it starts dropping again above 75mph.
I dont know how well known Racetrak is in your area but you might want to try running a different brand and grade too and see if it makes any difference.
Keep us posted! |
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| G. COLTON |
I did not catch that "3000 to 4000 rpm of average takeoff."
I agree that that is probably where 3 or 4 of your mpg is going. That is a hard acceleration for any vehicle, let alone the MDX. I doubt that I ever see 3,000 rpm on any takeoff even when I am in a hurry.
G |
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| jpw94 |
| So the question I have after reading this thread is - do you use the trip computer numbers to see what your mileage is or do you manually calculate it. I am sensing most do not depend on the trip computer as their source of this information. |
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| BigHersh |
Last tank= 14.64 MPG.
So, it was a slight improvement, overall:
Last three tanks.
14.4
14.3
14.64
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43.34 / 3 = 14.44 MPG Average (City)
While this is still sh*tty, in my book- for a V6, that's a heckofalot better than the 11 to 12.5 MPG I was getting in the city for the first 3 months.
Real "City" driving, in metropolitans areas: (Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, LA, San Diego, Boston, NYC, etc..) Not "town" driving: (Killeen, Tyler, Temple, Ruston, Monroe, Sierra Vista, etc...) or Country "city" driving...
On the highway, even when it was only a month an 1,000 miles old, I got 23.1... I'm interested to see how that will improve on my upcoming 1,000 mile jaunt in September. |
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| BigHersh |
quote:
Originally posted by BigHersh
Last tank= 14.64 MPG.
So, it was a slight improvement, overall:
Last three tanks.
14.4
14.3
14.64
_____
43.34 / 3 = 14.44 MPG Average (City)
While this is still sh*tty, in my book- for a V6, that's a heckofalot better than the 11 to 12.5 MPG I was getting in the city for the first 3 months.
Real "City" driving, in metropolitans areas: (Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, LA, San Diego, Boston, NYC, etc..) Not "town" driving: (Killeen, Tyler, Temple, Ruston, Monroe, Sierra Vista, etc...) or Country "city" driving...
On the highway, even when it was only a month an 1,000 miles old, I got 23.1... I'm interested to see how that will improve on my upcoming 1,000 mile jaunt in September.
Yeah, mine seems a little REv-happy. I'm telling you, I don't drive cars hard, yet even with gentle pedal application, this bad boy goes into the 3,000 - 4,000 realm quite frequently. If I feather it, and drive Miss Daisy a little bit, I can keep it under 3,000, but the gear still holds for a while.
If I thought I'd be better served by letting the dealership dig into my tranny to see what was up, I'd do it. But, after hearing tranny nightmare stories on this site, I think I'll live with it. After all, things are looking better. |
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| Dr. Ken |
quote:
Originally posted by BigHersh
Last tank= 14.64 MPG.
So, it was a slight improvement, overall:
Last three tanks.
14.4
14.3
14.64
_____
43.34 / 3 = 14.44 MPG Average (City)
If you want a true average, add the total miles over 3 tanks and divide by the total gallons used. The way you are doing it is distorted because you have different mileage and gallons for each tankful. BTW, I have always gotten "book" numbers of 17-23 mpg on our '04, I think mainly because my accelerations are always relatively gentle, well most of the time. |
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| BigHersh |
quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Ken
If you want a true average, add the total miles over 3 tanks and divide by the total gallons used. The way you are doing it is distorted because you have different mileage and gallons for each tankful. BTW, I have always gotten "book" numbers of 17-23 mpg on our '04, I think mainly because my accelerations are always relatively gentle, well most of the time.
Didn't change much, but it did change... Downward.
260.64 Miles from tank 1, 18.1 gallons added.
254.54 Miles from tank 2, 17.92 gallons added.
264.98 Miles from tank 3, 18.29 gallons added.
780.16 miles /54.31 gallons
14.364 MPG |
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| JL_SS |
quote:
Originally posted by BigHersh
Didn't change much, but it did change... Downward.
260.64 Miles from tank 1, 18.1 gallons added.
254.54 Miles from tank 2, 17.92 gallons added.
264.98 Miles from tank 3, 18.29 gallons added.
780.16 miles /54.31 gallons
14.364 MPG
Both methods give you the same answer, the only difference should be in the rounding. However, your intial mpg values are slightly wrong that's why there is a difference. They should be 14.4, 14.20, 14.49 based on the above numbers. |
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