I think you are correct in that people may be trying to offset the reduced performance in Eco mode with more aggressive driving. I get significantly better mileage in Eco mode, but it does try my patience. The acceleration is very slow when starting from a red light, and acceleration on the highway is also very slow. The trick is to operate the gas pedal in the same manner as you do in normal driving mode. Like I said, it does involve some patience. If you are in a hurry or tend to be an aggressive driver, Eco mode may not be as effective.
A good test would be to get to cruising speed on a long level stretch of highway, and then reset one of the trip odometers to see what kind of mileage you get. You'd be simulating close to 'ideal' highway driving conditions. You'd be surprised how stop and go driving will negatively affect your mileage.
But it does so for less time and distance. Experienced MPG is the integral of this instantaneous MPG over time, so the time spent at any given consumption matters. And MPG is typically lower in lower gears, so getting into the higher gears quicker matters. "Accelerate really slowly" does not necessarily yield best overall fuel economy. I'm with BMW on this one.
I disagree, here - at least for myself. I did not use aggressive driving on eco, at all... I was purposely trying to see just how high of mileage I could get. Once I gave up on Eco and turned it off, I started getting better mileage with the same driving habits (the same habits I've driven with for a large number of years).
I bought the Touring for the 1.5 turbo. I don't hammer it unless necessary entering from on ramp to turnpike or Interstate, but I certainly don't baby it. Averaging 34 to 35 mpg mixed, and 39 highway. I expect better fuel economy come summer.
It sounds like the 'Eco' behaviour is inconsistent. After getting an idea of the real world fuel economy of the car, I stopped displaying that page on the dash. I found I was spending too much time trying to wring out better fuel economy, and not enough time enjoying the car. My previous car was a V6 Accord, so even at its worst, the Civic is using much less gas.
Dick does have the backing of math here. While there is a "sweet spot" somewhere in the middle, crunching the numbers shows that accelerating too slowly can be just as bad for efficiency as gunning it off the line.
Agreed. I don't think anyone is recommending to 'accelerate really slowly'. But don't underestimate the negative effects of hard acceleration against gas mileage. If you do it enough times, it will take a fair bit of efficient driving to make up for it.
Yet in a study BMW did several years ago showed that long slow acceleration to reach the speed limit used more fuel than briskly accelerating up to the speed limit. That does not mean full throttle by the way or even three quarter throttle.
Along with colder starts, colder/stiffer tires, more use of the lights and defroster, if weather is bad, slower operation/more idling, and on and on. There are lots of winter effects on fuel economy. Almost none of them positive.
