Specific question on Fuel Economy

[kunalca]

I realize there are other posts that talk about Fuel Economy in general (and people posting their experience, etc) My inquiry is slightly different and quite specific:

Honda lists different fuel economy's for their cars like everyone. For obvious reasons - Highway and City are different due to traffic lights, stop and turns, etc. However my question is this:

Does the fuel economy for Highway or City take into consideration Rush Hour commutes, different terrains (uphills and downhills, etc) ? Or is it an 'ideal' case scenario - Free roads, minimal slopes, etc.

If I go with the 'ideal case' scenario - I usually can hit the stated fuel economy - sometimes better it. But my average due to rush hour commutes is easily much, much more.

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[Newflyer3]

I realize there are other posts that talk about Fuel Economy in general (and people posting their experience, etc) My inquiry is slightly different and quite specific:

Honda lists different fuel economy's for their cars like everyone. For obvious reasons - Highway and City are different due to traffic lights, stop and turns, etc. However my question is this:

Does the fuel economy for Highway or City take into consideration Rush Hour commutes, different terrains (uphills and downhills, etc) ? Or is it an 'ideal' case scenario - Free roads, minimal slopes, etc.

If I go with the 'ideal case' scenario - I usually can hit the stated fuel economy - sometimes better it. But my average due to rush hour commutes is easily much, much more.

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml

5 cycle test method, all outlined here by the Environmental Protection Agency. Have a good day.

 

[kunalca]

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml

5 cycle test method, all outlined here by the Environmental Protection Agency. Have a good day.

Thank you!! I couldn't not have hoped for a better response. I frankly didn't know it was regulated by the government. I believed, that companies did the test themselves, and posted their findings.

 

[kunalca]

For new readers to this post interested as I was, here is what I found in summary (Thanks to Newflyer3 for sharing the link., Please visit the link he posted for more details)

City: Represents urban driving, in which a vehicle is started with the engine cold and driven in stop-and-go rush hour traffic. (Approx: 11 miles averaging at 22 mph)

Highway: Represents a mixture of rural and Interstate highway driving with a warmed-up engine, typical of longer trips in free-flowing traffic. (Approx: 10 miles averaging at 48 mph)

Other info:

Cold weather and frequent short trips can reduce fuel economy, since your engine doesn't operate efficiently until it is warmed up. In colder weather, it takes longer for your engine to warm, and on short trips, your vehicle operates a smaller percentage of time at the desired temperature. Note: Letting your car idle to warm-up doesn't help your fuel economy. It actually uses more fuel and creates more pollution.

Driving on hilly or mountainous terrain or on unpaved roads can reduce fuel economy. The EPA test assumes vehicles operate on flat ground.

 

[TimberWolf]

Here is an interesting article on how fuel economy is measured:

http://jalopnik.com/how-fuel-economy-is-measured-and-why-you-get-different-1716232721

 

[IronFusion]

I realize there are other posts that talk about Fuel Economy in general (and people posting their experience, etc) My inquiry is slightly different and quite specific:

Honda lists different fuel economy's for their cars like everyone. For obvious reasons - Highway and City are different due to traffic lights, stop and turns, etc. However my question is this:

Does the fuel economy for Highway or City take into consideration Rush Hour commutes, different terrains (uphills and downhills, etc) ? Or is it an 'ideal' case scenario - Free roads, minimal slopes, etc.

If I go with the 'ideal case' scenario - I usually can hit the stated fuel economy - sometimes better it. But my average due to rush hour commutes is easily much, much more.

They're generally unrealistic tests that receive a lot of push back from evolving much. All the car companies game the rules and basis of the tests. The speed ranges that are tested are particularly unrealistic. Ford got hammered by customers when none of them were getting anything close to the eMPG on the CMax. Read about that, and you may understand better.
But the test is applied equally to all cars, so it serves as a basis for comparison.

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