Very low mpg, is this normal?

staged84

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Don't do more than 1 minute to warm up, and don't race to red lights and you will get the 31 MPG city. Do normal acceleration without gunning it

Also the cold weather drops mileage big time because car doesn't run at full efficiency till warm up. You will see great improvement as spring/summer approaches
I never gun to anywhere. Only excuse is the weather. Lets see if it gets better as weather warms up.
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hondamitch51

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Hey all,

I don't want to brag, but today I averaged 42.5 MPG on a round trip of about 100 miles [combination city and highway] driving. I have not taken off my economy setting since I picked up my car. I'm using Shell regular fuel 87 octane and today I used the adjustable cruise on most of the highway portion averaging about 65 MPH. I just drive normally and don't gun it constantly, just nice smooth acceleration and braking.
I used to race cars many years ago and my dad was an excellent auto mechanic. He taught me well how to respect the awesome power of a car and how to drive properly with maximum efficiency. Just because a car puts out 174 HP doesn't mean you have to use it all of the time. You'd be surprised how you can improve your MPG and driving efficiency by just driving with control [and still enjoy the ride!].
 
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Hey all,

I don't want to brag, but today I averaged 42.5 MPG on a round trip of about 100 miles [combination city and highway] driving. I have not taken off my economy setting since I picked up my car. I'm using Shell regular fuel 87 octane and today I used the adjustable cruise on most of the highway portion averaging about 65 MPH. I just drive normally and don't gun it constantly, just nice smooth acceleration and braking.
I used to race cars many years ago and my dad was an excellent auto mechanic. He taught me well how to respect the awesome power of a car and how to drive properly with maximum efficiency. Just because a car puts out 174 HP doesn't mean you have to use it all of the time. You'd be surprised how you can improve your MPG and driving efficiency by just driving with control [and still enjoy the ride!].
60 mph with cruise control on today, i saw as low as 2.5 L/100, the problem is city driving tho.
 

jeff925

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i find I am getting worse mileage in city and better than advertised highway. My first tank, 30% hwy /70% city with most trips less than 5 miles, I got 29.2 mpg.

drove 70 miles today with only 10 being city, got 39mpg (as reported)

I think the city driving, especially with a lot of start/stops affects the milage more drastically than I would have thought.
 


bcfmb

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My last tank of gas I got 20mpg. All local driving. A lot of stop signs and red lights. I also hit the gas when I drive. Reset it earlier today before I went driving on the highway. Used a lot of cruise control and was above 40mpg. Not as fun to drive but wanted to make sure the low MPG was my driving habits and not the car. The EX-T is too fun not to gun it. If gas prices go up I'll worry about it.
 

Sharkboy242

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Some of you must be driving in horrendous traffic conditions. My overall average is 35 MPG and its probably been 60% city and 40% highway.

I've also been using 85 octane but I am now switching to 87.
 

benttable

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I'm getting 30 city and 41-43 mpg highway when there's not much traffic on an EX. I get around 20 mpg if there's traffic or I drive less than 3 miles. This is on econ mode. I actually get better mileage in the city with econ off, but that's because it's better to speed up to 40 mph and drive at 40 mph rather than accelerate slowly and drive 25-35 mph.
 

somarilnos

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The specifics of the city, as well as your particular driving habits, all come into play heavily.

What kinds of drives do you mostly make? Short trips (5km or less)? Longer drives? Do you let the car warm up before you go? Is there heavy traffic when you're driving, lots of stop and go?

In the wrong circumstances, you're not going to come close to the EPA estimates.

In the right circumstances, you can absolutely blow them away.

I do a lot of driving on semi-rural backroads, and that can get me 40+ mpg with... non-highway driving, even during the winter. I'd be loathe to call it city driving, because, while it's not on a highway, it's a long ways from the traffic patterns of a real city. But how, when, and where you're driving makes a huge difference there.
 

idgystinks

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Hey all,

I don't want to brag, but today I averaged 42.5 MPG on a round trip of about 100 miles [combination city and highway] driving. I have not taken off my economy setting since I picked up my car. I'm using Shell regular fuel 87 octane and today I used the adjustable cruise on most of the highway portion averaging about 65 MPH. I just drive normally and don't gun it constantly, just nice smooth acceleration and braking.
I used to race cars many years ago and my dad was an excellent auto mechanic. He taught me well how to respect the awesome power of a car and how to drive properly with maximum efficiency. Just because a car puts out 174 HP doesn't mean you have to use it all of the time. You'd be surprised how you can improve your MPG and driving efficiency by just driving with control [and still enjoy the ride!].
That looks about right. I guess we all use E10. A gallon of gasoline has about 114kBTU while corn has 76kBTU so corn is a major factor in poor mpg. I watched a youtube video on a mpg test near Denver which trip computer showed 44 mpg but actual was 40 mpg over 100 miles. I just picked up my touring Saturday and my first 25 mile commute registered 47 mpg-98% expressway cruising. I set the trip B to restart and average every trip while A is the tank. Time will tell. Of course I remember by 1995 Accord LX manual and I worked hard to get 28 mpg back then. We have come a long way since then.
 


ja_rubo

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I was getting what I thought was pretty low mpg (usually around 28 mpg with it being 80%city and it being cold in Chicago) but now that the temperatures are starting to rise I am getting more around 31-32 with the same conditions besides the weather. I filled up yesterday and drove 60 miles all highway and my gauge said I was getting 52mpg (driving 65-70 all cruise control).
 

Danny Boy

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We have less than 200Km on our Touring. The mileage show just over 8L/100km with 85% in town driving.

We can expect 7-8l/100km in the long run overall driving.
 

staged84

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I caught this conversation thread while digging through the content list from last week. As a Honda fan first, and a drive review journalist second, I too expect 2016 Civic to produce not only exceptional comfort, handling and performance, but excellent fuel economy. While few "real-world" results match those stated by the manufacturer and generally substantiated by the E.P.A., more often then not Honda drivers report higher than stated fuel efficiency. Nothing reduces MPG faster than cold or extremely hot weather. Allow me to share a thought or two as to increasing new car fuel efficiency.
what is the ideal condition for manufacturer's city driving? I don't know what it is but seems like the model they do estimation on is frauded.
 

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what is the ideal condition for manufacturer's city driving? I don't know what it is but seems like the model they do estimation on is frauded.
EPA defines a very specific set of test cycles and ways to evaluate the data (e.g., compensate for aerodynamic effects) to get to the rated numbers. In theory the number is repeatable. But only under those exact conditions which nobody actually drives like day-to-day. Manufacturers have had legal troubles with EPA before for "cheating" the numbers. I don't suspect Honda is cheating. But I do suspect that Honda optimizes to the test conditions, perhaps at the expense of what happens in non test conditions. Note I'm not saying they detect the test and run specifically differently for it. That's what VW was doing.
 

NorthernEX-T

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Just be patient. My ext got 8-10L/100 when it was on its first tank, 2nd tank was a lot better and so on. It all depends on your driving style too. The best fuel economy happens with your foot off the gas, coasting as much as possible, anticipating lights, keeping the car moving, and getting up to speed as efficiently as possible. I usually accelerate from a stop between 1800-2000rpm which provides plenty of pull, especially 2000rpm.
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