Mdrnstl

Bought a new civic 2 weeks ago. Only getting 23 mpg after 400 miles. Mainly drive it in near downtown or on freeways a little, so a lot of traffic. Was getting around 23 mpg in my previous 2006 civic. But think I should be getting more. It's rated at 31/39 city/highway.

Service at the dealership suggested I wait until first oil change and see if it's better. Something about the car learning how I drive. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Danny

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resolution: I drove it on the highway without traffic and got 37 mpg. I drove it down a hill and in a part of town with only stop signs and no cars around and got 30 mpg. What I've found is that in stop and go traffic, this vehicle can do 20 mpg city and less than 30 mpg on the highways with freeways. Thanks to all for your comments.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

do you step on the gas too much?

my best trick is to leave the throttle lifted when coasting.

most of lack of mileage is from driving habits, top cause.

next are too close to destination commutes - should you consider running to or getting a bicycle instead?

the other is maintenance, which should not be the case on newer cars.

ezone

Stop and go traffic kills gas mileage.
Period.

If the engine is running and you aren't moving, your mileage is going down.
Every time you have to accelerate from a stop, your mileage is going down.

Steady 50-55 with no stops ever will net you the best mileage.




If you are always in heavy stop and go traffic, a hybrid would probably be ideal. The engine shuts down at most stops, so it's not burning fuel.

Mdrnstl

I'm usually going 5 miles or so. I drive a little aggressive but looking at sites like fuelly.com most people are getting rated mpg. Not many people are in the same setting as me though. Driving downtown can be a lot of stop and go. I am fairly aggressive but even when I'm thinking about it I can't seem to improve gas mileage close to rated. I'm also on the highway cruising at 60 some, so my combined mileage per gallon is 24, not 34. I've heard driving habits account for about 10%, so I'm still way off.

Mdrnstl

Maybe I should take it on a road trip and see if it's up to par.

Was kind of worried my odometer may even be off or speedometer (know someone that happened to). Trouble is when you call service, you'd think they'd have heard this before in Los Angeles, but they just tell me over the phone to bring it in. Still, getting 70% rated mpg sounds off to me.

Mdrnstl

The service person talked about the car learning how I drive... does the cars computer learn how to optimize fuel for me? And there is a break in period I've heard, although I'm having trouble finding comparable examples online.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Calculate MPG by hand, instead of using the computer. It will be more accurate that way.

ezone

Try 80-90%.

Once the break in period is over and as long as there is no problem whatsoever with the car, fuel economy (or lack thereof) will be 99% on you and your driving habits.
Not the way they are telling you. They are giving you some answer to get you off the phone and out of their hair.


IF you take it in, they might check the car briefly and return it to you unchanged (unless they discover a valid concern). At that point they will know your complaint has nothing to do with the car.
Yes. The first...roughly 5000 miles or so, or whenever the 15% oil life reminder comes on that tells you it's time to change the oil.
You ought to read up on the maintenance minder system too.


JMO, HTH

jordan1794

Several questions.
Do you use ECO mode? If so do you accelerate and keep it in the turquoise?
(Fun fact I've found, as long as you have a mile or so at least to drive, accelerating in the green in ECO mode is less efficient than in the turquoise)

Do you have hills on your commute? If so avoid accelerating up the hill if possible, you might even consider gaining a few mph before the hill, then letting it scrub off as you go up. Instead of maintaining speed, maintain a certain RPM(engine peaks in efficiency around 2k RPM, so thats where I keep it.)

Steady is the key, if you are constantly accelerating up by 1 or 2 mph, then letting off the gas, only to accelerate back up again every few seconds you are killing it. Make slight adjustments to your pedal pressure and wait a few seconds to see how it affects your speed.

Let the engine brake for you, I personally try to never hit the brake if I'm going above 30 mph, and if I'm really going for mileage I shoot for 20 mph.

I have the same car as you (unless you have a coupe) and, as you can see in my signature below, I'm getting very good mileage. I drive about 60% city, 40% highway.

It takes a while to get used to the CVT, if you look at my log you can see that there is a very definitive pattern of my mileage slowly going up as I learned to work with the CVT, and not against it.

civicgal29a

My mileage has actually been great (38mpg), if only the damn thing would start up the first time i tried. I can see why that would be annoying though, especially bc thats one of the main reasons i stayed with civic and didnt go with a crossover or something slightly bigger (like everyone else, i know). If it got bad mileage and did this starting thing, I def wouldve been looking for a new ride! The mileage is so much better than my 2000 civic, so i'm at least partially happy