justinincarnato

Hello folks, first time poster so let me know what details I need to add here. Basically my problem is that I have been getting 19 MPG consistently in my new 2009 Civic that I purchased in September 09. I have been using 89 octane Chevron gasoline and in doing the math, continue to get ONLY 19 MPG and drive the car very easy 11 miles each way to work M-F. About half are highway miles in the Seattle, WA area. Is anyone else experiencing the same problems. I was hoping for at least 25-26 and this is really close to what I get in my full size GMC Yukon XL (4x4). I brought it into the dealership, but of course this isn't something that is easily reproducible so I have been keeping my receipts from the gas stations and making notes on the mileage each time. Thanks, Justin

cinghoa

Wow, I was disappointed when I figured that I was getting 25mpg. Are you keeping an eye on the tach to see what your engine speed is? These things are pretty weak, so if you're one to try to get where you're going in a hurry, you might be burning it there. It could be a problem in the fuel line and with the many problems I have read about the Civics having since buying my car, that wouldn't surprise me.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

go to top of the page, you should see a search option.
click in there, type in gas mileage.
you should get several pages on this, select the ones that are for the new civic.
fo,llow some samples of threads available:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...s-mileage.html
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...s-mileage.html
start reading
sorry for bluntness, but there are tons of threads on this already in the forum.
If still questions or doubts, please post here again after the reading. you might find your answers on the other threads.
Ah, no stock 6-cyclinder civics that I know of! jus messing with you!

justinincarnato

Thanks Cinghoa, I drive the car very easy and don't really ever get over 2-3k on the tach. Just sucks that I bought the car to offset the Yukon and it's not getting good mileage at all. I looked for other posts on bad mileage, poor mileage, low mileage however all the posts are typically in regards to 97 or earlier models which doesn't do me much good. There are about 30 pages so I'll need to find some time to look over the rest of the pages. I had hoped for something specific to the 09's, but that doesn't look promising.

justinincarnato

http://www.truedelta.com/fuel_econom...d=Honda&mc=109

Got some of the numbers from here...

justinincarnato

Don't apologize sdaidoji, thank you for the response.

bakertime

iTrader: (7)

It may be that the engine simply hasn't broken in yet, assuming you bought it brand new. If you don't see an increase soon, you could always get a wideband air/fuel ratio, or go to a tuning shop that has one and see what's actually happening with your mixture. Something might be wrong with the car that's causing it to run rich. If it were an older car , I would say to replace the primary 02 sensor...you might just have gotten a defective one from the factory. That certainly does not sound right though...

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

Uhn...
I read the 2 links i posted, it really does not give an answer, even if they say for the new civic.
And your numbers are lower than in the other threads as well.
I really don't have a clue on this. the new way to measure mileage does not apply either, for you are using real and actual numbers.
don't have good answers...
And one of the links have a post refering to a car with more than 80k miles, so break-in is not the answer either...
your mileage number starts from september, so even in canada it should not be too cold either, plus this year is not that cold up here, so winter numbers does not apply so much either...
Try to look at the suggestions given by Gearbox in the post #2 just in case? your car could have something wrong from what i read.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

best gas mileage is not realized until at least 20k miles on the motor. but even so, 19mpg with mixed highway/city is too low if you are keeping the rpms down, despite any conditions. you get worse mileage in the winter and at low elevations, sometimes as much as 10mpg difference. wait until summer to know for sure. also you should be using 87 octane with a dx/lx/ex, no need for 89 unless you have the SI. if you do, then 19mpg is pretty normal.

justinincarnato

Thanks sdaidoji, gearbox and bakertime for the follow-ups and for all the good suggestions and feedback on this. I'll wait it out until this summer and continue to monitor the mileage and see where we are at then.

cinghoa

The only 4cyl cars that should be getting this mileage are STI's and Evo's. I would ask the dealership to run tests on the entire fuel system. There should be an answer somewhere in there.

Awjvail

Using 89 Octane gas can also decrease the gas mileage. The car was designed to run more efficiently on 86/87 Octane regular gas.. the more expensive gas does not help the car.

ProjectMayhemR

iTrader: (1)

Yea i wouldn't waste my time at a tuner if it was still under warranty. Just take it back to Honda and tell them whats going on. They should be able to pull codes for engine speed to confirm your driving habits, A/F, etc.. and hopefully come up with a solution.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

putting it on a dyno to check the a/f ratio may be a good idea to see where it stands. maybe it is running too rich for some reason.

Texaspetron

It sounds like you might have a dragging brake problem.

Try jacking the car up and check to see if the wheels roll freely.

You might get an improvement by installing a K&N air filter.

I installed one in my 2009 Hyundai Limited 4 cylinder 175 H.P. and went from 31 to 33MPG.

Texaspetron

CAPTMURDOCK

I bought my 09 civic new and never expierenced anything nearly that low. I also live in FL, and did notice that cold weather did drop my fuel economy down about 4mpg. Its florida though so not nearly as cold as where you are.

If your driving an automatic check to make sure that your not running around with the car in '3' instead of D. Eliminating OD and 4th gear could easily ruin your gas milage. It is pretty easy to bump out of 'D' into '3' , and if your not paying close attention to your tach, and jamming out you might not notice the overly high revs. I accidently bumped mine into '3' once, and took me going onto the interstate to notice. Fortuneately the freeway is only a mile down the road so wasn't exactly like it took a long time to figure it out.

My first tank on my Civic which I got in July 09 was 28mpg, and I now get generally 32-33mpg. I have a coupe w/ the auto tranny in lx trim. Hope you get the issue figured out so you can start enjoying your civic as much as I do mine.

frankfong

I just bought my 2010 Civic LX on March 01, 2010. The first week I drove it, I was getting 32mpg and it has been going down ever since - the worst was 22mpg. As of this post, it only has 3300 miles on it so it is definitely not broken in. I rarely go over 3000 rpms, usually stay between 2k and 2500 rpm, and 75% of my driving is hwy.

I can't believe that www.truedelta.com says I should be getting 33.2 with hills at 65% hwy.

I just dropped in a K&N filter yesterday so I'll keep you posted on if it helps.

I figured if I get an extra 2mpg x 13 gallons = 26 miles extra per tank. That saves about $3.00 per tank. It will take 16 fillups before I get my investment back.

mrlazycool

The battery maybe?

NORMAN2001

Have you tried other gas stations besides Chevron???