Yanksrox2

I drive an automatic 2004 honda civic coupe ex and i am not a mechanical person at all. well i always drive city and always average 23-25 mpg. i see people who seem to get like mid 30 and like 400+ miles on a tank. i get like 250 if im lucky. Is this normal or do i have a problem.

ezone

Could be either.

Depends on fuel.
Depends on weather.
Depends on how you drive.
Depends on the condition of the car.

Any time the engine is running and you aren't moving, your calculated mileage goes DOWN.

The window sticker says "Your mileage may vary" for a reason.



I can make my Civic get 15 if I really try, and I have made it get 50 on the highway. Those are extremes though, and not my normal driving habits.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

23-25 is perfectly normal for city driving. I average 33-37 ALL highway. I can do better but I have a lead foot. ^I'd love to see my civic get 50. I'm running a trial right now going to speed limit to see what I get, I bet you I won't ever see much higher than 42. I don't understand how people claim to get 50mpg unless the car is completly gutted and a **** ton lighter than stock. Enlighten me to your secrets lol.

MelJ

Yeah. That city MPG seems about right. That's where hybrids shine. Ezone made some very good points. If you're romping on the car, don't expect phenomenal numbers by any means. Also take into consideration your tire pressure. My numbers jumped when I actually put in the right amount of air compared to my previous work week.

ezone

My sister lives an hour away from me, so I make this drive on a semi regular basis. About 50 miles of the trip each way is highway.
Bone stock '12 Civic LX, plus some extra floormats for weight LOL.
Tires somewhere around 38-40 PSI (I never let the air out when I did the PDI).
Top off the tank on the outside edge of town.
Hit the highway immediately upon exiting the gas station driveway.
Rock steady 55 MPH, no faster.
52.3 showed on the little mileage meter on one trip.
As soon as I hit traffic or slow down for a town, it drops like a rock.

I'd love to see how far I could get on a tank if I could do this all the time.

Real highway speeds of 70-75, about 37.x MPG.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

^I'm in the midst of trying this now so Ill see what I get. I have a feeling my 05 wont do as well as your 12 though.

ezone

City mileage has dropped from almost 28ish to 25ish since the weather got cold, and may drop even more if it gets any colder. My daily work commute is only 5.6 miles each way if I don't take any side trips. I've been getting about 280-300 per tank before the idiot light comes on.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Nice... I'm doing about.. 100 miles per day in my civic. Averaging around ... I'd say 330 miles per tank. I work with kilometers, so I drive 160kms per day and get 520ish kms per tank before the light comes on.. Those are real time numbers, the miles/gallons was just a guess.

Matt300

05 Civic LX

My habits vary, but I can expect a tank of fuel to take me anywhere between 400-475 mi. before my light comes on.

A lot of city driving for the post office, taking overnights and split routes out to carriers. Not too much freeway driving since it's dealing with deliveries within certain zip codes, so I hit all the stop signs, red lights, traffic, etc. That tank goes about 420 mil. Weight is not too heavy most of the time.

Other times I carry a route myself. Stop and go driving between each mailbox, and that route averages 30-35 miles. I'm out there about 6-8 hrs depending on the load. The starting weight is pretty heavy, as that's mail for the entire route, packages, etc. My light turned on today on my way home, measured just over 400 mi.

Driving highway to the rural station, about 22 miles both ways, but only using my car for highway travel to get there if they're giving me a vehicle, I hit upwards of 475 to 500. I'm using a manual transmission, highway speeds are about 60-70 depending on traffic. Usually there's not much else in the car besides some tools/tire, maybe 30 lbs besides me in the car.

johndeerebones

"I'm using a manual transmission"

That is key, on any vehicle. That alone is usually good for a mpg or two. Auto trans have more parasitic loss. I average 100 miles a day. Have an 01 ex w/ a BMXA, am not easy on it by any means, like romp on it daily to get up to highway speeds when getting on the highway etc. (it is a Civic, I don't want to get ran over in rush hour!, plus I'm a power junky too, 130 hp isn't much, but its still fun!). I used to get 29 mpg. Respectable. That was on 5 20 dino. I am not a oil guru and don't sling synthetics on anyone, but the last change NAPA had synthetic oil on sale for close to the same price as dino, (Napa's house brand is made by Ashland Oil Co., the same as Valvoline), at 4 qts it made only a couple dollars difference so I put it in the last change. It has been 1500 miles, and like 5 tanks of fuel and I have consistently gotten 32-34 mpg since. I am not one to push that you have to have 20 dollar a quart oil in your daily driver, but that was less than 4 dollars per quart. At 4 bucks a gallon a few more miles per tank adds up. 100 dollar oil changes don't pay off, but that will....

Synthetics are a part of life in turbo apps, racing apps etc. Never been sold on them for daily drivers until now, but they do work.

FordSlayer

I turn about 42-44 MPG on mine, but i drive about sixty, and never take off from stops fast, and drive all highway.

POQbum

05 Civic LX too, but I have an auto tranny. I get about the same mileage, and city driving is sometimes better than interstate as long as I don't push too hard on the gas.

My overall average for city/hwy is 38-42, but I've gotten as high as 48 before on a 80 mile highway trip.

Also my car is a coupe, so that probably affects a lot of mileage as well.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

^ Where are you located? Are you using the US MPG calculation or the UK one? The UK one always comes out much higher than the US. That being said, I downloaded an MPG calculator on my phone that was saying i was getting 41+mpg, then I discovered it was a UK one and I was actually only getting 34MPG. That was going no faster than 60 and not revving higher than 3000 RPMS between shifts. In a manual. 36 was the highest I've ever hit, and I absolutely don't see getting any more at this point.

The US calculation is the standard that everyone should be using, however I think a lot of people getting 40+ are using the UK one.

ezone

Do they have shorter miles, or bigger gallons over there? What's the difference?
No, I didn't bother to look it up.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

UK Gallons are bigger

1 UK gallon = 4.55 liters
1 US gallon = 3.79

So if you use the UK one you will naturally get more MPG

ezone

Oh ok, it's the Imperial Gallon, 5 US quarts?
I thought that was a Canadian thing.


No, I don't have gallon envy.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

It's not just us Canadians that are wonky

POQbum

? I use the trip meter at after filling up, then I drive until I fill up again. I divide the miles by gallons used and that's how I calculate it.

I just did one last night and got a lowly 32mpg :/
I've been using the heat at full power a lot lately so that might be why

and I'm in VA, USA

ezone

You are crying about this? That's better than my 12.
My best mileage seems to come in at a steady speed 40-55 mph. Anything over or under that drops mileage. A lot.


Running the heat has nothing to do with mileage.
Running the defrost CAN, since the AC is enabled to operate if conditions allow it.
Running the AC is an extra load on the engine.