gas mileage

We purchased an MDX about 6 weeks ago - and I am quite disappointed in the gas mileage. The sticker said 17(or 18?)-24mpg - - I figured since I mostly drive in the city I would get around 17 or 16mpg -- - well, I have gone through a handful of tanks of gas already and am averaging 12 mpg!!! I called the dealership and they just said that b/c the car is heavy its mpg is not as good - - he told me not to be so heavy on the peddle starting out.... whatever!! Has anyone else heard of this - - or do you know if a place I can chat with other MDX owners to see if they are having the same issue?

- Leadfoot

Originally posted by Melissa

- Leadfoot

There's your problem :D

the factory mpg rating is a rating based on normal driving (driving in the highest gear all the time) I'm a bit of a lead foot too and I get 10L/100km in my EL (I'm from Canada), the car's rated at 9.6L/100km.
So try to ease off the gas for one tank and see how you do, if it's not improving then there might be some problems with the car or the rating Honda gave the general public, most likely the latter :cool:

Melissa,
From other message boards like the one on www.acuramdx.org people have stated that their gas mileage was bad at first then slowly improved as the SUV broke in. The manual states that there is no break in period required, but from what I know about cars is that they all have one even if it is just a few 100 miles.

Some people also complained of inacurate mileage from the trip computer when then did a pen and paper comparison, due to a bad DVD in their NAV.

The only other advice is to just ease on the accelerator, I know it took my wife some getting used to and she would always floor it and chirp on take off, she did the same with our TL Type S...

Give it a few weeks and try some highway driving and see what you get.

it's never as good as the rating :)

but it should be pretty close... oh well, it's only gas, north america doesn't pay that much compared to alot of other places in the world, i don't worry about it

People should understand how manufacture come up with MPG ratings. They have old grandma driving behind the wheel.

I've been running 22.0mpg for the past 10k miles

Mine's been going 20 mpg at least but thats on the navigation so idunno.

yeah, my pilot gets about 18-22 all the time, but it was a lot lower at first. Try taking it out on the highway and maybe thatll help lube up and "naturalize" your engine...lol

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ratings_description.shtml they explane how the ratings are arived at.

Our 2003 (Sep 2002) Pilot is getting 12.7mpg in all-city driving. Our mileage has always been in this range since new, except for long trips.

I'm disappointed but not sure whether we could expect more with our mostly short-trip driving patterns and oversized tires (265/60-17's, dealer had put this wheel/tire pkg on this car & we bought it). I know we're overgeared almost 2% with these tires, but my wife likes them. I'll try to convince her to downsize to a closer-to-oem size when these wear out.

I've had an '04 Pilot and now an '05. Runiing about 70% highway, maybe a little less I get 19 running A/C in hot weather. I can't complain about that.

There are a couple of things worth considering (actually three or more):

1) As a sop to us consumers, EPA and DOE have a web site that compares user reported mileage with EPA estimates at:

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=browseList

They list no users reporting on a 2002 MDX (or 2003 for that matter), but the following information is available:

2004 MDX user reports 12 MPG based on one car, 70% stop and go driving.
2005 MDX user reports 15.8 MPG based on one car, unspecified driving
2004 Pilot users report avg 17.0 MPG based on 4 cars. Range 14 (mostly stop and go) to 21 (70% highway)

2) To the forum member using oversize tires: I calculate that the 265X60R17's (30.7" OD) are 5.5% oversize compared to 235X70R16's (29.1" OD). You are permitted to multiply your odometer reading or your calculated gas mileage by 1.055. Therefore if you calculated 14 MPG, you really got 1.055X14 or 14.77 MPG (almost 1 MPG increase). Remember to add about 3 to 4 MPH to your speedometer reading, also. A Michelin oversize would be 5.86% bigger than a Goodyear OEM according to manufacturers' published specifications of overall diamter.

3) Don't believe trip computers. Some are off on actual miles traveled, but, all I have ever had any experience with underestimate the amount of fuel used and tend to give average mileage figures about 15% too high.

i was gonna say that no window tag is accurate ...

they did a dateline nbc investigation on ratings and actually mileage... found them to be way off


is your butt very big ?? that may have something to do with it ?? j/k'ing :)



you could always do some reverse performance mods :D

Has it been "broken in" yet?

We purchased an MDX about 6 weeks ago - and I am quite disappointed in the gas mileage. The sticker said 17(or 18?)-24mpg - - I figured since I mostly drive in the city I would get around 17 or 16mpg -- - well, I have gone through a handful of tanks of gas already and am averaging 12 mpg!!! I called the dealership and they just said that b/c the car is heavy its mpg is not as good - - he told me not to be so heavy on the peddle starting out.... whatever!! Has anyone else heard of this - - or do you know if a place I can chat with other MDX owners to see if they are having the same issue?

- Leadfoot

My wife has a 04 MDX and she gets 10.5-11 MPG in city. I get abot 13 when I get the lead out. It is a far cry from 17!!!

I have confirmed the high end of the mileage reported by EPA/DOE in post No 12 above. My 2004 Pilot is averaging 21 mpg for 11 consecutive fill ups; however I am driving approximately 70% highway and I consider myself to be unlucky if I have to stop at a light in my "city" driving.

Update: 3/21/2006
324 miles 70 mph 23.39 mpg elevation change -900 ft (i.e. down hill for over 300 miles).
198 miles 70 mph + 28 miles city 22.64 mpg elevation change +120 ft (looked flat to me)
198 miles 70 mph 21.04 mpg elevation change -120 ft. (return trip)
175 miles 70 mph 21.57 mpg elevation change +640 ft (still 120 miles from start)

These individual results are inconsistent with stated conditions. The best news is that for 925 miles the average was 22.3 mpg.

About all you can say is that there are a lot of variables not being measured here. AC on or off? Should have been mostly off, but who knows with the automatic system? Headwind or tail wind? got best mileage against a head wind. Tank filled the same every time? Not likely. but any finagling still gives inconsitent results

I almost bought a pilot, but did not sign the final paperwork today after we saw we were getting 10-11 mpg. There may be a break-in period but I can't take that chance. I do not see how the gas mileage can improve enough to get to the sticker rating.

YIKES! 12 mpg? I get 17-18 mpg in town and 22 mpg highway on my 2001 MDX. I feel for you. I have to admit, my wife who like the pep off the line will get 15-16 mpg but never 12.

Things to check: Tire pressure make it 35psi cold. This will help reduce friction. If it pulls left or right, check the alignment. If you use ethanol based fuel it's much less efficient than pure gasoline, to the tune of 70% as efficient. On a new vehicle the engine will be tighter but 12mpg. I doubt it. If that's the case really beat on it to break that engine in. You don't want it that tight for it's service life. I would also hold off on synthetic oil for the first 10,000 miles. It prevents the parts from wearing in properly. Then after 10k miles use only synthetic oil and it will make the parts move easier, reducing friction.

Post back as we'd like to know how you come along with this issue.

Cheers