MPG advice for new 2013 Civic automatic?
#1
09-17-2013, 02:37 AM
MPG advice for new 2013 Civic automatic?
Our 2013 Civic EX-L (automatic/no navi) has less than 300 miles on it. The dash gauge for Range likes like a rug, saying 388 miles on a full tank but getting more realistic over time, ultimately only delivering about 250 miles from the first tank of gas.
The car is rated around 28/city, 32/combined, and an imaginary 39/highway (which it seems to use for the initial range calculation). In practical neighborhood driving we're getting about 25+, and up to about 27.5 max on the highway. We figure we're in an area with a lot of hills, and that's not the terrain they use to get their ratings.
Prius people spent a lot of time playing with their car to get it past 50, 60, 70 MPG. They talk about how to pull out from a stop, how to run from a cold condition, and how to brake. I'm just looking to push that advertised, low-end, 28MPG-city threshold.
- I use the Econ button on the highway, never under 40MPH.
- I rarely punch it, always prefer smooth and slow acceleration as long as that works with traffic.
- I take my foot off the gas as often as possible, usually "nursing" the gas to give it just enough to do what I'm asking of it. I'd put it in neutral a lot if it was a manual.
So what can we do with this car to get better city MPG in terms of driving habits, stop n go driving, gas quality (always regular?) etc?
Thanks!
The car is rated around 28/city, 32/combined, and an imaginary 39/highway (which it seems to use for the initial range calculation). In practical neighborhood driving we're getting about 25+, and up to about 27.5 max on the highway. We figure we're in an area with a lot of hills, and that's not the terrain they use to get their ratings.
Prius people spent a lot of time playing with their car to get it past 50, 60, 70 MPG. They talk about how to pull out from a stop, how to run from a cold condition, and how to brake. I'm just looking to push that advertised, low-end, 28MPG-city threshold.
- I use the Econ button on the highway, never under 40MPH.
- I rarely punch it, always prefer smooth and slow acceleration as long as that works with traffic.
- I take my foot off the gas as often as possible, usually "nursing" the gas to give it just enough to do what I'm asking of it. I'd put it in neutral a lot if it was a manual.
So what can we do with this car to get better city MPG in terms of driving habits, stop n go driving, gas quality (always regular?) etc?
Thanks!
#2
09-19-2013, 09:55 PM
why would you only use the eco button on the highway wouldn't that defeat the purpose of that function. The ECON mode helps you improve your fuel economy by adjusting theperformance of the engine, transmission, heating and cooling system/climatecontrol system, and cruise contol so its mainly for stop and go city driving. also you can use higher psi in your tires for better mpg.
Last edited by itburnswhenIP; 09-19-2013 at 10:02 PM.
#3
09-20-2013, 03:27 PM
Thanks for the note, you got me researching the ECO button and I have some interesting results. Personally I think it's silly that we need to click a mechanical button for this anyway...
Your comment is 180 degrees from what I was told at the dealership. The salesman said (and I know opening a sentence with those words makes anything following irrelevant) "when you get on the freeway, click it on, when you go back to city streets, take it off".
It's possible that I transposed what he said but I really don't think so. The car came by default with ECO off. Coming off the lot one might expect it to be on if that was the best setting. However - with ECO on, the car is more sluggish, so it makes sense that the button was off when the car was being test driven, and thus the setting that the car had when I made the purchase was probably not the one that should be used for daily driving. * sigh *
The web page for this at Honda mysteriously lacks any insight on this topic.
This dealer
is equally unspecific and therefore unhelpful.
This dealer
is much more specific, says explicitly that this is a city feature, and does a better job of explaining why (and that's in only a 1+ minutes and after what I initially felt was a big waste of time with music and no dialog - amazing).
This non-company page says specifically: "During the hot Mississippi summers when driving mostly in town you may want to deactivate the the ECON button.".
Another page has much more info which spells out what the videos say:
Summary: From all that I get that with the ECO button on, the transmission should do a little better on hills. I'll expect a really sluggish ride but at a better MPG than we use manually to get uphill. We're already finding this vehicle sluggish in normal hilly city streets so I'm not looking forward to traffic backing up in back of me as the ECO helper here throttles the RPMs. What I don't like about this resolution is that going uphill the transmission is already shifting pretty quickly because more pressure is on the accellerator. Then again I do find myself playing with it, giving enough gas to get up the RPMs, reducing gas a little to allow the shift, and then giving more gas to repeat as required. I shouldn't need to manage the shifting like that in an automatic. But maybe the ECO button will help here.
I'll let you know.
Thanks!
Other comments welcome.
Your comment is 180 degrees from what I was told at the dealership. The salesman said (and I know opening a sentence with those words makes anything following irrelevant) "when you get on the freeway, click it on, when you go back to city streets, take it off".
It's possible that I transposed what he said but I really don't think so. The car came by default with ECO off. Coming off the lot one might expect it to be on if that was the best setting. However - with ECO on, the car is more sluggish, so it makes sense that the button was off when the car was being test driven, and thus the setting that the car had when I made the purchase was probably not the one that should be used for daily driving. * sigh *
The web page for this at Honda mysteriously lacks any insight on this topic.
This dealer
This dealer
This non-company page says specifically: "During the hot Mississippi summers when driving mostly in town you may want to deactivate the the ECON button.".
Another page has much more info which spells out what the videos say:
If you leave it on all the time you will get the best-possible fuel economy. That improved fuel economy comes with a trade-off of less power and a sluggish response. The "ECO" buttons on most cars does essentially two things:
1. Change the transmission shift points to better optimize fuel economy at the expense of drivability. In other words, the transmission will usually shift sooner to keep RPM's down.
2. For cars with electronic throttle control (such as the Sonata), change the calibration of the gas pedal. Generally, in ECO mode, you have to push the gas pedal down farther to open the throttle the same amount. This encourages drivers to leave the throttle more closed and keep out of power levels that require fuel enrichment. However, even with the ECO button on, the throttle will still open all the way if you floor it.
Some manufacturers will also play around a bit with the air conditioning settings to squeeze out a few more fractions of MPG at the expense of A/C performance. Depending on the manufacturer, there may be other minor engine calibration tweaks as well.
Basically, for stop-and-go city driving, the ECO button will make some difference in MPG for most drivers. If you are just rolling down the highway with the cruise control on, it won't make any difference in MPG.
1. Change the transmission shift points to better optimize fuel economy at the expense of drivability. In other words, the transmission will usually shift sooner to keep RPM's down.
2. For cars with electronic throttle control (such as the Sonata), change the calibration of the gas pedal. Generally, in ECO mode, you have to push the gas pedal down farther to open the throttle the same amount. This encourages drivers to leave the throttle more closed and keep out of power levels that require fuel enrichment. However, even with the ECO button on, the throttle will still open all the way if you floor it.
Some manufacturers will also play around a bit with the air conditioning settings to squeeze out a few more fractions of MPG at the expense of A/C performance. Depending on the manufacturer, there may be other minor engine calibration tweaks as well.
Basically, for stop-and-go city driving, the ECO button will make some difference in MPG for most drivers. If you are just rolling down the highway with the cruise control on, it won't make any difference in MPG.
Summary: From all that I get that with the ECO button on, the transmission should do a little better on hills. I'll expect a really sluggish ride but at a better MPG than we use manually to get uphill. We're already finding this vehicle sluggish in normal hilly city streets so I'm not looking forward to traffic backing up in back of me as the ECO helper here throttles the RPMs. What I don't like about this resolution is that going uphill the transmission is already shifting pretty quickly because more pressure is on the accellerator. Then again I do find myself playing with it, giving enough gas to get up the RPMs, reducing gas a little to allow the shift, and then giving more gas to repeat as required. I shouldn't need to manage the shifting like that in an automatic. But maybe the ECO button will help here.
I'll let you know.
Thanks!
Other comments welcome.
#5
11-04-2013, 07:02 AM
Update: After 1500 miles we're getting an all-time average MPG of 26-27, driving with Eco on all of the time. The only time I take it off is when I need to accelerate quickly on a highway on-ramp and I don't want to abuse the gas pedal. The car will give us the power we need if we really ask for it, but I don't want to bully it into being responsive. I still baby the thing, driving as lightly as possible, to minimize the burden on the engine while getting the best possible mileage, and hopefully to maximize the life we'll get out of it.
We took the car onto the highway yesterday for a longer ride and for that trip I got an amazing max of 45MPG even with Eco on. I could average in the 40's by continuing to watch the MPG and blue/green gauge. On upgrades of course more gas is required and the MPG came down a few tenths of a point but that was recovered by taking the foot off the accelerator on downgrades.
When back off the highway, the average came back to the unfortunately normal low. But at least I know the vehicle is capable of doing much better.
So far we've been Very happy with this car and with the dealership. I can deal with the mileage. I just wish I knew how to get more out of it in the neighborhood.
We took the car onto the highway yesterday for a longer ride and for that trip I got an amazing max of 45MPG even with Eco on. I could average in the 40's by continuing to watch the MPG and blue/green gauge. On upgrades of course more gas is required and the MPG came down a few tenths of a point but that was recovered by taking the foot off the accelerator on downgrades.
When back off the highway, the average came back to the unfortunately normal low. But at least I know the vehicle is capable of doing much better.So far we've been Very happy with this car and with the dealership. I can deal with the mileage. I just wish I knew how to get more out of it in the neighborhood.
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