Made the rough decision to buy a new car. Previously owned a civic but wanted a more attractive Honda this time. I went with the 2011 Accord EX. Great car, but in the week that I've owned it I noticed it doesn't get the gas mileage it was advertising. I was on a long trip this weekend so I wanted to see what I was getting on the highway and compare it to the city mileage I was getting. I got around 19.5 miles per gallon on a 100 mi highway trip... well below 23/34 estimation as advertised. Yes, I understand I shouldn't get near 34 everytime I drive my car. But 19.5 MPG is just outrageous. I'm not even accelerating quickly (rarely let the RPM go past 2.5 K). I'm just curious if this poor MPG is due to the engine being new or if there's something potentially wrong with the engine or if the advertisement is incorrect. Thanks

 

One thing to check is that you tires are inflated to the proper pressure.

How are you calculating your MPG?

 

I haven't checked the pressure because it's a new car. I figured that would have been done while the car was being prepped to drive off the lot. But the way i'm calculating doesn't use exact numbers. The tank size is 18.5 gal. So I fill the tank up and assume i'm pretty close to 18.5. When the gas is half gone, then I can assume that I have around 9.25 gal (one half of 18.5). I will divide the number of miles driven by 9.25. I've been getting around 186 miles per half tank (20 mpg) when I was expecting to get around 250 miles per half tank (that would be 27 mpg). Quite a difference. I'll check the tire pressure, but I can't believe that would make up the 64 mile difference (250-186).

 

I suggested tire pressure, because it is very simple to test and simple to correct. Not sure if you live in a cold climate, but lower temps=lower tire pressure.

I also think that you are calculating the amount of fuel inaccurately. I would not assume 1/2 tank on the fuel gauge = 9.25 gallons.

I would fill up the tank until the pump handle shuts off. Then divide the miles you have driven from your last fill up by the amount of gasoline you added. After you do this a couple of times, you will have a better idea of your gas mileage.

 

Thanks. Not sure why I didn't think of doing that in the first place.

 

Yes, make sure one uses a proper calculation method for determining mileage.

Second, unless things have changed since I bought my last car (not counting my wife's 2007 cause she does around town driving), but Hondas are notorious for not acheiviing optimal mileage under fully broken in, at around the 10,000 mark.

I myself will be in this same situation next week when my 2001 EX-V6 gets replaced by a 2011 EX-L/Nav. My commute to work is 150 miles round trip but like 95% highway.

 

I'm at about 4000 miles now, and I still haven't had an increase in mpg (still between 23-24 mpg). I am in the Chicago area where it is currently cold, so I've been told that may factor into my desire to have more mpg. No problems with tire pressure. Again, my commute is mostly highway once I am out of my neighborhood.

 

Every time I've driven through Chicago, everyone on the highway is either standing on the gas or standing on the brake. Difficult to maintain a nice constant cruise speed in that kind of traffic. So I don't know if that qualifies as "highway" driving.

 

Right... I also wouldn't consider driving in chicago highway driving. I don't live in chicago, though. I'm in the northwest burbs where there are still corn fields and plenty of open road. Thats the issue. I haven't changed my oil yet as its @ 60%. Not sure if that's going to make a big difference. I've read a few reviews online about the poor gas mileage other drivers are getting... 18-20 mpg. Worse than my 23 that I do get on the highway.

 

consider yourself lucky, over the past month I've been averaging 13mpg city on my accord SE....
I'm assming the cause of this is having the heat on but who knows :/