11 Month Avg Miles Per gallon.

Had my Ridgeline for a little over 11 months.

11 Months of Gas usage.

16.127 mpg.

Has not gotten any better over the 11 month period. Doesn't seem to make a difference what I do.

Love the truck, but gas mileage sucks!


I have charted my gas usage on an Excel spreadsheet over that time frame. I know have almost 18k miles on my truck.

Here's a screenshot of the chart I created in Excel. (Yes, I am a geek! )

Do you do a lot of city driving normally? I'm at 11,000 miles now, and for the last month have been over 19 mpg in my combined driving, which is about
70 % highway and 30 % city. I drive right at 70 mph on the highway most of the time. When the truck was new, I was just below 18 mpg combined, when I hit about 9,200 miles, it seemed the mileage went up to above 19. I'm curious to see what I get on my first all highway road trip this spring.

I think I would feel differently about my RL if I got that kind of mileage. I live in the same area as supdawg and normally see my 1/2 way mark on the gauge between 190-210 miles, and mpg at least 18.5. I bit*h about that, since my 06 v-6 Tacoma 4 door off road 2WD always got 20 mpg, no matter what. Of course that vehicle was torture on the body.

I'm at a little over 70K miles now, doing 70% highway and 30% city driving and I'm averaging 20-20.8mpg. I average between 65-74 on the highway (depending on the speed limit) and avoid full-power launches and it works quite well. If I use the A/C, I can see about a 1mpg drop, compared to it being off.

does doing anything with the climate system effect the mileage?? auto vs manual setting

Most cars and trucks use the ac compressor to dry the air when you turn on defrost or defrost/floor. If you drive around with these on all the time, you will see less MPG. Not sure what eh auto climate control does as mine does not have it. Will it turn on the AC all by itself?

Most cars and trucks use the ac compressor to dry the air when you turn on defrost or defrost/floor. If you drive around with these on all the time, you will see less MPG. Not sure what eh auto climate control does as mine does not have it. Will it turn on the AC all by itself?

Yes. The "auto" works like a thermostat & pretty much runs the AC whenever it wants to.

I posted my gas mileage plot (20 months) on another thread, but here it is:

http://www.djeaux.com/images/2007_Ridgeline/ridgeline_mpg_04012008.jpg

Instead of a linear regression, I had Excel plot polynomial regressions, because the data fluctuates a lot. The green line is a 3rd order trendline plotted from the actual mpg figures (red bars), while the blue line is a 3rd order trendline plotted off cumulative average mpg figures (which just smooths out the cumulative average line into a curve). The green line turns up dramatically at the point where I replaced the air filter (with a clean OEM, nothing fancy). All time best, 21.78 mpg. All time worst, 15.0 mpg. Average over almost 21 months, 18.40 mpg.

I have every tank recorded over the 25 month life of my truck. Have yet to do any graphs but I do know that given my daily driving conditions, I need to stop listening to those cheering their 20 mpg. I commute in a lot of stop and go traffic.
Lifetime mpg averages to 16.78...
I've only seen +20 mpg twice.
It is what it is. :D

I confess that I live in a small town & my "commute" is a 10 mile hop on a four-lane highway. Also, I make a 700 mile round trip to visit my daughter about every 6 weeks. Almost all of my 20 mpg records have been on those long I-state runs. (Conveniently, the absolute cheapest Chevron in the state happens to be at the mid-point of that trip :))

But the suckiest gas mileage I've gotten has been when I had a very dirty air filter & doing a lot of local driving. And if you look at my green trendline, it's pretty obvious at what point it is a matter of Mississippi survival to run the AC!

Like others have mentioned- the ethanol gasolines seem to hurt my MPG. Likewise, premium didn't seem to help- apparently the premium DOES help when towing and is recommended by the manual.

From my own driving (60 highway 40 city) a typically get 16-17 MPG on 87 Shell. From my buttometer and mental mileage tracking it seems to get the best MPG for me. Also, my mileage did seem to go up a bit after about a 12K mi. break in.

Likewise RPM at shifts makes a BIG difference in my truck. No more than 3,500 between 1st to 2nd; around 3,000 from 2nd to 3rd and around 2,500 from there on.... that will typically get me 16.5 - 17.2 MPG on my driving mix.

My high was just short of 22 MPG on the flat coastal area of NC while on vacation.

Best of luck to you!

I run my AC system on Auto almost exclusively in both the winter and summer. I live ~11 miles from work and travel on on a highway to work. It does have about 20 stop lights, but I can hit 45-60 pretty easily. I do some interstate driving on the weekends, but I'd estimate 80% of my driving is city.

I did try running one week with the system not in auto. I didn't notice a big difference in my mileage. I admit, I am a little hard on the stop and go, but I don't think that I drive aggressive overall.

I did get a small boost a few weeks ago from adding some STP fuel cleaner to my tank.

I have every tank recorded over the 25 month life of my truck. Have yet to do any graphs but I do know that given my daily driving conditions, I need to stop listening to those cheering their 20 mpg. I commute in a lot of stop and go traffic.
Lifetime mpg averages to 16.78...
I've only seen +20 mpg twice.
It is what it is. :D


I understand your issues with those talking about 20 mpg, but I commute 115 miles a day, with at least half of that drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but I still get 20 mpg, so that cannot be the only reason for bad gas mileage.

Ethanol will hurt gas mileage and that has been well documented by now for any vehicle, not just for the RL.

Using Auto on the climate control will almost always turn on the A/C unit (even in 40 degree weather), which will cost you 1-2 mpg. In the winter and in cooler weather, I will use the AC button to turn it off and just regulate temp with the heater and outside air through the system.

For what it's worth, I've used Mobil 1 since the first oil change with good results. I did recently use some Lucas fuel injector cleaner and I think it might have helped a little, but not dramatic enough to write home about it.

I understand your issues with those talking about 20 mpg, but I commute 115 miles a day, with at least half of that drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but I still get 20 mpg, so that cannot be the only reason for bad gas mileage.

Ethanol will hurt gas mileage and that has been well documented by now for any vehicle, not just for the RL.

Using Auto on the climate control will almost always turn on the A/C unit (even in 40 degree weather), which will cost you 1-2 mpg. In the winter and in cooler weather, I will use the AC button to turn it off and just regulate temp with the heater and outside air through the system.

For what it's worth, I've used Mobil 1 since the first oil change with good results. I did recently use some Lucas fuel injector cleaner and I think it might have helped a little, but not dramatic enough to write home about it.
Well, for starters, I don't have any issues with those getting 20 mpg...:D
I'm simply stating that I'm not getting all worked up that I'm not getting 20. It's because I know my useage doesn't warrant a driving environment that would allow me 20 mpg.

And if your getting 20 mpg with half of your commute in traffic, I'm guessing your seeing upwards of 22-23 mpg highway and 17-18 mpg in traffic. And thats not far off from what I'm getting for my commute.

I never use Auto and 99.9% of the time when I use the defrost, I shut off the AC. I'm very alert to my climate settings as well as my tire pressure.

As for Oil...I may switch to synthetic yet what I read around these parts, it won't get me a whole lot for mpg...

So, I'm not saying my commute is the only reason I get the mileage I get. But I am saying I understand the impact it has and I'm fine with that being a significant reason my MPG is what it is... :D

Gary Flint and or Honda reportedly said that the mileage on the RL should improve during an initial mileage figure [/B] (was it 7,000 miles?)

Read my sig.

You want them to read your sig, which in turn tells them to read the manual.... You have a crafty way of telling people to RTFM.... :D
I admire your sneakiness. :cool:

ethanol, will kill mileage.

Same trip one way on 90/10 was 16, back on 100 gas 18.5 mpg.

tonneau cover was good for .5 to 1 mpg. I have hit 21, mostly avg 18.5 to 19.5 after 7 months and 20K miles. 80% highway.

Oh, I only run reg. unless towing.

Where do you get 100% gas? Anybody have any links to the laws on ethanol use per state? Here in Mass I don't think I've seen ethanol free gas. Would I? :confused:

Today I refilled after a 165 miles of mainly highway and finally averaged 21 mpg.:)

Today I refilled after a 165 miles of mainly highway and finally averaged 21 mpg.:)

That's because you have better aerodynamics.... That round front bumper helps along with the reduced friction of your aquapeled glass...

That's because you have better aerodynamics.... That round front bumper helps along with the reduced friction of your aquapeled glass...

I know right....after I headed home, I filled up and to my amazement, 21 + mpg. It was a great day for the Ridge....Would you look at that aquapel...that is a mighty fine substance....Thanks as always:)

Where do you get 100% gas? Anybody have any links to the laws on ethanol use per state? Here in Mass I don't think I've seen ethanol free gas. Would I? :confused:

I'm in the SE and in NC, SC, GA I rarely see anything but 100 %. And if it's not 100 % gas , they have to put something on the pump telling you the ethanol content.

Just filled up and checked mileage this morning. 71000+ miles on my RTS and got 21.36 mpg. Mostly highway, but still pretty good I think.

My 11 month stats:

mpg: 17.76 average
60/40 city/highway, but I do tend to punch it a bit when the light turns green.

Last tank I got 20.5 mpg, which isn't too bad. I have 12,500 miles and each tank seems to improve.

My 07 RTX has 18k miles and is primarily driven in stop and go traffic. For this kind of driving, I'm getting 15 -15.5.

I recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi 360 that has lots of trip statistics available so I reset the trip settings on a recent typical commute home from the office to see the makeup of my trip. My commute is 10.3 miles. It took 53 minutes and of that time, 25 min were stopped (not moving at all) and 28 were moving. The moving average (for 28 min) was 22.39 mph and the overall averge for the trip was 10.66 mph. My top speed for the trip was 44.3 mph (the RL shifts to 5th gear at 47 mph). Is there any wonder why the commuting mileage is so bad.

In complete contrast to the 15 mpg I get while commuting, I took a trip from Atlanta, Ga to Orange Beach, AL last week for spring break. I very intentionally set the cruise on 65 for the whole trip. The round trip was just under 800 miles and I got 23.5 mpg. On other trips where I drove 75 mph or so, I got 20-21. Slowing down to 65 seems to have made a significant difference. That may be my new travel speed.

Anyone else tried driving 65 in lieu of 75? If so, did you get similar results?

So you used 34.04 gallons when you drove at 65 and 38.1 gallons when driving at 75. A difference of 4.06 gallons or around $13. Yea that could of bought you a couple of burgers at McDonalds.

At 75 mph you would have arrived in 10.7 hours and at 65, 12.3 hours. It took you 1.6 hours longer to drive at 65. That's not to bad for 800 miles.

Very interesting, I'll try this next time I'm on a road trip. Thanks for the info.

Last year on a trp of 6,109 miles I averaged 23.05 mpg driving mostly 65 nph.

Well, I haven't had the Ridge for 11 months yet, but I will report the first measured mileage fillup. 20.8 mpg for 178 miles. Not bad for a brand new vehicle! This is about half suburban and half highway.