For you MPG naysayers...

[25 Year Honda Owner]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

geotech, I'm 100% with you. It can't all be the driver. It just can't.

Some guys have consistently gotten 24.x and 25mpg on the highway. I've never done better than 22.

The lottery lives.

I get terrible mileage around town. Can't get out of 3rd gear due to speed limits and traffic signals. Have seen 14 a few times. Out on the road I usually see in the 20's. Best was with the '06 I saw 24 one time. The new '08 has shown me 23 two times, all road miles with A/C.

[csimo]

Originally Posted by jimmychoi

csimo...was this on E10??

Yes, E10... that's all we have in my state (unfortunately).

[Grok Lobster]

Originally Posted by brich

I'm thinking of making a bumper sticker for my truck that reads...
"Leave me alone... I'm Hypermiling !"

How about "Leave me alone - my flux capacitor is broken"

[jdawg]

I keep the RPMs in the 2500-3000 RPM range during acceleration and it's respectable for a 4500 lb truck.

Where I find the vehicle lacks giddy-up is when you are in tight highway traffic and you get the accordian effect. The truck takes time to catch up unless you mash the pedal and cars gap me and then people pull in front of me unless I play the game. Makes fuel coservation next to impossible.

[RustyH]

Originally Posted by jdawg

Where I find the vehicle lacks giddy-up is when you are in tight highway traffic and you get the accordian effect. The truck takes time to catch up unless you mash the pedal and cars gap me and then people pull in front of me unless I play the game. Makes fuel coservation next to impossible.

I aggree, the truck lacks that certain "jen a sa quois" when it comes to stop and go, keep up with the pack performance. Since I try and keep a good distance between me and the driver ahead of me, I'm well used to cars and trucks thinking a single car space in slow traffic is an invitation to jump in line.

[Jack]

I just finished a little experiment this past week. Not real lab type scientific or up to par for the Mythbusters, but pretty controlled and easily repeatable.

1 - I put my tires at 35 psi cold (a little hard but not dangerous)
2 - ran without the A/C when possible
3 - Did all city/urban driving (45-50 Mph max)
4 - Kept the RPMs at or below 3000
5 - No jack rabbit starts and no panic stops
6 - When sitting at a stop light, or drive through more than 10 sec, turned the key off to acc position

No coasting in neutral down hills or anything too drastic or scary!

Before I started I let the low fuel light come on, then ran it dry. I had exactly (measured from the local shell station pump) 10 gallons of unleaded regular 87in a plastic gas container. I dumped the 10 gallons in, and ran it again until it ran out.

Results: 173 miles on 10 gallons = 17.3 MPG!

Not too bad. The Ridge is a new 08 with 3500 miles on it.

I think I can tweek that even a little more, probably to 18. Next chance I get it's the same test but on the interstate at 65 to see what the highway MPG will be. This proves to me that if you drive reasonably and occasionally run the A/C,and save a little of the idling gas, you can do pretty good.

I wonder what it will get when it's broken in at 10k or so?

[jimmychoi]

Originally Posted by brich

Happy to help...

Thanks for pointing that out....

[nester]

Seen 22.4 once.. next closest is 20..

I'm driving around a F250 diesel that's averaging 17.1, which is about a one mile over my last tank in the ridgeline.. Kinda depressing that it gets similar milage, considering I could pull a house of it's foundation and not even turn the a/c off and my ridgeline is pissed off if I pull a car on a tow dolly.

[xridgelinex]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

It takes more work and concentration to keep the transmission from downshifting. Sometimes I just don't feel like it, so I don't do it.

On really long trips, I use the cruise and control it... It does take less concentration to use the cruise buttons instead of your leg... Try it out....

I find the RL sweet zone is around 69mph. Less then that and it will downshift more often then it should.

[TheFonzLives]

Just drove up and down the Garden State Parkway here in NJ over the weekend four times and averaged around 18.56 MPG (mostly highway driving). Used Cruise Control as much as possible, unless traffic conditions made it not feasible to do so. Factoring in traffic congestion, under perfect conditions, assuming closer to 19 MPG.

Still driving my leased '06 RTS. Oil life indicator 60%. Just passed 32K miles. Haven't checked tire pressure in awhile. Beginning to think this RTS is "broken in" since the mileage seems to be getting better. I do mostly city driving to work, so to be fair, I am hurting at 15.6 MPG most of the time, but just wanted to contribute to this thread; haven't done a lot of highway driving in awhile.