[SteelBlue]

POOR.

My Steering rack on my F250 has a closer steering ratio that my ridgeline.

I love this truck, but today I noticed while coming around a small turn, I felt like I was driving a BUS with this horrible steering rack ratio.. I have to turn the wheel 1,000 times for a quarter turn..

anyone else?

 

[JOZ RIDG]

POOR.

My Steering rack on my F250 has a closer steering ratio that my ridgeline.

I love this truck, but today I noticed while coming around a small turn, I felt like I was driving a BUS with this horrible steering rack ratio.. I have to turn the wheel 1,000 times for a quarter turn..

anyone else?

I haven't noticed that yet because my ridgeline ONLY goes Straight to the gas station!!!

Filled up yesterday for my 9th fillup for $54.20 for 19.2 gallons. 253 miles div. by 19.2 = 13.17 mpg AGAIN!!

Boy I hope this gets better after my first oil change like Ive' heard.

 

[Webwader]

I have to turn the wheel 1,000 times for a quarter turn..

Maybe there is a nut loose behind your wheel.

 

[Whaleya]

part of the reason the truck tracks nice on the highway. Yes it can be annoying in parking lots. On the same subject I find that when I turn left the turn light doesn't always turn off.

 

[NJRidge]

One of the few complaints that I have about my Ridgeline is the turning radius. Certainly takes some getting used to! The first time pulling away from a parking space should have shown that.
I do however have no problem flying down a dirt road/hill/etc in reverse

 

[swampler]

I haven't noticed that yet because my ridgeline ONLY goes Straight to the gas station!!!

Filled up yesterday for my 9th fillup for $54.20 for 19.2 gallons. 253 miles div. by 19.2 = 13.17 mpg AGAIN!!

Boy I hope this gets better after my first oil change like Ive' heard.

What are your driving habits? Mine went up a little around the 3rd fillup, but it was never as low as yours and didn't go up but about 2 mpg. I didn't see any increase when I changed my oil.

 

[Spritegeezer]

POOR.

My Steering rack on my F250 has a closer steering ratio that my ridgeline.

I love this truck, but today I noticed while coming around a small turn, I felt like I was driving a BUS with this horrible steering rack ratio.. I have to turn the wheel 1,000 times for a quarter turn..

anyone else?

I believe the specs are about 3.5 turns lock to lock. Can you say hyperbole?

 

[Webwader]

Can you say hyperbole?

Nope. It's Greek to me.

 

[JOZ RIDG]

What are your driving habits? Mine went up a little around the 3rd fillup, but it was never as low as yours and didn't go up but about 2 mpg. I didn't see any increase when I changed my oil.

I'll admit I'm a pretty aggressive driver which is part of my poor gas mileage. But I really tried to take it easy before my last fill up and was anticipating a good mpg run. I was sure let down with a 13.2 mpg reading. Ive' had one 16.3 and one 18.4 The rest have been 13.7 and 14.7

I'm going try Tex's Ridge's 3 principals for good mieage posted (9/24/05) under (305 Miles 13gls. = 23mpg) here in (Under The Hood/Performance/Tires&Wheels) and see what results I can get.

It's not going to be easy to change years of aggressive driving habits but at $55.00 a tank I'm going to give it a shot.

Joe

 

[SteelBlue]

I have seriously had to alter my driving habits.

My F250 had Chip, and exhaust. I would mash the throttle, a big cloud of black smoke, and I was gone!

I also drive a 600hp 89 Mustang around when I am bored.

This whole drive by wire thing is weird, and hard to get used too, when I was so used to driving with the pedal mashed in the floorboard all the time.

 

[swampler]

What's the big deal about drive by wire? The biggest thing I notice is that when the cruise is engaged, the pedal is "pressed" by itself. The way you guys are talking, you're supposed to drive differently because of it, but I didn't realize it was drive by wire until I read it here (except for the cruise control issue about the pedal, which I didn't know why it did that).

 

[swampler]

I'll admit I'm a pretty aggressive driver which is part of my poor gas mileage. But I really tried to take it easy before my last fill up and was anticipating a good mpg run. I was sure let down with a 13.2 mpg reading. Ive' had one 16.3 and one 18.4 The rest have been 13.7 and 14.7

I'm going try Tex's Ridge's 3 principals for good mieage posted (9/24/05) under (305 Miles 13gls. = 23mpg) here in (Under The Hood/Performance/Tires&Wheels) and see what results I can get.

It's not going to be easy to change years of aggressive driving habits but at $55.00 a tank I'm going to give it a shot.

Joe

I usually accelerate fairly hard, but have managed to improve my mpg by about 1 to 1.5 by taking it easy on the pedal, though not as easy as the thread you referenced. It seems to me that there is just a lot of variation between models. I wonder if there is a difference based on accessories?

Good luck with your experiment!

 

[Spritegeezer]

When the U.S.A.F. introduced fly by wire (I forget which plane was the first) there was a great deal of resistance from flight crews. Fighter jocks who do a great deal of instinctive reaction kind of flying resisted the hardest. Transport flight crews picked it up quickly. As the avionics improved response time improved but pilots just grew accustomed to its ideosycracies. So will you. "Heads-up" displays are another kettle of whatsits.

 

[JOZ RIDG]

What's the big deal about drive by wire? I didn't realize it was drive by wire until I read it here

I agree, I didn't know the RL was drive by wire until I read it somewhere on a spec post.

The throttle response dosen't seem to be any different from my other vehicles. Although now I'm trying to find the "slight pause" or "lag" that some have experienced but I haven't felt it yet.

 

[auditude]

What's the big deal about drive by wire? The biggest thing I notice is that when the cruise is engaged, the pedal is "pressed" by itself. The way you guys are talking, you're supposed to drive differently because of it, but I didn't realize it was drive by wire until I read it here (except for the cruise control issue about the pedal, which I didn't know why it did that).

I believe the throttle is more sensitive to the velocity/speed at which the pedal is pushed, in addition to the amount/degree that it is pressed down. It could just be my imagination, but the truck seems to be have different when for example you press the pedal down 1" at a normal "foot pressing speed" and when you quickly "slam" it down only 1".

It usually feels like if I press the pedal quicker I don't have to press it as far for the same amount of throttle.

What I'm describing, which may indeed just be the way the truck is and not a DBW effect, if somewhat similar to a turbo car, where the same amount of throttle can have different amounts of power associated with it. With a turbo, it's dependent upon how spooled up the turbo is, and with the DBW it seems like the computer is calculated the amount of power demanded based on throttle speed as well as amount.

I think I have also noticed how adaptive the setup is. When you get on the gas with a lead foot more often, which I have been doing with this first tankful of 91 octane with dismal MPG results so far, the truck seems to be more rarin' to go even when you aren't doing that so much. The truck is fairly fast I think, however, for how heavy it is anyway.

 

[BillB]

which I have been doing with this first tankful of 91 octane with dismal MPG results so far

Save your money and put regular 87 grade in. Many of us have tried this experiment to gain response, speed, mpg, etc... with absolutely no success. The ignition program on the computer is just too smart to be tricked by higher octane gas and the only effect is less $ in your wallet.

 

[auditude]

Save your money and put regular 87 grade in. Many of us have tried this experiment to gain response, speed, mpg, etc... with absolutely no success. The ignition program on the computer is just too smart to be tricked by higher octane gas and the only effect is less $ in your wallet.

I thought it was a bit quicker, but the truth is I didn't spank the truck that hard on the other tankfuls. I'm on the next tankful, of 87 again, and I calculated my mileage which turned out to be like 9mpg.