26.933 MPG - I'm pretty happy so far...

[scubaduderon]

After reading other post I have been dreading the poor mileage I thought we were going to get. This good mileage may end up being an anomaly but I hope it is at least close to what I end up getting.

The car is an 04 Touring edition NA with 30k miles and an auto trans combined city/highway. Probably less than half on the highway. Everything is Stock except for an K&N drop in air filter. We're in Chicago so it's on gas with
10% ethanol.

Whenever possible I attempt to accelerate very smoothly, when I notice a light go red I immediately remove my foot from the gas and start to coast. I believe they call it feather footing. I encourage my wife to do the same but she isn't as good as I am so far. I use the cruise control where I can and don't speed aggressively, but moderately. It's kind of a game to me. Trying to get as good a mileage as possible while not driving totally passively.

The next thing I will do to hopefully improve the mileage is a switch to Mobil 1, (I don't know what is in it now) a new oil filter, plugs and wires. I will probably go with Crane wires and Champion double platinum plugs as recommended by so many on this forum.

Any other hints you could give me that may help increase my mileage would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Ron

[CREWZIN]

Ron, not bad at all. Something you can do to improve mileage is to go about 2 to 3 pounds of air above what's recommended on the door sticker. My 01 LE says 34lbs. all the way round. I keep 36 all around. Some say you can go all the way up to around 40, which makes the tires more round and gives it less rolling resistance but it also hardens up the tire where you'll feel every little stone on the road.

[scubaduderon]

Originally Posted by CREWZIN

Ron, not bad at all. Something you can do to improve mileage is to go about 2 to 3 pounds of air above what's recommended on the door sticker. My 01 LE says 34lbs. all the way round. I keep 36 all around. Some say you can go all the way up to around 40, which makes the tires more round and gives it less rolling resistance but it also hardens up the tire where you'll feel every little stone on the road.

Thanks for the tip. The tires are Firestone Indy 500's and I'll probably
go for a few pounds more. I'll watch the tread ware to see how it's going.
It will soon be winter here so I'm not sure how harder tires handle in snow?
I'm not sure if these tires are even rated for snow. Off to google...

Any ideas?

Thank you,

Ron

[quicksilverdon]

Agree w/ Crewzin - keep tires pumped up.
How many miles in that MPG calculation? I find that tank-to-tank varies greatly - some gas pumps shut of gallons before other pumps.
Here's how I'm doin':
56,279 miles, 2,246.778 gallons of regular, 25.049 MPG!
At 50,000 miles it was 24.95, so it does creep upward.

[bobs turbo pt]

that is great mileage

[mjb457]

(19.8mpg) local 9 miles per day to work... not highway,,is this ok?

[Hooligan]

Good?? I donno', that being said IF you have many stoplights and hit them, I'd say it is about normal.

[soonercruiser]

Originally Posted by mjb457

(19.8mpg) local 9 miles per day to work... not highway,,is this ok?

That's like slow, stop lights, and city driving. So, that's what the sticker says to expect.

[AnarchyPT]

<--Jealous of good mpg.

But it's my own fault, gotta show these hondas around here a thing or two about first impressions, but i'm safe, keep tires at a good 38psi(35 recommend) and i've utilized Neutral a lot more for coasting and have seen SOME improvement.

[soonercruiser]

NON-TURBO UPDATE.
The sticker says 26-29mpg. I had previously posted that I had never gotten more than 27 mpg this past year, and had put on the aftermarket AiRaid air intake system. Well, maybe there are several definitions to "breaking in the engine"!
soonercruiser now has 20,500, and on a 2 hour trip from OKCity to Muskogee , on the way over I actually hit 29+mpg!!! On the way back I hit a stiff head wind from a cold front that was moving through, and just got 26+. So, I think that there is a secondary engine break-in that will eventually stretch out that fuel mileage!