I recently purchased a new Honda Civic 2012 EX back in September-ish. It’s been running great and I love it. I have one issue thus far: the gas mileage.
I know, I know. EPA estimates that are on the sticker usually aren’t the most accurate, but they’re still a general guideline. Most of my transportation (~80%) is to and from work, which is 16 miles per day. Given that this is during rush hour, there is a lot of starting and stopping whether it’s red lights or just bumper-to-bumper in general.
That said, I can usually only expect 22-24 mpg. This is well under the 29 rating for city. I will note that the 39 hwy is more or less reached. I’ll fill up and take it on the highway and get probably 36-40 mpg. That’s all well and good. I’m just confused as to why my “city” is so low. Granted, this is essentially the worst possible kind of city driving. Many of the stopping points are on hills (which are plentiful here in western PA). That said, I think I should still be getting more than 22-23 on average…
Any thoughts? I’m even running with ECON mode turned on. I have no idea if it’s a gimmick or not, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. It doesn’t seem to make much of a difference at all. I’m also a pretty conservative driver. I never floor it, and I’ve specifically been trying to boost the MPG on my last few fill-ups by driving super conservatively. Keep in mind that I’ve measured the MPG by actually filling up the tank and computing the usage by miles traveled on X amount of gas and not just using the digital readout.
Any ideas? I’m sure everything is fine, but I was expecting slightly better results.
For one, its brand new so it’ll improve a bit as the moving parts wear in. Second, the EPA sticker numbers, as always, are simulations of “real world” driving. Unless you drive exactly like the EPA city drive cycle, your mileage will likely be different.
I’m getting 34.9 mpg with mixed city and highway driving on my 2012 Civic. I, too ,leave the Econ mode on. Its main function seems to be allowing a wider speed range while the cruise control is on. I’m very happy with my gas mileage.
My guess is that it has to do with your stop-and-start commute. I have a 2010 Honda Insight and I know that the commute kills my MPG - my commute is 4 miles one-way and I recently counted 12 stops in 15 minutes (not counting traffic). On the weekend, I drive more normally and see my MPG rise nicely, then it falls throughout the work week due to my commute. A friend of mine has the same year and model and she gets much better MPG with her longer, less trafficky commute.
Thanks for the replies. I figured “city” was allowing for some inclusion of stop and start, but the hilly roads and at least 10 stops per trip has to be slaughtering it for sure.
I have a 2011 honda civic (got it in march). I get about 24 mpg (if one presumes that I can convert from km/l). I drive almost exclusively in the city.
When my husband borrowed my car for a couple of weeks, that shot up to about 36 mpg as he was doing mainly highway driving.