Honda Odyssey Real World MPG

mb6986

Yes, my EX-L R&N has VCM. In fact, all EX-L and up trim levels have VCM. VCM functions most of the time when the car is on cruise control except when you are climbing a hill or you accelerate. Driving below 70 mph except when passing definitely helps, however driving gets really dull.

janetb1

I just bought a new 07 exl. I have the same issue when switching from reverse to forward. I wonder if this is how they fixed their transmission problems, working in a delay... It is annoying when you back out into a busy road and have to wait for the car to go forward. My gas milage is awful too. Anyone found anything to help the gas mileage? We are now at 3.49 a gallon! That is about $70 a fill! Also my new van doesn't start up quickly like my 2000 did, what is that about? (I have to turn the key longer)

nwng

that happened to me with my 05 ody. it was getting 18-19 city and about 25 on hwy. when we got the 10% ethanol, mileage has been 15-16 city but hwy is still around 25.

pgrover

For several years hiway for 2000 Ody (from new) was 22mpg. Much less around town. But never better than 22.5 on the road (600 mile trips). This year, without any treatments or special cleaning, it got 24mpg for same 600. Not miraculous change but odd, for a car with 120k on it to improve so. Any ideas, anyone? (I'm not complaining!)
Pete McGullam, Long Island, NY

theodrand

I am a little confused from reading these posts. What I gather (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that:

a. The VCM does not make a significant difference
b. People disagree wildly about the real world MPG with some saying they only get less than 15 around town and others saying they get around 19.
c. QUESTION: Are people here saying the 2007 actually gets WORSE mpg than the 2006 or 2005?

Thanks for any info -- pretty sold on the Ody, just want to know what we can expect or be disappointed in relating to real world MPG.

justaveragejoe

An oil change with a fresh air filter could make that type of improvement.

justaveragejoe

I have been hinting at the same question here and in the Pilot forum. The gear ratio change will certainly make a difference around town since the VCM isn't helping.

panmax

People saying the 2007 gets lower mileage than the 2006 because it does. Even the EPA rates the 2007's gas mileage lower than the 2006. The 2007 has a different transmission. Not sure if this is the only reason.
Search the EPA site at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm

For example the 2007 Odyssey without VCM rates 16 MPG city 23 hwy, combined 18.
The 2006 without VCM rates 17 city 23 hwy, combined 19.

With VCM, the 2007 is also rated lower than the 2006.

What will you, the prospective buyer get? If you get below EPA rating in you old car, the Odyssey will probably also be below. Maybe more below EPA rating since the Odyssey is so heavy. In city driving, weight and frequent accelerating from stop lowers MPG. Odyssey tries to compensate for low MPG in city driving by having the engine turn very slowly when cruising at constant speed to raise MPG. If you do not cruise at a constant speed, MPG will be influenced more by weight when accelerating than cruising at slow engine speed.

gzz

Here are my first three fill-ups on my 2007 Odyssey EXL (with Navi and Res). I was worried before I bought the van, but not any more.

Odometer Reading: 12 - 341 miles (24.3MPG, 25% local)
Odometer Reading: 341 - 669 miles (24.4MPG, 25% local)
Odometer Reading: 669 - 960miles (27.1MPG, 100% highway with a couple of breaks)

dsrtrat2

I believe the difference between the '06 and '07 is mostly because the government is using a more accurate measure for MPG.

My '06 gets in the 20's up to 27+ once in awhile on an interstate trip, but driving with traffic. YMMV

psychogun

I drive 60/40 (city/highway) and have averaged 21.5mpg in two months of ownership.
I drive very frugally, accelerating so the tranny shifts between 2000rpm and no higher than 2500rpm. Accelerating gently also helps in keeping the VCM active, especially when in overdrive.
I'm hoping that gas milage will improve over time since my rountrip to work is 60 miles. I fill up once every 6 days and it currently costs me about $60 each tank (about $13 more than when I had my 2000 Accord LX 5-speed, where a tank lasted about 8 days).

thetman

Day to day - 65%-75% in town - 22.5 mpg.
Longer trips - 26 mpg.

We are pretty happy with the milage so far. Much better then our old Town & Country.

davant

I believe 2007's were actually tested to the new EPA standards. Everything prior to that was statistically adjusted to come up with what your MPG would be if the new standard was applied. There is no sanity or predictability to new figures applied to existing vehicles, some went up, others went down. It's just 'the new modern lie' but at least you have a chance of actually duplicating the new figs with a tail wind.

What folks have overlooked is they use a term 'highway' universally when there are so many variables that take Ody MPG from bad to really bad. I've heard claims of high-20's, downhill both ways, at 55, no cruise.

Besides the obvious tire inflation issue there are two big and one small variable worth mentioning. How fast do you call 'highway'? The Ody is no drag coefficient champ and every 5 MPH over 65 seems to cut 1 MPG off in 30K miles of '06 Touring driving (not in a row). It doesn't really cut through the air, just beats it into submission thus the steeply increasing penalty above legal speeds. I often cruise at 82 and get 20-21. Dropping to 70 makes me doze off but the instant MID MPG indicator (not used in my refuel to refuel computations) jumps between 20 and 28 then. That transitions to my second point of how well and by what method you hold your speed. Ours and other VCM equipped Ody's don't seem to do as well with cruise set. They spend too much time turning VCM on and off in response to terrain even though most of our FL driving is mighty flat. If you're like my wife and almost imperceptibly but constantly adjust throttle, you'll get much lower MPG than holding it rock steady regardless of terrain. That can be annoying as your speed will fluctuate in the name of economy. Bottom line is I can get 25 MPG if I live and die by the ECO light, never bust 70, let off the gas a mile before a red light, but who wants to? I'm not complaining, just noticing that collectively we're assuming the terms city and highway fit all driving styles and blame the product for variance.

Last variable is Rear A/C. Turn it off in no one is in back to maximize your mileage. This seems to make a diff or 1 or 2 MPG or perhaps just in my mind but the engine seems less burdened and the vehicle no longer has a bladder control problem in the process (owners know what I mean).

- Cheers

ezshift5

.......Ours and other VCM equipped Ody's don't seem to do as well with cruise set. They spend too much time turning VCM on and off in response to terrain

......that's interesting (if disappointing) news, as I plan to look real hard at the '08 Accord with VCM.

..appreciate your informative post here...

best, ez..

carfun888

Here's the real numbers (no bs) for my trip to Florida last week.

2007 Ody touring nav/res. Started trip with 1500miles on the odo. 2 adults/2 kids with a decent load of luggage. Air con on all the way there and back. Cruise control on for most of the drive.

22-24MPG AVG. In 70MPH zones the average was 22-23MPG. In several long (100 mile+) 65 zones average was 23-24MPG.

These numbers are spot on the new 2008 standards.

May improve with more engine time but IMO adds to the argument that IF YOU KEEP YOUR SPEED DOWN YOU SHOULD GET DECENT MPG!

ezshift5

...that is a very encouraging report, triple 8.

...especially from a car with a high Cd, air, new, loading et al........

(New AV6 gets VCM soon; my fuel-efficient, fast '05 coupe is imperiled............)

..thanks, ez..

hackattack5

Cheers:
I think you are right on this subject. I have an 06 without the VCM and was getting 17.5 MPG city and 25.5 on the highway. Since I have read some of the comments on this thread I have turned off the rear A/C and corrected my air pressure in the tires and now getting 20 MPG in the city. I do feel sorry for the guys getting 14 to 15 MPG because I think they must have a bigger problem.
Doug

yvqkck

.......Ours and other VCM equipped Ody's don't seem to do as well with cruise set. They spend too much time turning VCM on and off in response to terrain

I do not seem to have this issue on our model. I took a trip out to Idaho from CT and we were able to keep the ECO light on a lot using the cruise control at 80mph while going across NE and WY.

ezshift5

........Ours and other VCM equipped Ody's don't seem to do as well with cruise set. They spend too much time turning VCM on and off in response to terrain


I do not seem to have this issue on our model. I took a trip out to Idaho from CT and we were able to keep the ECO light on a lot using the cruise control at 80mph while going across NE and WY.

....k, your CT - ID trip with the ECO lite on a lot: was your fuel economy anything special? 2008 Accord and VCM a possibility. 3 cyl fuel economy on a lighter vehicle merits some attention.

best, ez..

yvqkck

I do not have the fuel tickets available anymore, but I made Elgin,IL on 2 stops of fuel after I topped off the car in New Heaven,CT. I left my sister-in-law house in Elgin and I got to Pocatelo,Id on 4 stops of fuel I think. I had the wife, 3 kids and enough luggage for 2 weeks with us on the trip.

My brother-in-law followed me back to Elgin on his 02 Chevy Tahoe and I had to stop about 7 or 8 times so he could fill up his Tahoe. I don't think I ever got below half a tank of gas and while he was putting over $50 of gas every time we stopped, I was putting half of that in our van.

I like the cylinder deactivation feature on our van and if you change your driving habits a little to take advantage of this feature, you can get pretty good fuel mileage on the highway.

dancarne

averaged 24MPG on a 2600 mile trip with 5 people and A/C on most of the time. Suburban driving gets 17-18MPG. I tend to average about 23MPG. I would like better, but will have to live with this.

mtnhrdgr2

Hey everybody. I thought I would chime in also. My wife and I were going to buy the Pilot but we decided on the Ody becasue of the better gas mileage (2007 EXL RES). If I knew what I know now, I definitely would not buy the Ody again based solely on the MPG.

The sticker reads 19MPG city and 26highway. Factor in "real world" driving, I figured I would get ~17 city and ~22highway. For the first 1500 miles, we were getting 13/14MPG city and 17/18highway (with a roof rack). Our old Suzuki XL-7 got 16MPG city and 18 highway (with the same exact roof rack). This is terrible. This is worse than the the 4wheel drive SUV we got rid of.

Finally decided to take the roof rack off. After about 500 miles, we now get 15MPG city and 19highway. This is still terrible. FYI...I constantly check the tire pressure and it is @ 35psi cold / 38psi hot.

I agree with someone else's comment that city driving will be different for each of us, but if you live in the same city and drive the same (style) way and the Ody is rated to get better MPG than the vehicle you replaced, then it SHOULD get better MPG not worse.

I love everything else about the Ody, but the MPG is just bad. Maybe we (the ones that are not getting good mpg) should all get together and file a class action lawsuit. Just a thought.

jtocco

Have 2007 Odyssey, turned off VSA button (everytime you start the vehica) and received advertised mileage. I'm asking Honda to correct situation without deactivating VSA permenantly. A nice class action suit might help them along.

jtocco

Turned off VSA feature (evertime you start the vehical) and received advertised mileage.

blackexv6

What does VSA Vehicle Stability Assist have to do with gas mileage? VSA only is activated in slippery/wet conditions which distributes braking force to the slipping wheel.

Are you thinking the VSA button is for the VCM (Variable Cylinder Management)?

Please explain.

mlucas2007ody

Hi, I just bought a 2007 Odyssey Touring. We took a little trip from Cincinnati to Chicago and I couldn’t stop checking our mileage with the average per trip display.

We got mileage anywhere between 19.5 to 26 on the freeway. (If the display was accurate).

The most amusing thing I found out after we got back I did a test loop and confirmed what I had began to notice while on the trip. I did a 30 mile loop at 55 MPH and got 19.5 MPG and then did the same loop at 70 – 75 and got 24.4 MPG. The loop was all freeway and mostly flat, the cruise was used for the most part.

It seems our Odyssey doesn’t like to go slow?

Has anyone else noticed this? It seems to maybe lug at the lower RPM.

jsmith1975

I have a 1999 Odyssey we bought new and currently has 99K miles, that regularly gets 25-27 MPG on highway trips. Around town/commuting 60% Hwy/ 40% City it gets 20-21 MPG.

We are pleased with it.

mlucas2007ody

I wasn’t really complaining about the mileage, it just seemed a little unusual to me that if the miles are strictly freeway miles that I can get better mileage at 70-75 than I can at 55. I was sort of wondering if something may be wrong with my van, I have read other posts where the advice was slow down if you mileage sucks. Maybe everyone should try speeding up it seems to be working for me?

My around town, to and from school (country roads) is about 15 MPG average, so we are planning to limit the Odyssey use to when we need it for 3 or more passengers and when the trip is a little longer than 10 min. away. We want to use it where it’s most valuable, moving masses of people long distance in comfort.

So far we love our Odyssey, I have owned a van before (Chevy full size) and driven several others that belonged to my Dad and Brother, but have never enjoyed the actual driving experience before the Honda.

Great stereo and navigation, it was almost worth the price of admission just for that.

We took another road trip from Cincinnati to Columbus last night and we managed to get 25 MPG on the return trip with the cruise set at 70 MPH.

I also notice that if I increase speed to 80 MPH that the mileage begins to drop off.

dsrtrat2

I don't know the exact shift point to high gear, but if you weren't going fast enough to be in high gear that could explain it. Try it again at 60 MPH and 80 MPH.

mlucas2007ody

Thanks for the advice, I will do a few more test runs over the weekend and try to observe when the transmission shifts to overdrive. I will also take written notes of the RPM’s.

We’re taking the van back to the dealer on Monday to have a towing package installed, I’m going to mention it to them and see what kind of response I get.

Has anyone done extensive testing to see if the computerized trip average MPG readout is correct? I have only did an actual old fashion mileage test on one tank of mixed driving and the overall computer mileage readout was within one MPG on that tank.

It is kind weird, when I first drop from 70 to 55 and reset the computer we will show good mileage of around 26-28 for 1 or 2 miles then over the next few miles it will make a steady drop to 16-19 and stay there as long as I maintain 55.

If there is someone out there with a 2007 touring, and you have the time and opportunity to duplicate the 70 then 55 MPH test I would really appreciate it. Be sure and let it run 55 for 5 or 6 miles. (Try not to get run over)

(Thanks for the feedback)

user777

it is entirely possible due to gearing and the aspect ratio / drag coefficient of the vehicle that you'll achieve higher gas mileage at higher speeds.

i imagine the characteristic as a bell-curve / normal distribution. beyond some speed, the MPG will go down.

don't spend too much time looking at the short-term MPG estimate from an onboard computer.

break the vehicle in properly, and for MPG estimates, use the manual calculation technique with highway driving.

mlucas2007ody

Thanks for the advice, I think I will do a few hard test at 55 and refill the tank just to see if the on board computer is accurate, then repeat at 70. I will report back what I find out.

We are in 5th gear for sure; I checked that, under moderate acceleration it shifts into 5th at about 48-50 MPH... Engine is at about 1550 or 1600 RPM at 55 MPH.

It may be that Honda just figures nobody drives 55 anyway, so maybe it’s just tuned for the sweet spot of horsepower to fuel at around 2000 RPM.

boco063

I'm wondering if anyone has actually gotten a dealer to admit that there's a problem with these cars. I recently purchased a 2007 Touring as more efficient (and reliable) alternative to the old family wagon (a 2002 Yukon XL Denali, commonly referred to as the 'exxon valdez') and have been less than pleased with the results.

I routinely drive the loop to and from the elementary school to pick up my kids. It's about 6 miles there and 6 miles back. Starting at home with a warmed up car in the middle of summer I can only get about 15.0 mpg as reported by the car on this loop. There are a grand total of 2 stop signs on the way there and two on the way back. Most of the driving is coasting along country roads at 45-50 mph. In comparison, if I drive the Yukon (EPA 12/15,ouch) I'm able to get about 13.8 mpg. The yukon weighs about 6400lbs, has a 6.0L V8 and full-time AWD. Just for giggles and grins I even made sure to crank the rear air in the Yukon for an apples to apples comparison. So, the yukon is exceeding it's EPA City rating by 15% on this loop. If the Ody exceeded it's EPA City rating of 19, I'd expect about 21.85 mpg on this loop.

It's amazing to me that the Ody (3.5L, VCM, FWD, 4500lbs) can't get 10% better fuel economy than the Yukon running the same route under the same conditions. To me that indicates that there's something not quite right with this car. I already need to take it in to the dealer for something else, so I intend to bring this up while I am there. I'll be interested to see what they have to say about it.

bobber1

How new is your van again? It does take a while for those engines to break in and mileage will suffer until they do particularly in short distance driving.

mlucas2007ody

Our van has a little less than 2000 miles on it (mostly freeway miles)

I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, we love our new van, and if we have to go 72.5 instead of 55 miles an hour to get some good mileage, that OK with me.

Like I said in an earlier post, this van likes to go fast.

mgokare

I bought My 2007 EX-L Odyssey last Nov 30. Under suspicion of low mileage I have been keeping track of mileage for the last several weeks and I have been surprised to find that I get only about 12.7 miles/gallon on this vehicle. The whole reason I bought this vehicle was for teh VCM and the claim of higher mileage because of VCM. It appears that there is something wrong with the fuel injection system or the like on this vehicle. I took it to a local dealer who siad everything is all right. I have filed a complaint with Honda Customer Service also and would urge you all to do the same as well. I am terribly disappointed with this van.

dsrtrat2

You pose an interesting situation. I wonder if you have uneven and/or premature brake pad wear. If you do then there certainly could some correlation with the VSC feature. The owners manual says to turn it off when running on the donut spare. Do you by chance have an odd mix of tires or high/low pressures on them.

I would really like to hear what all you find out.

I have gotten <20 MPG less than a half a dozen times on 4 different ODYs. These poor folks who are getting in the low teens, there really must be something awry somewhere.

kingsalu

I bought a 2007 honda odyssey with NAV+RES last month and stunned to note the gas mileage which was 16MPG on highway. This is ridiculus. I did not buy Yukon/XL because of the gas mileage.My Nissan Quest was giving me on avg 23 MPG. I am going to take my Odyssey to the delaer to see what they have to say. Any suggestions??

user777

yes, inflate your tires properly. fill up and zero the odometer. now go on a ride on the highway at 60 or 65 for about 300 miles. pull off the hwy and refill and divide miles on the odometer by gallons pumped.

mlucas2007ody

We took a road trip from Wilmington to Fort Hill Ohio over the weekend. We were pulling a medium size trailer with three bikes, multiple bags of camping gear, food lawn chairs and the like. We also had 6 people in the van. We filled up in Wilmington before we left and again when we returned. The trip was a total of 112 miles and we used 6.14 gallons of fuel, which comes out to 18.24 MPG. The trip computer said we were getting 16.3 average MPH which was about 2 MPG low. The drive was completely on country roads and state route 2 lanes with many curves and hills, we mostly traveled around 50 &#150; 55 MPH. I drove very thoughtfully and kept my right foot out of if when I could.

It appears the trip computer is incorrect, at least for this trip. I will do more testing and let everyone know how things turn out.

I think I may try a short trip and just drive in a fun sort of way (step on it a little) and see how far south the mileage drops.

pack76

Bought a new 2007 with Nav , immedialty went on a Road Trip. The First leg of the journey , when we were traveling relatively between 55-65MPH ( before 1000 Miles on the car), we averaged about 25.5 Miles. The entire travel averaged at about 22.5mpg. Of the total 80% of it was highway miles. On the way back though , we were at relatively higher speeds averaging 75-80 (South Dakota ) , which probably bought down the mileage to 22.5. Seems to be working ok for me as of now. Will know the city mileage when i fill in my tank next.

trmc

Recently took my 07 Odyssey on a vacations from Colorado to southern California, a 3000 miles roundtrip. I averaged close to 26 mpg. We were five adults & two kids, luggage and a rooftop Thule box. Average speed was between 65-70 mph. I was pretty satisfied with the mileage given the load and weight of the vehicle.

Folks, this is a van, not a sedan. Try to fit 7 people in a sedan...

janetb1

2007 Odyssey. I don't think anyone is complaining about highway mileage. It is city that is killing me. I live in a small town and take a lot of small trips. I am getting about 15mpg. My 2000 Odyssey was much better, about 20.

zdawg

When I picked up my new 07 odyssey from the dealer, I had a full tank of gas and reset the trip meter to 0 miles. With city driving (half freeway..half street), I reached 329 miles before gas meter went into the red. I took it to the gass station and topped it off...but it only took 17 gallons to top it off. I understand the 07 odys take 21 gallons of gas, so I probably still had 4 gallons left of driving...even with the meter in the red. Anyways, if I calculate the mpg before fillup, it would be 329 miles / 17 gallons = 19.35 which is right on par with what the epg rating for city driving on this vehicle. All the others who are complaining about poor gas mileage, are you taking this into account?

zdawg

When I picked up my new 07 odyssey from the dealer, I had a full tank of gas and reset the trip meter to 0 miles. With city driving (half freeway..half street), I reached 329 miles before gas meter went into the red. I took it to the gass station and topped it off...but it only took 17 gallons to top it off. I understand the 07 odys take 21 gallons of gas, so I probably still had 4 gallons left of driving...even with the meter in the red. Anyways, if I calculate the mpg before fillup, it would be 329 miles / 17 gallons = 19.35 which is right on par with what the epa rating for city driving on this vehicle. All the others who are complaining about poor gas mileage, are you taking this into account?

zdawg

Try using realtime figures instead of relying on your computer. Top off your tank, then reset the milage to 0. Drive the car until you need to fill it up. Note the mileage and then how many gallons it takes to top it off. Divide the milage by the number of gallons it took to top off your car. That should give you're realistic gas mileage.

nm_socal

I'd suggest doing the tallying after 3-4 tankfuls (1,200+ miles). That would be a better indication of the car's actual performance.

This is how I do it: Reset the trip computer, fill the tank. Call it the starting point.

Fill gas in increments of 10-15 gallons at a time. Do not reset the trip meter. Remember how many gallons you have filled in.

When you've completed 1,200+ miles, then fill up the gas to the max, notice how many total gallons you have added so far, notice the total miles driven, and do the computation.

'hope this helps. Thanks.

kingsalu

Me too. I bought my van also two months ago and it is giving me around 13 MPG. Highway it is 16 MPG. When I talked to the dealer they are telling me that it is due to the break-in period which is 7500 miles for Honda Odyssey. It will take me a year to cross that. Plus there is not documention from Honda which gives any idea about this break-in limits. I am going to contact Honda tommorrow as the dealer is not willing to look into this.

bikechuck

Too many of us are expeiencing this for Honda to do anything about it.

As they say in the software industry, the bad mileage is a feature.

pack76

This includes about 70 Miles on the highway. But it seems pretty close to the rating. Also it will vary greatly on how you drive. whethere you are accelerate gradually or just step on the gas. Try driving in a way to get the ECO indicator come up as often as Possible ( EX-L and above ). I think that makes a significant difference. Will know when i fill in my tank again.