Honda CR-V Real World MPG
This topic is for CR-V owners to report their actual MPG. Please be sure to include the year, automatic or manual, and whether it is FWD or AWD.
"Real World" Fuel Economy vs. EPA Estimates
"Real World" Fuel Economy vs. EPA Estimates
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Normal in-town is around 22, mixed 23-24.
Note that I drive carefully (but not slowly). If I stomp on the accelerator all the time, I have gotten as low as 18.5 for all city driving. The I4 engine will support rapid starts and acceleration, but you pay the price at the pump.
My mileage got better at around 2000 miles.
I think it would be a good idea for people to post their mileage and the brand and grade of fuel used. I see greater difference in fuel economy (based on observations in my other cars) from brands than driving style.
05 LX FWD automatic
Purchased 12/17/04
Current mileage 5700; no oil change yet; OEM tires--29 psi all around.
Driving: 80% inter-suburban; 20% highway
Vendors: Shell, Mobil, occasionally Exxon
Driving style: Stevedebi; gentle all around
Lifetime mileage: 23.3 mpg
Winter MPG (thru 3/31/05): 22.8
Spring (sic) MPG (from 4/1/05): 24.2
Best tank: 27.5 (all highway ending 3/19/05)
Worst tank: 20.8 (all suburban driving ending 3/11/05)
Have not checked city driving, but getting 27 mpg on highway (75-80 mph) using regular unleaded.
22-23 mpg with A/C running all the time. The MPG was higher when I lived in mainland around 24-26 MPG.
My mpg seems quite similar to stevedebi in post#4. At 75 Mph, 26-27 MPG on the freeway. When I keep my highway speed under 70, I have improved to 28 mpg.
Average city is around 22, mixed 23-24.
I called the dealership, asking if this kind of mileage was typical. He said it was because we run the A/C a lot, and that it should get better in the Fall. I know that A/C affects fuel economy, but I'm getting 4-5 mpg less that I should.
Has anyone else had this experience?
Used Shell 87. The missus likes to run the AC full bore anytime the temp is above 85, which it has been quite a bit here in the Northeast. Most of the driving has been suburban stop and go, with some city and a fair amount of blue highways.
We expect to take a trip to Maine soon, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I get with 300 interstate highway miles.
But so far, I'm getting pretty much what Honda promised.
A lot depends on your driving style.Is the highway mileage driving at 80 MPH? Or at 65 MPH? Faster highway speeds mean lower fuel mileage. City fuel mileage is affected by how fast you accelerate. Slow and steady wins the fuel mileage race.
Is this your first SUV? You need to remember that it's heavier than a sedan and is not going to accelerate as quickly. If you try to "push" it to accelerate like a sedan, your mileage will be poor.
JM2C
also loves the Bosch 4 platinum plugs, noticible improvement in performance over NGK and NipponDenso. long life 100k plugs.
noticeable acceleration improvement and hill climbing after breakin around 5 to 10k.
1. Fill up the tank completely
2. Set your trip meter to zero miles.
3. When it gets close to empty, fill it up all the way again. When you do this, keep the receipt and write down how many miles are on the trip meter.
4. Then, your mpg will be equal to the number of miles you wrote down from the trip meter divided by the number of gallons your receipt says you put in.
I hope this helps!
How can you divide Dollars by Miles and get miles per gallon??????? What you have is 16.7 cents per mile.
To get miles per gallon you need to divide miles driven by gallons used.
The simplest way is to:
1) Wait until your first tank is empty, or until the light comes on.
2) Go to the station that you know you will be able to return to for the consecutive fill up.
3) Fill up until the auto shut off clicks. DO NOT TOP OFF.
4) Reset the trip odometer.
5) Drive as you normaly do.
6) When the gas light is on, return to the SAME STATION, SAME PUMP, SAME TIME OF DAY, preferrably SAME WEATHER CONDITONS.
7) Fill up, until the automatic shut off clicks. DO NOT TOP OFF.
8) Take the miles driven on the trip odometer and divide by the GASOLINE VOLUME (not price). e.g. Trip odometer says 280 miles, it took 11 gallons to fill. 280/11=25.5 miles per gallon or mpg.
9) Reset the trip odometer and repeat procedure 5 or more times.
10) AVERAGE the 5 or more fill ups.
Well, I just got my 6th fill-up or so.
This tank was completely city-driving - I did not set foot (er, tire) on a road with a speed limit above 35 the entire tank. I got 20.9 mpg (on the lowest grade of fuel), which is about the same as my VW Passat Wagon (4-cyl turbo) got, for a car with a lot more pep and space.
The previous tank was mostly Rocky Mt highway driving, and I got 25.1 mpg. The previous tank, which was all Rocky Mt highways (including a lot of driving through Rocky Mt National Park), I got 28 mpg.
Altogether, I've gotten 24.2 mpg to date. I haven't tried mid-grade fuel yet, which is what's recommended in the owner's manual.
That's odd. The Honda website lists "regular unleaded" as the correct grade of fuel for the 2005 CR-V.
This tank was completely city-driving - I did not set foot (er, tire) on a road with a speed limit above 35 the entire tank. I got 20.9 mpg (on the lowest grade of fuel), which is about the same as my VW Passat Wagon (4-cyl turbo) got, for a car with a lot more pep and space.
The previous tank was mostly Rocky Mt highway driving, and I got 25.1 mpg. The previous tank, which was all Rocky Mt highways (including a lot of driving through Rocky Mt National Park), I got 28 mpg.
Altogether, I've gotten 24.2 mpg to date. I haven't tried mid-grade fuel yet, which is what's recommended in the owner's manual.
READ THE MANUAL AGAIN!!!! You probably missed the part where it says to use octane 86. Unless you are in Brazil, Eastern Europe, other developing country, or Rocky mountain region still gets 76 octane. The lowest grade sold in most of the US is 87, which is higher than recommended 86.
By the way, I am getting 26 mpg 95% City driving in a 2005 CR-V EX manual with 3 oz of acetone per 15 gallon tank. 24 mpg without acetone
I guess you are right, and I am wrong. I have been to CO and never saw 85 octane. Even CA, which has the most stringent emission requirements does not sell 85 octane.
Does it have to do with the lower air pressure, lower O2 concentration in the mile high city?
I can't post links, as per agreement, because the site that explains what is at work happens to have a forum board. But if you search for Honda and SUV and then search for acetone thread, you will get all the details.
People have been adding varyous proportions of Acetone to gasoline (not gasohol) and getting improved and not so improved fuel economy. The general ratio that works is about 2 fl oz. per 10 gallons. This is why I add 3 oz per fill. It usually takes about 12 gallons to fill, but the tank's capacity is listed at 15 gallons. I do this with Mobil brand of gasoline as I know it has no ethanol. Cheaper gas from reservations and wholesale clubs is of unknow origin. The fuel economy suffers when acetone is added to fuels containing ethanol (gasohol).
Last time I filled up at the Indian reservation and added 3 oz of acetone. I don't know what the fuel economy is going to be, but expect it to be worse than Mobil gas. Generally, I am getting 10% improvment in fuel economy with acetone. Some people on that board reported as much as 30% improvment.
I use HPLC grade acetone that I get from work. Most hardware stores sell lower quality acetone, which does not seem to have a negative effect on the fuel economy. I have not tried hardware store acetone.
:confuse: I filled up my tank completely and put odometer "A" in zero by the time it was empty "A" read 180.1 miles. Now that's 12.3 gallons I poured into the tank divided by 180.1 and that's 14.64 mpg. Do you think this is a Lemon? The dealership told me in my face today that the CR-V would normally spend 12 to 14 mpg. I am complaining to Honda about this.
Alex
Otherwise, you have no idea how much gas you used out of your tank.. A common mistake..
regards,
kyfdx
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I get 26 mpg in 95% City driving. I shift at 2500 RPM's, almost never exceed the speed limit (which is 35-45 in my town), and don't race from light to light, but rather time it so that I don't have to stop at every light.
This is different from when gas was $1.50, I would have been at the "head of the pack" Now I drive like an old lady. There some old ladies that actually drive faster than I.
Tires at 32 psi
Odometer under 3,000
Traveled from central Connecticut to central Maine
total miles 672
total gas 25.48
avg mpg 26.4
The trip Nawth was in heavy traffic with some construction delays. For this 280 miles, the CRV did 26.6 mpg.
Returning home, with much lighter traffic and frequent use of Cruise Control set at approx 65 mph, the CRV did a bit better than 28.
Local trips amounting to 100+ miles, the CRV avg 22.24 mpg. Although the town in Maine has only one traffic light and is surrounded by blue highways, the local mileage was only marginally better than I get in Central CT suburban stop and go.
Overall I’m getting what Honda promised and may get better with break in.
can you tell us how you changed your driving style? apologies if you already did and i missed it.
:shades:
I have a 99 4Runner SR5 V6 with 77, 710 miles, avg. mpg in similar driving is 19.72 mpg. Latest trip, 1720 miles, 24.92 mpg, 95% interstate, 5% city, dead stop on I-20 for one hour, 102 degrees outside. Best mpg 25.41. Exxon, Chevron, Shell, 89 octane. Michelin LTX tires. Valvoline 5-30 dino.
96 Camry LE 4 cyl, 92,973 miles, EPA 21 city, 27 hwy. 50% 4 mile one way city drive to work, 50% rural roads. 25.26 mpg. Texas to Colorado trip with 7500 miles on odometer, 2047 miles, avg 34.76 mpg with car loaded. Will still do 32+ mpg on rural roads. Exxon, Chevron, Shell, 89 octane. Michelin Destiny tires, Valvoline 10-30 dino.
The CRV is the first vehicle I have owned that I have not been able to exceed the EPA ratings. Perhaps the mileage will improve when I hit 10000 to 20000 miles.
850 miles averaging 18.5 in mostly city. ">
I hope this improves!!
87 Octane.
Easy driiving in first 500 miles..
Well, keep in mind that I have a 2003, which has a 4 speed transmission.
Basically I accelerate briskly, but do not exceed 2500 RPMs. I try and get to 35 MPH in town (generally the speed limit) as soon as I can without exceeding 2500. Sometimes I have to let off on the accelerator pressure to get the engine to shift into the final gear (usually at around 30-35 MPH). Then I watch my Tach - I have found that I can maintain 35 MPH on a level surface with 1500 or so RPMs, but if I'm not careful, the RPMs will creep up, without a significant increase in speed. I can't really explain that, except that maybe the traffic is influencing me. When I first realized this, I found I was driving about 1700 -1800 RPMs for just about the same speed.
I have found that this generally keeps up with most traffic - nobody honks their horn, anyway. Those that stomp on the gas are generally about 50 feet ahead of me at 35 MPH. Well, OK, if they really stop on the gas, they are 100 feet ahead.
This includes something that is also a safety enhancement - I find myself watching the traffic ahead so as to compensate for the "accordian effect" normal to traffic. So I am more alert to upcoming problems.
The other tricks are to try and time the traffic and the lights, so that you don't have to speed up and hit the brakes all the time. Every time you accelerate that 3500 lbs of metal, it takes more gas. So try and time the lights such that you make them, especially if you go the same route every day. Which is another thing, check your various routes to work and see which one provides the most consistent speed at approximately the same distance.
My "bad" MPG (18.3 MPG) was when I really dipped into the VTEC, with "jackrabbit" starts that went into the 3000's for RPM. I actually got the RT4WD to kick in often, which seldom happens now. It sure was fun though...
One note: I don't skimp on the gas when accelerating onto a freeway, or passing. I usually get up to 4000 RPM on the on-ramp. And I never hinder traffic, not ever. I'll use a little more gas first.
You will also save if you stay at 65 MPH. My absolute best tank was in New Mexico last year. I went about 60 MPH for 1/2 of the tank, and 80 MPH for the other 1/2. I got 30.8 MPG (as I recall). I've often wondered what would have happened if I'd gone back by the secondary roads instead of the Interstate, but we found ourselves 180 miles North of Santa Fe, NM - all the way into Colorado, in my misguided attempt to get back from Taos. Don't ask for details, it is painful to a person like me who generally has a very good sense of direction.
Beautiful scenery, however, in the fall. I also found the neatest ski resort nestled in the mountains. I was trying to get over those same mountains, but when the road turned into dirt, I decided to circle around the mountains on the paved roads. It turned out to be a rather large circle.
BTW, I was over 400 miles on that tank, which is unusual. That was only the second time I've gone over 400; the other time I got 27.5 MPG, which tells you that I was running on fumes when I stopped at 410 miles. I missed my exit on the interstate, and in some parts of Arizona, and California, that means a lot of miles to the next stop. I put in around 15 gallons as I recall.
My mileage increased at about 3000 miles.
The CR-V doesn't need 89 octane. Save yourself some money and use 87 if it's available. I think you'll find that your Owners Manual says to use a minimum of 86 octane.
JM2C
My last tank's mileage was 20.9, and for this tank I got 21.9. I'm really satisfied with these numbers. I use 85 octane, which is what the lowest grade sold here in Denver is.
My CR-V has about 1600 miles on it, so it has whatever oil & tires came with it.
The CR-V doesn't need 89 octane. Save yourself some money and use 87 if it's available. I think you'll find that your Owners Manual says to use a minimum of 86 octane.
JM2C
My mistake. I run 87 octane in all my vehicles. I had a 93 Camry SE, V6, 5 speed that I ran 89 octane in.
I run 32 psi in all vehicle tires. Road noise in the CRV seems to increase with tire pressure.
Front tires: 34 psi
Rear tire: 32 psi
Drove 1111 miles (started w/ an empty tank and ended w/ an empty tank), with 650 highway miles and the rest was city miles; with AC on half of the time. Total was 43.9 gallons. The average mileage is 25.3 mpg.