Hey, Al. Boy, I don't know what to say.... 18 mpg is terrible. OTOH, like has been mentioned, if you are taking very short trips, I guess I could see that.

Even on short trips, I can get in the upper 20's. Anything over 5 minutes, and I'll be in the 30's. My over 36 mpg would not be a fair comparison for city driving, obviously, but if your trips are over 5 minutes, you should certainly be able to get upper 20's.

Caveat: The above assumes you’re making the effort. The HAH has a lot of power and if you drive it aggressively, you’ll get 255 hp V6 type mileage. I won’t bother to go into the myriad of high mileage tips. You can find more than I could remember in the “Learning” section. And I don’t go to near the extremes that are listed there, but I do drive with load and never exceed the speed limit.

As far as tire pressure, I tried 42 - too hard. 40 - too hard. 38 - seems a good compromise between FE hard and comfort soft.

Incidentally, I drove the car “normally” – used the cruise; normal acceleration, let it idle at the post office, etc…, and received 33.7 mpg. That’s with about 65 – 70% hwy miles and the rest city.

My city, however, doesn’t have bumper to bumper traffic. My car stays in a garage that never drops below 60 degrees in the winter and stays in my warehouse at our offices – never drops below 55 degrees. That probably makes a BIG difference on the short trips.

Weather (cold – wind) and elevation changes can KILL your FE, along with giving it incredible boosts.

Also, I don’t remember if you mention whether you have NAVI with the trip computer, but the real time FE gauge helps a LOT. If you have it, use it. It will really help you learn what small – almost unnoticeable – changes can make a large difference in FE.

If you don’t have NAVI, reset your “b” trip for each trip you make. You don’t get nearly the feedback as with the trip computer, but it will certainly help a great deal.

Again, if all your trips are less than 5 minutes, maybe you aren’t too abnormal. Otherwise, you or your car needs some adjustments for better FE.

Good luck!

'05 Accord Hybrid
'05 Odyssey EX-L
'03 1800 Goldwing
'98 Civic EX (16 yr. old daughter's)