--

 

5th gear trick- 42mph is well-known. 5th will stick until you drop to <35 or so.

As you know, I've tried FAS on numerous occasions- it does work wonders, but as you point out one must almost be a jedi master to get it right with the Accord tranny. One with the force like that, not am I. Patience of that magnitude, I have not. So I stick with buffers and DWB for the most part. Or use the Exploder for town trips, with the excuse that 'I prefer your Sirius to my XM.' Works so far.

Those who are sitting in the low 20s now- see what happens come May, with summer fuel and shorter/less severe warmup times. You'll see ~20% improvement...22 becomes 26.5- a very respectable number.

 

All,

Just wanted to thank you all for the info. Also wanted to let you know that we seem to have reached the "break-in" point; we're now getting 30 mpg on the stop-n-go commute & ~ 33 in "normal" hwy driving. For the most part.

One thing we've still noticed, though, is inconsistency in the ECO & AUTO STOP modes. Sometimes they work well, sometimes not. Initially, I thought it could just be the weather, until they worked fine in 40 deg temps, then not so well the next day when it was actually 60 deg. Anyone else have this issue?

 

battery state, if the defroster/AC are on (AC always on when defrost is on), whether the catalytic converter is up to temp, all go in to whether autostop engages or not. If you start/stop several times (3?) in 10 sec or so it will disengage as well.

 

I drove a new one about 160 miles mostly on interstate today at 70-80 mph and it said on meter that I got 33.3 mpg. Not really good as the same car with a 4 cyl and $6k les gets that good.

 

and the point? The lackluster FE of a new HAH, particularly driven so fast, probably accelerated hard, too, is nothing new.

At 80mph the ECO light is not on- the engine cannot push the vehicle that fast and get over 30mpg and/or work on 3 cylinders. ECO is on only when FE is over 28 or 30mpg (exact # escapes me now). No ECO = mpg under 30.

 

OK, I've noticed this:
The EPA 37mpg is accurate, I drive in Maryland around the Baltimore Beltway, the traffic ranges from really bad to pretty good depending on the weather (sun-glare is the worst days). I've been resetting the display as soon as I enter the highway and have gotten from 34 to 41mpg on strictly highway driving.

The problem, as others have pointed out, is that off the highway the engine is pretty much on its own, the electric motor does next to nothing for fuel eonoly, the "eco" mode does most of the fuel saving. The motor restarts the car from autostop and kicks in at very slight acceleration, and hard accelerations to "assist" the motor. Driving around Columbia, MD which I do not consider city, I get around 23mpg, 6 lower than the repoted 29mpg. If I drove in Baltimore city? I shudder to think how bad the MPG would be, but it can't be much worse than the standard Accord V6.

I have also noticed the inconsistencies of the autostop. Works on a cold (30 degrees) morning after a few miles. Then on the way home after getting off of the highway I had been on for 30 minutes, battery at 4 bars, engine - warm, defrost - off, seat warmers - off, rear window defrost - off, stopped at light -- engine - ON! All of the things were on during the morning commute. So I asked my dealer for help -- nothing useful, it's not their fault, it's Honda's.

I also contacted Honda about the poor mileage, they said until they receive more complaints, they won't do a thing. And for the record I drive very carefully, trying to squeeze ever .1mpg I can out of this car. I bought it knowing I would have to drive more carefully, and I have.

I used to drive a V6 Mustang on the exact same route, I got 23.5mpg consistantly. Which was acceptable for a car whose mileage was 20 to 29mpg. I expected to average 32 to 33 in the HAH which would be in about the same range. I average 27 to 29mpg in my HAH, I'm not even in the range, on tha exact same commute

So, if you've got a HAH, and you mileage is not what it was supposed be and you do everything possible to keep that green light on (driving like your 95 years old), and you're fed up with the hype, TELL HONDA! (800) 999-1009 tell 'em Rob sent ya

 

Or, write to one of the Honda Customer Relations Zone Offices:

South Central Zone - TX, AR, MS, LA
4529 Royal Lane
Irving, TX 75063
972-929-5481


West Central Zone - NV, UT, AZ, NM, CO, NE, KS, OK
1600 S. Abilene Street, Suite D
Aurora, CO 80012
303-696-3935


Western Zone - CA
700 Van Ness Avenue
Torrance, CA 90509-2260
310-781-4565


Northwestern Zone - AK, HI, OR, WA, ID, WY, SD, ND, MT
12439 N.E. Airport Way
Portland, OR 97230
503-256-0943


North Central Zone - MN, IA, MO, IL, WI
601 Campus Drive, Suite A-9
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
847-870-5600


Central Zone - MI, OH, IN, KY
101 S. Stanfield Road
Troy, OH 45373
937-332-6250


Southeastern Zone - AL, TN, GA, FL
1500 Morrison Parkway
Alpharetta, GA 30201
770-442-2045


Mid-Atlantic Zone - WV, VA, MD, NC, SC, DC, DE
902 Wind River Lane, Suite 200
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
301-990-2020


Northeastern Zone - PA, NYC, NJ, CT(Fairfield County)
Eastgate Industrial Park
115 Gaither Drive
Moorestown, NJ 08057
609-235-5533


New England Zone - NY, VT, CT, MA, NH, RI, ME
555 Old County Road
Windsor Locks, CT 09096
860-623-3310


Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands
Bella International
P.O. Box 190816
San Juan, PR 00919-0816
787-250-4318

 

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that ECO is on when the car is getting over 25 mpg. Which I don't know is entirely true since I've seen my FCD over 30 mpg and the ECO light didn't come on.

 

My ECO light comes on when the car is over 18 mph and not under a heavy load, it lets you know that the car is running on 3 cylinders instead of 6 to save on gas. It is the primary reason for the improved gas mileage. If we are talking about the light in between the charge and assist bar gauges, then being on has nothing to do with your current mpg, other then telling you it is using less gas at that time, hopefully improving your mpg.