My gas guzzling 2013 CR-V gets 14.4 mpg in city driving

[britannia]

A/C on and 3-4 miles to warm up is real the problem! Tried blanking of the 3 large air vents under the bumper; can't say I've noticed any difference.
I monitor my engine temp thru the OBD !! ,once warm, at 190 F, BUT upper rad. hose doesn't get above 165 F. Very strange and very disappointing.
Mmy 2007 XK Jaguar gets hot in 4 blocks and 22-24 mph , that's better than the CRV! You get what you pay for I guess.....

Adrian

[genep]

A/C on and 3-4 miles to warm up is real the problem! Tried blanking of the 3 large air vents under the bumper; can't say I've noticed any difference.
I monitor my engine temp thru the OBD !! ,once warm, at 190 F, BUT upper rad. hose doesn't get above 165 F. Very strange and very disappointing.
Mmy 2007 XK Jaguar gets hot in 4 blocks and 22-24 mph , that's better than the CRV! You get what you pay for I guess.....

Adrian

What is the temp of the lower rad hose? I believe that is where the hot coolant is.

[ksddm]

Getting around 23mpg on 50/50 city/hwy driving. This past summer I was able to get 30mpg with mostly highway driving. Can't believe you're getting 14mpg, that's horrible!

Does setting climate control to "auto" make a big difference with fule cons?

[jim256]

Auto is fine but run with A/C off if you don't need cooling or dehumidification. The compressor will hurt fuel economy. If you select Defrost or defog (windshield & foot), the compressor runs, as well, if outside temps are above 40 F.

[tommyheadleycox]

Anyone notice how on the window sticker it says that the actual fuel economy will vary based on driving habits and where you are driving? Of course you're getting 14 MPG, it's a 2.5 mile commute with 4 stop lights. My 2013 Civic does 23 with similar conditions, and it's rated at 28.

My results are a far cry from yours. 23 out of 28 is what you're getting. 14.4 out of 21 is what I'm getting. So, you're getting 18% less than the sticker. But I'm getting 32% less than what my sticker said. The first is reasonably allowable under the "your mileage may vary" clause. The second is not. A 32% discrepancy is not reasonable. Nor is the notion that a small, 4 cylinder automobile should only get 14.4 mpg.

And yes, I read the sticker. Carefully. I also spent 3 months researching the purchase of the Honda CR-V over the Forester or the RAV-4. I test drove them. I read their stickers carefully too. A tipping point for me was the superior fuel economy of the Honda CR-V as tested by Edmund's and others.

Finally, I'll repeat what I said earlier. At its present gas consumption, my 2013 Honda CR-V is a gas guzzler - not only by my definition but the Federal Goverment's.

[thud105]

Your engine won't run in open loop mode for more than about a minute if at idle, or even less if you start driving away right away . I've confirmed this with a ScanGauge.

Yes, agreed it’s not in open loop for long. Really, you just have to wait for the sensors to warm up, and since they have heaters (to keep them hot at idle and low load) it doesn’t take long once the exhaust gases start flowing. With my 2nd gen it’s about 40 seconds when moving (starting temp 55F), longer at idle. As far as I know there isn't an ECT parameter on the CRV to get out of open loop; with certain vehicles ECT has to get to certain temp. I didn’t mean to imply that’s the only factor, it’s just a part of the overall picture. There are so many other factors that add up to short trips getting terrible gas mileage even in warm weather, but especially bad in the cold.

To the OP; you’re getting 32% less than the EPA mileage in the city, and 46% more on the highway mileage. It seems to me with most driving that would even out for a pretty decent combined mileage for an SUV. Is 14 mpg your normal tank mileage, what’s your combined? BTW, I remember reading somewhere that consumer reports did a study on real world mileage, they found some of the test cars did 30-50% less than the EPA stated city mileage. Bottom line; city miles and short commutes are terrible for gas mileage, and hard on the engine. I think you’d have similar results with any SUV in the city.

[Grafarian]

I agree short commutes are bad for CRV, I remember I had to do some short errands, go to the pharmacy and go get some gas, total distance from all of them < 3 miles. When I was driving I did notice that the real time fuel economy went from 23 to 21 MPG and I only got it up because I had to do some city driving and I let the car coast to the traffic light a few times and it got me back up to 22 MPG. The CRV was not able to warm up. By the time I got home parked and turn off the car the CRV wasn't even 1/4 of the way warmed up yet.

My average is 23.8 MPG at the moment and unlike most people, I don't exactly try to hyper mile or drive fuel efficiently. Heck the average speed limit on the freeway is 55-60 MPH in the city areas and 65+ MPH on open freeway. In the city the average mileage is 25-35 MPH

I would be shocked if the CRV gets less then 20 MPG on the city. So far I am about average of EPA so no real complaints for me. though the 89 corolla (carb) got just a bit better gas mileage while my mom's 04 RAV4 FWD gets the worst mileage so far for 70% city 30% highway

[SiLkk]

If your commute is only 2.5 miles the engine does not have enough time to warm up to normal operating temperature. I don’t think you can’t accurately judge engine efficiency if you’re not taking the fact that into account. Cold engines are very inefficient in part because they’re stuck in “open loop” until they warm up. That means the injectors are sending a rich fuel mixture to the cylinder and not relying on feedback from the O2 sensors. I’m a little surprised the mechanics didn’t mention that as a possible cause of the terrible MPG; did you mention to them that on each tank where you got 14mpg were driving 2.5 miles at a time?

Good info in here, spot on. A 2.5 mile commute is not a fair judge of MPG no matter how you spin it. With 4 traffic lights in 2.5 miles I am surprised you are hitting 14 MPG.

[ameykhare]

I do not see any problem with the gas mileage here. Getting lower Gas milege in Winter time is very normal specially when you drive less than 15 miles one way, park the car in cold for few hours and drive back the same way from work to home. As frumious correctly pointed out, you get better gas mileage when the car engine and drive is warmed up. Getting 16-18 MPG in Winter like Chicago is normal. I am not sure if you are heavy on gas paddle when you start from stop position, specially standing at Signal. If you do, then you are bound to burn more gas. Take care of that and avoid this style of driving. To easily come over that habbit, watch RPM meter (the one on the far left on Dash). Do not let it cross 3K RPM while starting from signal light or any stop position.

Give it a try, come back and post your new gas mileage Good luck!

[JustinTime]

The the Original poster (OP), please tell us the average speed during your next gas tank. You can set up the imid system to calculate and display that. See your manual.

With average speed, we will be better informed as to what your problem might be. I suspect you are getting less than 20mph on average.

FYI, my combined City/Highway 20 mile daily commute (50% highway) yields 23 mpg now, and that is a 30mph average round trip. 30 mph!!