I recently purchase a Honda Certified 2012 Accord with 25K miles from a Honda dealer. It is the 4 cylinder model. My driving is city/suburban...not highway. I am getting only 17.5 to 18 miles per gallon. Is that normal? I previously had a '97 4 cylinder Accord and got 18-20 MPG on the same commute. I would have thought that despite the fact the the 2012 is bigger and heavier that the 1997, technology over 15 years would have resulted in an improvement in gas mileage not a decline.

Any thoughts?

 

I'm going to guess you are getting what you should. The 12 is a bigger motor, in a heavier car.

 

What is your driving style ? Auto or manual ? When does the transmission shift?

 

All the fuel saving action happens at cruising speed, so far as I am familiar. From what I just looked up, the delta in weight is as much as 500 lbs from the '97 4-pot to the '12 4-pot.

 

It is an automatic. I drive carefully on the same commute as I did with my '97 Accord. My driving style is consistent between both cars. But the 2012 gets marginally worse mileage. It is my only disappointment with the car. I'd have thought there would have been at least a slight improvement with 15 years of technology.

 

I noticed that when I first got my 2006 Accord. It's "harder" to get good MPG because the size and weight of the car. Not like the old days where MPG was given.


However, my best in my 2010 V6 Accord is 30.12 MPG hwy. That's better than EPA numbers. I credit that to VCM (3-4 cylinder mode) more than anything, cause I wasn't really trying.