Cold weather really kills mileage

[Trigganometry]

Just filled up yesterday and winced once the math equation was done! 14.3 MPG ? Granted it’s New England, I warm it up before going anywhere for 5 to 10 minutes on ‘auto’ setting in climate control and have been taking it easy on the accelerator. Went from 93 to 91 oct. on this filling. I honestly don’t think it could get much worse. Well ya it could, if I started hammering it every chance I got. If this keeps up the gas for this truck will equal my monthly car payment ?

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[CORanger]

I guess I’m a little different of a driver. I live in Colorado and drive to work once a week (I fly planes for a living) - 70 miles one way. I’m averaging 22-25 mpg consistently for the past 14 months I’ve owned my XLT FX4. I‘ve even hit 27 mpg average. When I’m around town I’m getting just over 21 mpg using 91 octane and occasionally 87. I have noticed though that mpg does drop in the cold which is interesting since the turbo should be more efficient in colder temps with higher air density. I’m guessing it’s a tune issue?

 

[Trigganometry]

I guess I’m a little different of a driver. I live in Colorado and drive to work once a week (I fly planes for a living) - 70 miles one way. I’m averaging 22-25 mpg consistently for the past 14 months I’ve owned my XLT FX4. I‘ve even hit 27 mpg average. When I’m around town I’m getting just over 21 mpg using 91 octane and occasionally 87. I have noticed though that mpg does drop in the cold which is interesting since the turbo should be more efficient in colder temps with higher air density. I’m guessing it’s a tune issue?

Possibly, the auto setting on climate control uses the A/C to dehumidify the cabin air. So that definitely has an impact that I will be experimenting with. For morning starts I will use it so
I don’t crack my windshield. Once in and driving will use just heat and see if it improves. My gut says it will and by more than I think!

 

[THLONE]

Well that is a new one on me. Your saying that vehicles (with the Auto function) have a humidity sensor that turns on the A/C when the air coming in is wetter. As in raining even when it is cold. ?

 

[Trigganometry]

Well that is a new one on me. Your saying that vehicles (with the Auto function) have a humidity sensor that turns on the A/C when the air coming in is wetter. As in raining even when it is cold. ?

Yes, it’s got a humidity sensor and will auto activate AC even with heat to remove the moisture in the cabin.


It’s winter in the NE and I got icicles coming underneath the engine where the AC is located ?

 

[mtbikernate]

Well that is a new one on me. Your saying that vehicles (with the Auto function) have a humidity sensor that turns on the A/C when the air coming in is wetter. As in raining even when it is cold. ?

I can tell from this comment that you don't live in a humid climate. I've almost always lived in a humid climate and have pretty much kept the A/C on all the time, year-round. If I didn't, it would get uncomfortably steamy inside the car, largely from exhaled breath, in short order. And ESPECIALLY when it's cold, that results in windows fogging up. Cold enough, and I'd get frost INSIDE the windshield.

The nice thing with the auto climate function is that it can turn OFF the a/c when it isn't needed, whereas with 100% manual controls, I'd just leave it on all the time.

 

[THLONE]

I can tell from this comment that you don't live in a humid climate. I've almost always lived in a humid climate and have pretty much kept the A/C on all the time, year-round. If I didn't, it would get uncomfortably steamy inside the car, largely from exhaled breath, in short order. And ESPECIALLY when it's cold, that results in windows fogging up. Cold enough, and I'd get frost INSIDE the windshield.

The nice thing with the auto climate function is that it can turn OFF the a/c when it isn't needed, whereas with 100% manual controls, I'd just leave it on all the time.

I dont have an auto on my XL and when I occasionally ( only happened once) have my windows fogged up I had to manually push the Defrost. A/C has always come on in defrost mode in the past but I didnt know that the new stuff had a humidity sensor that turned on the Compressor. Hey old desert rats can learn new stuff.

 

[jzinckgra]

Can someone explain this mpg comparison. I just traded my 2018 Ridgeline AWD for the Lariat. On a 10mi highway stretch on my way to work I used to get 28-30mpg on Ridgeline, but only 23mpg on Lariat. Bot mpg is going by trip meter, not hand calculated. Granted Lariat is new, but my RL got same mpg when new and not much changed after thousands of miles. Now the interesting part. When I towed my snowmobile trailer last wknd which is ~2,000lbs with sled, Lariat and Ridgeline get the same 15mpg on a 120mi roundtrip. How can the Ranger be the same as RL towing, but much poorer in terms of fuel economy when not towing?

 

[mtbikernate]

Can someone explain this mpg comparison. I just traded my 2018 Ridgeline AWD for the Lariat. On a 10mi highway stretch on my way to work I used to get 28-30mpg on Ridgeline, but only 23mpg on Lariat. Bot mpg is going by trip meter, not hand calculated. Granted Lariat is new, but my RL got same mpg when new and not much changed after thousands of miles. Now the interesting part. When I towed my snowmobile trailer last wknd which is ~2,000lbs with sled, Lariat and Ridgeline get the same 15mpg on a 120mi roundtrip. How can the Ranger be the same as RL towing, but much poorer in terms of fuel economy when not towing?

For one, you need to hand calculate to get at least a baseline to compare on the trip meter. They're not consistently accurate or well-calibrated. I'm within 0.5mpg when comparing the trip meter with hand calcs.

Second, the Ranger has a turbo and the Ridgeline doesn't. Punch the gas pedal enough and that turbo will suck gas. Be easy on the gas pedal, and you'll have much better fuel economy.

Plus, wintertime.

 

[THLONE]

I would think that you are comparing apples to oranges. A Ridgeline is a car, and a Ranger is a truck. The devil is in the details.

 

[jzinckgra]

I would think that you are comparing apples to oranges. A Ridgeline is a car, and a Ranger is a truck. The devil is in the details.

They both weigh the same, have an open bed, similar dimensions, regardless of what category you want to put them into, so in that regard it is apples to apples for the most part. The RL may be a bit more aerodynamic, but how does Honda squeeze 5mpg more with 2 added cylinders, AWD and 6speed tranny? As far as winter grade gas goes, I literally just did the comparison last week before trading the RL. Similar weather and temps, both had cruise control set to 70mph. Never once got on the Ranger boost.

 

[VAMike]

Can someone explain this mpg comparison. I just traded my 2018 Ridgeline AWD for the Lariat. On a 10mi highway stretch on my way to work I used to get 28-30mpg on Ridgeline, but only 23mpg on Lariat. Bot mpg is going by trip meter, not hand calculated. Granted Lariat is new, but my RL got same mpg when new and not much changed after thousands of miles. Now the interesting part. When I towed my snowmobile trailer last wknd which is ~2,000lbs with sled, Lariat and Ridgeline get the same 15mpg on a 120mi roundtrip. How can the Ranger be the same as RL towing, but much poorer in terms of fuel economy when not towing?

Ridgeline mpg meter might just be lying. EPA estimate for 2018 awd was 18/25 so 28-30 seems surprisingly good and much higher than e.g., fuelly user reports. 23 for the ranger is a little low, but fuel economy does go down fairly quickly with speed. if the ranger is really new there is also weird shifting and other effects for the first few hundred miles. (It also says not to tow for the first 1000 miles so maybe the ranger isn't that new?)

edit to add: the more I think about it the more phenomenal the numbers sound. I mean, I usually get a mile or two over EPA but consistently 20% over EPA? That's impressive.

 

[jzinckgra]

Ridgeline mpg meter might just be lying. EPA estimate for 2018 awd was 18/25 so 28-30 seems surprisingly good and much higher than e.g., fuelly user reports. 23 for the ranger is a little low, but fuel economy does go down fairly quickly with speed. if the ranger is really new there is also weird shifting and other effects for the first few hundred miles. (It also says not to tow for the first 1000 miles so maybe the ranger isn't that new?)

edit to add: the more I think about it the more phenomenal the numbers sound. I mean, I usually get a mile or two over EPA but consistently 20% over EPA? That's impressive.

Against Ford's best wishes, I had to tow a small load at 400miles.

 

[Adventure Ranger]

We've had a pretty wicked cold snap here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan the past couple weeks and I've noticed it's really dropped my Rangers average miles per gallon. I'm talking -20 windchills with the high during the day being about 5 to 10 degrees max.
I've been tracking mileage since day one and in the summer I get between 19 and 21 miles per gallon, during the cold season I've been running 17 to 19 but with this cold snap I'm seeing 15 to 17. I'm sure part of this is due to me starting it and let it warm up for 3 to 5 minutes before taking off when it's this cold, but when I watch the dash while driving it's definitely less. Not really bothered by it as it's part of living in the great White North. ?
I'm running an Fx4 with the Livernois tune and have been running Meijer 93 octane. Living in a small town of 13,000 doesn't help. Takes me 5 minutes to get to work with a couple stop lights on the way so I never really get a highway run in unless I travel south to Green Bay or north to Marquette.
Anybody else who lives in colder frigid areas seeing the same results?

I don't think anyplace below the 49th Parallel counts as "Great White North" !
As for lost fuel economy - its a normal fact of life for us about 6 months of the year.
had a few morning at -40 or colder last week. Wind Chill dropped that down to the low 50's and -60 range.

 

[slowmachine]

Ridgeline mpg meter might just be lying. EPA estimate for 2018 awd was 18/25 so 28-30 seems surprisingly good and much higher than e.g., fuelly user reports. 23 for the ranger is a little low, but fuel economy does go down fairly quickly with speed. if the ranger is really new there is also weird shifting and other effects for the first few hundred miles. (It also says not to tow for the first 1000 miles so maybe the ranger isn't that new?)

edit to add: the more I think about it the more phenomenal the numbers sound. I mean, I usually get a mile or two over EPA but consistently 20% over EPA? That's impressive.

Nobody drives like the EPA test cycle. It is extremely artificial, performed on a stationary dyno with calculated adjustments for terrain and aerodynamics. Honda has long been known for actual efficiency that beats the EPA estimates. It makes costumers happy and brand-loyal.

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