We recently bought a 2013 JX35. It's been a decent car so far, with one big exception: the gas mileage is abysmal.
Our typical daily use involves some neighborhood driving, a little bit of stop and go, and some short highway stretches. We are typically driving on Standard Mode and have yet to have a tank of 93 octane average over 17.4 MPG. Our typical average is in the mid 16's, and the current tank is running around 14. And we're driving this thing like a couple of grandmas! Our ten year old Honda Pilot crushes it in fuel economy, and it's running on 87 octane.
One thing I've noticed is that the CVT so heavily favors the lowest possible gear ratio (around 1,000 to 1,500 RPMs) that the engine is constantly lugging. And when it is lugging like that ,the 'real-time' gas mileage meter hangs in the low teens or single digits. It almost seems that in an effort to be more fuel efficient, the computer is actually making it worse.
Is this normal behavior for this car? Is our engine just really inefficient at these low RPMs? Can the CVT be updated to choose more efficient ratios? Is there something I can take to the dealer to force their hand to do something about it?
Thanks for any tips/tricks/suggestions.
Our typical daily use involves some neighborhood driving, a little bit of stop and go, and some short highway stretches. We are typically driving on Standard Mode and have yet to have a tank of 93 octane average over 17.4 MPG. Our typical average is in the mid 16's, and the current tank is running around 14. And we're driving this thing like a couple of grandmas! Our ten year old Honda Pilot crushes it in fuel economy, and it's running on 87 octane.
One thing I've noticed is that the CVT so heavily favors the lowest possible gear ratio (around 1,000 to 1,500 RPMs) that the engine is constantly lugging. And when it is lugging like that ,the 'real-time' gas mileage meter hangs in the low teens or single digits. It almost seems that in an effort to be more fuel efficient, the computer is actually making it worse.
Is this normal behavior for this car? Is our engine just really inefficient at these low RPMs? Can the CVT be updated to choose more efficient ratios? Is there something I can take to the dealer to force their hand to do something about it?
Thanks for any tips/tricks/suggestions.
