Honda Forum

[frv_fan]

Newbie here.
The manufacturer's combined figure for the diesel FR-V is 44mpg.
I was just interested what other owners have been getting from their cars and how they drive so I could see the effects of different driving styles.
Here's my records:
Year 1 - ave. 45 mpg, highest 57, lowest 39 (first fill up!)
Year 2 - ave. 46 mpg, highest 50, lowest 42.5
Year 3 - ave. 50 mpg (started using hypermiling techniques!) - highest 55, lowest 43 (snow and ice)
Year 4 - ave. 50 mpg highest 54, lowest 44.5
I now get over 500 miles from each tank (without going into the red!) - best was 623 miles at 55mpg.

As you can see I like to keep records, always have, but it can sometimes help flag up if you have problems with your car.

I'm actually quite pleased with these figures for a 6 seater bus with a decent bit of power.
I know a couple of other owners and they only seem to get 40 - 42 but they do have a bit of a heavy right foot...

[andyburlow]

Please share your driving techniques - so I can tell the wife!
You are right about the right foot though, its so easy just to push on a bit quicker than normal round town, but that will be where most of the fuel goes.
Im guessing staying off the brakes, changing up at 2K rpm, not going too fast?
One thing I miss with the FRV is the computer not telling you what you re doing at that moment in time.
My Golf used to update every second so I could see the effect of easing off the gas, whilst maintaining adequate forward motion.

[frv_fan]

Yeah all of those and lots of lift off braking down hills - I quite often change to 3rd or 4th going down decent hills and leave it in gear and take my foot off the accelerator - as you probably know, in modern cars the fuel is cut off but the engine continues to turn making it "free" mileage . The main thing is anticipation and not braking where possible. If I know some traffic lights are going to change, I'll lift off well before and try and anticipate them going to green so I don't have to stop. Depending on how busy it is, you have to watch you don't hack off the people behind you though . Check out www.hypermilers.co.uk.
I would love an instant readout...

[blackydog]

Hi just joined, nice to find a useful site at last. Re fuel consumption, only getting 31ish around town and 40ish on a run 80-85 mph, is that the best i can hope for?

[frv_fan]

Are you really driving a diesel
Your driving style will make a big difference to your fuel consumption - at 80 - 85mph the FRV is a bit of a brick so you will be taking a big hit on mpg. I have found by driving a bit slower, the mpg goes seriously up, I am less stressed and it doesn't seem to make much difference to journey times anyway with the traffic on today's roads. According to studies backed by the department of energy, the average car will be at its advertised MPG at 55 mph. But as the speed increases:

- 3% less efficient at 60 mph
- 8% less efficient at 65 mph
- 17% less efficient at 70 mph
- 23% less efficient at 75 mph
- 28% less efficient at 80 mph

I think the effect would be higher than this in an FRV at 80 - 85mph.
I wouldn't propose you drive at 55mph on the motorway but just try 65 - 70 for a little while and see if you can hack it at those speeds to gain maybe 15 - 20% reduction in FUEL COST.
If you are doing say 10,000 miles at (i'm guessing) an average 37mpg and by changing your driving tecniques you get 44mpg (remember I average 50!), you will save over £50 a year and with fuel prices going up seemingly every week, this saving will only increase.

Some people can't/won't change but it will get to the point for quite a few people where the monthly spend on fuel is so high something else will have to give.....you make your choice........

[Eric]

I Reckon on normal journeys..( I do about 80 miles a day motorway 25 driving) that I get between 47 - 48mpg...60 - 70mph.

Best was 49mpg..and worst is 41 - 42 mpg ..full loaded car with windsurf boards on the roof at 70+

A lot of it is down to driving style. I think with a more "driving Miss Daisy" style of driving 50+ mpg is easilly possible. Anything over 80mph does tend to eat up the diesel

[frv_fan]

Just an update - just managed my best ever mpg in 4+ years.
Filled up last night and mpg worked out at 57.83 - about 30% better than Honda's official figures .
Some of this was in the countryside, fairly flat roads, not much traffic, warmer weather and driving steadily - still I'm really pleased what is possible from my diesel FR-V especially as I always have passengers

[tezmed]

froma driving instructors point of view (me) its all about the style of driving you do.... i dont rag it (despite it looking like a race car) and out of my 1.8 petrol im frequently averaging 50-55mpg with 4 in the car- its all about pre empting what the other twats are doing and remaining in a calm state of peacefulness!!

[frv_fan]

Found the forum again while browsing the net - it seemed to be hacked for ages!

Anyway, it's a year later and I'm really honing my hypermiling techniques now, last fillup I managed 638.5 miles at a fantastic 56.91mpg, I've only had 3 fillups in the last 12 months that dropped below 50 (lowest 49mpg) and averaged 52.24mpg for the year. Overall average is up to 50.8mpg now over 3+ years

I do a fair bit of in-gear coasting, particularly down hills and up to traffic lights, etc, a little bit of coasting with clutch down and lots of anticipation - means I don't use the brakes much. I also switch off of traffic lights (or even just before) if I know there are going to be on red for a bit.
Loads of hints and tips can be found here: http://www.hypermilers.co.uk