2010 Fuel Mileage

I have a 2010 with 8k miles, and I cannot get more than 20mpg. I've been driving this car very gently and coast whenever possible. Why the poor mileage?

You are carrying extra weight for the 4WD.

I use 0W20 Mobil 1 oil and keep the tires at 40psi. I just bought a new set of Michelins and have only gone 1000 miles on them but my last tanks were 25.5 mpg for the 65mph US highway leg of the trip (driven at 69mph) and 24.1 mpg for the 70mph interstate leg of the trip (driven at 75mph). 2008 SC 2WD.

As always, YMMV. Keep trying.

 

You are carrying extra weight for the 4WD.

Horse patootie! I have gotten a high of 26mpg with the Element loaded with luggage and camping gear. However I was driving 65mph and had quite a tailwind.:roll:

The tires are at 30-32 PSI. They're rated for 44, but the folks at Firestone deflated them to 32 when they aligned the car. Running the tires at rated pressure would help.

The "Rated Pressure" is the maximum pressure that you are supposed to put in the tire. More than that and they are likely to explode.:grin:

I run 36 psi all around.

 

I'd blame it on winter fuel blends. I am getting no better than 24 in the winter months here either on my 2006. Spring and summer fuels come around and the milage goes up. Don't fret, you will see improvement in the Summer.

 

The best I've done is 22.5 mpg. Last weekend, I got up to 22mpg on a long trip and was delighted, all things considered:

* I was driving at 70 for half the trip on an interstate with rolling hills and 50-60 for the other half on a winding state highway with occasional stop signs. Slowing down to 65 on the interstate and replacement of the windy highway with a straight highway would have increased mileage by 5-10%.

* The tires are at 30-32 PSI. They're rated for 44, but the folks at Firestone deflated them to 32 when they aligned the car. Running the tires at rated pressure would help.

* The GTS-Grabber HTS tires are slightly larger than stock and cause registered miles to be around 2% less than actual. So my 22 mpg was more like 22.5 mpg.

* It's winter, and it was raining slightly, and this would have increased wind resistance slightly as the air was definitely more dense than on a sunny summer day.

Taking into account all of the above, 22 feels a bit more like 25. Normally I'd do around 1 mpg worse over the same trip. I think the difference relates to buying gas which (possibly) did not include Ethanol, although I can't say for sure. My readings on ethanol suggest that 10% ethanol reduces mileage by 2-5%.

 

In my trip from Seattle to Portland this weekend, which is the first time I've taken a long highway trip since I bought my 2010 6 months ago, I was excited to find that I achieved 29.3 mpg! Granted, I missed all traffic, set my cruise control and it was smooth sailing. I've been tracking my gas using the Gas Cubby iphone app since January and this is by far the best I have done. The fill up before last I did the DIY fix to stop the A/C from engaging when the defrost was turned on and I noticed about a 3mpg improvement, but I want to keep testing this for a few more tanks, especially around town. Before, I was consistently getting 18mpg (town) but the first trip with out A/C engaging was 21mpg. If you haven't done this mod, I recommend it, because it seems to help.

Oh yeah, I've got 4,446 on the clock and I have been consistently using the Safeway 87 grade gasoline.

 

I have a 2010 with 8k miles, and I cannot get more than 20mpg. I've been driving this car very gently and coast whenever possible. I am using bp gas. I got the car when it was 7k old, and I changed the oil to synthetic immediately after I bought it. Also, I rotated the tire, and they are inflated properly. Why the poor millage?

What were your driving conditions?

EPA ratings are based on a "stripped" vehicle, all accessories off, 70 degrees F, dry, closed course, with traffic conditions, top speeds, acceleration and braking rates unlikely to be experienced by most drivers.

If you drove a lot of the time under short trip city conditions, you could expect mpg well below 20. On a cross-country 55 mph Interstate trip perhaps 26, better with a tailwind and ideal humidity conditions, worse in very cold or hot weather.

 

Where are you located? On a recent trip to Florida I noticed that all of my tanks filled in FL were on average 1.5 mpg less. The pumps all have stickers saying the fuel contains a max of 10% ethanol, which will hurt your mileage.

 

That's fantastic! I get about 19 City, 22 highway !on the 2004 SOP Element, just get use to it, it is a Box ! :lol:

 

If you have a roof rack I would consider removing it. Also If you drive with the defrost on It keeps your AC on even tho the light is not on.

 

I have a 2010 4wd ex 18k miles and the warmer it gets outside the better I am doing. Today all highway on a tank 28.79 mpg............ happy :evil:

 

My 2010 element calls for 3 more PSI in rear than front. For a good reason. It's on the door jam. Makes the vehicle more stable at speed. So I usually run 32-33 cold front (sitting in my garage over night, no sun shinning on one side of car etc) and 35-36 in rear cold.

That's Honda's recommendation for most uses.....with decent ride.

I don't see how synthetic oils save any fuel over factory fill synthetic blend 5-20.

BTW....I usually get high 20's on trips and low 20's around town. Depending on how much the AC compressor runs. Our large interior volume vehicle probably has a high capacity compressor.

 

I usually get high 20's on trips and low 20's around town. Depending on how much the AC compressor runs. Our large interior volume vehicle probably has a high capacity compressor.

Nothing special about the compressor. but it works longer between cycles. specially withthe fresh air vent open.

 

I got 24-25 highway last summer on a run from northern NJ to SC and that was the best mpg Ive ever gotten.

My EX has 73,000 miles on it with just oil changes, a diffential oil change, new tires and a battery. Not bad for 4 years of NJ driving. Here we have the worst road conditions and stop and go traffic most of the time. Also, the gas stations here usually sell a 10% ethanol mix which they dont have to advertise and that adds to lousy mpg. They used to sell it only in the winter but Im convinced they sell it all year round now.

In the winter city can average 16 mpg and highway 19-20. Summer city is around 18 mpg and hwy is 21-22 mpg.

I keep a year long mileage record and my city/highway combined averages 20 MPG yearly so probably 18 city 22 highway on average.

Its not good compared to alot of other vehicles including my wife's 2010 CRV EX AWD but I do run bigger, heavier tires set to 36 psi and feel the size and versatility and road worthiness in all seasons make up for the crappy mileage.

 

I noticed that my Element had carbon deposits on the chrome exhaust finisher, but hadn't attached much significance to this, figuring it was perhaps normal. A few weeks ago, I was rotating tires and painting the calipers and messing around with the motorcycle and figured that I'd check the spark plug gap on the E...

My Element has 30,000 miles and the gap was around 35% less than spec. I suspect it was this way from the factory. So I changed the spark plugs with new plugs that are properly gapped. My Element is a bit peppier, and seems to get around 1 mpg better on the highway (22-23 mpg) and 2 mpg better in town (16 vs. 14 before). I'm usually driving in hilly terrain, and am probably using 10% Ethanol gas, so I've given up on doing better.

If your Element is getting worse mileage than expected, and has significant carbon deposits in the tailpipe, check your spark plug gap and replace if needed.