55+ MPG on 484 Miles but... the ICE is always funky!!!

[Mattie Num Nums]

So i got my first 55+ MPG tank (my 3rd tank since I bought the car.) I am super excited except for I noticed that the ICE is completely inaccurate at times. For most of my freeway trips (about 85% of my travels) I averaged around 56.7-57.2MPG until I took 2 short 5 mile trips. Each of those trips my MPG went from 57.2 down to 56.7 before I even got out of my parking garage. My question is, is it me or is the ICE just horribly inaccurate to begin with?

[CraigCA]

What does ICE stand for? I've seen it on here as MID (Multi Informational Display or something like that.)

I don't know if I'd call it horribly inaccurate. At the end of the tank my MID is generous by about 1.8 to 2.2 mpg. That's about 5%.

It's just an approximation. Complain to your dealer and make sure they tell Honda about it. Honda might eventually do a software upgrade so it's more accurate.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

ICE stands for Internal Combustion Engine.

As for "inaccurate"... the built in display isn't dead on but the drop in mileage because of your 5mi trips is to be expected. A cold engine isn't nearly as efficient and it isn't surprising that your short trips get lower mileage. Keep in mind that combining mpg numbers can't be done by a straight average -- the fuel usage is in the denominator of your ratios (miles / gallon) and so the lower numbers affect the average much more than you would expect.

As an example, you might expect that driving one mile at 100mpg followed by one mile at 50mpg would yield 2mi at 75mpg. In actuality,

1mi/100mpg + 1mi/50mpg = 0.03g used
2mi/0.03g = 66.7mpg

The reason? You used twice as much fuel driving the distance at 50mpg as you did driving at 100mpg.

[gilbertguy]

[QUOTE=Mattie Num Nums;198809]So i got my first 55+ MPG tank (my 3rd tank since I bought the car.) I am super excited except for I noticed that the ICE is completely inaccurate at times. For most of my freeway trips (about 85% of my travels) I averaged around 56.7-57.2MPG until I took 2 short 5 mile trips. Each of those trips my MPG went from 57.2 down to 56.7 before I even got out of my parking garage. QUOTE]

Hey Mattie,

How is your MPG now that you've had the car for awhile? Give us an update.