Luckily prices have come back down under $4/gallon recently so I’m feeling a little better about about driving my big truck around than previously. Not that I care to drive anything else really, but poor gas mileage is definitely a concern for anyone driving a large vehicle these days.

While prices are still not that great, they were down right horrible when I went on my 3600 mile road trip last month. Lucky me! I’m not upset though because I had had anticipated high gas prices around the 4th of July and through the rest of that month. But to make it more interesting, I decided to keep track of my mileage and fuel costs and then I could let the rest of you know what kind of gas mileage a Honda Ridgeline really gets.

Before I drop the numbers on you, I want to mention a few things about how I drive that definitely impacts the mileage I get in my Ridgeline. I typically drive about 10 miles over the speed limit at all times. I’ve been known to drive 15 miles over, but almost never drive just the speed limit. If I am driving the speed limit, I’m probably also tailing the guy/girl in front of me who wont’ get out of the left lane so I get on my way. I hate drivers who camp in the left lane!

I pretty much always purchase the medium grade of gasoline. This means I’m purchasing unleaded gasoline that is anywhere between 89 and 92 octane. Also, my Ridgeline is a 2007 model with 36,000 miles on it at the beginning of my road trip. I did recently replace the air filters and I did check tire pressures regularly, but could have used an oil change before starting the trip - my indicator was at 10% oil life by the time I finished the trip. I’m sure the age and exact condition of my Ridgeline impacted my fuel mileage and it’s not likely that I’ll ever get perfect conditions for the absolute best MPG possible.

My Ridgeline Gas Mileage Spreadsheet

If you check out the spreadsheet above, you’ll see that I averaged just under 17mpg (16.84mpg to be exact) over 3600 miles, through 10 states. Not too bad for a truck of this size. Honda estimates that the Ridgeline (all models 2007 to 2009 have the same estimates) should get 15 MPG in the city, 20 MPG on the highway for a combined 17 MPG average. My Ridgeline had a combined MPG close to 17, but I never reached 20 MPG on the highway. With the exception of when I was driving through the mountains, I always got better than 15 MPG. The mountains did kill my gas mileage considerably. For roughly 730 miles of driving between the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Rocky Mountain Mountains of Colorado, my gas mileage was only 14.9 MPG including all highway miles. Of course, living in that kind of scenery may just be worth the extra gas you spend to get around.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with the gas mileage I got. I would have liked to see 20 MPG at some point, but as long as I stay above 15 MPG in the city, I’ll call it a fair compromise. I will continue to update this spreadsheet and include my mileage as I commute every day in Dallas. That will give us a pretty good idea of the city gas mileage.

Let me know what kind of gas mileage you get so we can compare notes - well, except for Andy who drives a dinky hybrid, but couldn’t put a set of golf clubs in the back seat.