I have been reading this site for hours over the last two weeks and have two questions that I have never noticed being asked:

When resetting the MPG meter, does it start at zero again, slowly moving up into range over about 20 or 25 miles of travel? Just got my car Saturday and that's what it did.

Is it advisable to undercoat the wheels wells? Does not seem to be much coverage there and was considering giving it a coating myself.

 

As for the MPG meter, you can't reset it. When you reset the Trip meter, it automatically resets the MPG rating to zero. You will see readings in under a half mile once you start driving and it will go up/down from there based upon how you drive the car.

No input on the other Q you have.. sorry.

~SB

 

I probably did not explain the average MPG after trip meter reset very well. When I looked at it on the way home from the dealer, it was reading like 7.1 and would slowly rise over the miles. It has been about 175 miles since and it is now up to 32.1.

I did not know if that's how it worked or if it should have shown a more accurate MPG not long after reset. Calling the salesman when I got home, he stated it takes some miles after reset to get it back up to "true" (ha.....ha) average.

 

When the MPG meter is reset and you start driving you are probabley using a low gear and accelerating to get up to speed and or deal with city traffic which uses more gas. Since you have gone a very short distance each push of the gas pedal effects the avg MPG more. As you get more miles on it and are going faster in a higher gear the mileage will improve and the mileage variation will be less drastic when you have a larger denominater.

 

The opposite can also occur. You can reset on the top of a hill and watch the mpg soar. I think it maxes out at 150 mpg.

 

I did my back wheel wells with some 3M rubberized undercoating because I've seen quite a few Hondas rust on the back fenders. Actually looks a lot nicer with the wheel wells coated on the white car. I did the sides below the rockers too. Will probably do some more but ran out of undercoat. Those cans go quick!