Before me and my wife decided on our Titanium green FEH, I bought a consumer reports used car buyers guide. At the time we were planning on buying something used. Anyway, they have the FEH as averaging 26 mpg, breaking it down as 22 city and 29 highway. Theoretically this thing should do better in the city, since that is when it uses the HV battery the most. They must have been taking off fast because I noticed during the test drive before I bought mine that if you give too much throttle, the ICE starts immediately. My guess is this is how they were driving it to get those results. My average econ was 22 when we drove it home and has risen to 27.8 in one week. It's still going up every time we drive it. What do you guys think?

 

you have to keep in mind that they must drive the car like a "normal" person would, so the numbers are going to be on the lower side.

 

are you sure those numbers aren't reversed? 29 city and 22 hwy would make more sense.

 

You also have to wonder about the vehicle they tested. How new was it and was it broken in. We all know that these cars do substantially better as both the vehicle and the driver get some miles on them.

Also, do they give any indication as to how long their test drives were?

Not only do those numbers seem to be backward, they seem to be outrageously low.

 

I bought my Green FEH in January 2006. I have 7,400 miles on it now and I get 34.7 mpg. The only "extra" thing I have done to the vehicle is inflate the tires to 44 psi.

 

Yeah, I'm sure because I thought that too. I triple checked it. Maybe the were driving around in the Max A/C position. That would reflect those numbers probably. I feel I wasted 10 bucks on the book anyway. Basically if it's not a Honda or Toyota, they say not to buy it.

 

That seems awefully low, even for a non-hybrid driver to get.

I'm not saying they should be getting over 36's combined, but still, that's pretty low.

 

In general, Honda and Toyota do make quality cars that will last forever.

 

I don't know what they are doing with theirs. I get 29-31 with 4WD. And I've done NOTHING to mine. My tire pressure is still at 35psi, and I don't use the "L" driving trick or anything and I even drive to work 9 miles (short trip each day). I just take it easy and try to coast a bit. I've got about 8000 miles on it so far.

 

They start off with the battery at 1/2 charge becasue they feel that is more common. I rarely go below 1/2 driving in the city, unless I'm able to systain stealth mode for a several few miles.