Well there it is.

I drive about 18 miles each way to and from work, mostly in the HOV lane on the Long Island Expressway (which is false advertising because it is never express and even the HOV comes to a dead stop very often) here in NY.

I live in a very hilly part of Long Island and the LIE itself varies tremendously with grading and rising and falling.

I am at about 41+ MPG for the first 2,500 miles or so.

I can tell you that such short commutes are the reasons for low MPG. When I've done long drives I've gotten around 43-44 with another passenger.

I'm approaching 200 pounds, have no idea what my PSI is in my tires, and have a car seat installed at all times adding a little extra weight.

Your 10 mile commute will yield less than optimal results because your car has to warm up and AC also has to kick in, even if you are using less than you like.

I can tell you it does get easier. Learning to feather the throttle will add at least 1-2 MPG with very little effort.

I can also tell you I was on my best tank ever and then sat for 1 hour idling while my 11 month old napped in the air conditioned car as my wife shopped for his 1st birthday...ate about 2 MPG right there...

Avoid the hard acceleration and try taking your foot off the accelerator whenever you can-you'll be amazed at the increase MPG.

Good Luck and enjoy the HOV lane!

Michael

 

I wouldn't be too discouraged about your current mpg. First, it really is pretty good( the TCH should get close to the HCH2 according to CR and a moto mag that did testing in CA); Second, Honda owners have set the bar very high with their 47 mpg average here.
No matter what the Honda owners say, it isn't easy to average 47 mpg with a HCH2! They-forum members- are extremely committed-and use all the tricks you see here.Your mpg will improve as you get more adept.
Luck.Charlie

 

Like the majority of us you read, learn then apply and your MPG will go up. I know a Prius II owner that is extremely disappointed because they are only getting 44mpg. They were expecting 55mpg average they like many hybrid owners will have to change driving habits if you want to get better MPG. Just lthink of it as a game the road to good MPG in the HCHII is to keep the MPG meter between 50 to 100 side. Have fun learning and applying.

 

I agree with THAT!!

I am only on my 3rd tank, but am at 42-43 MPG, mostly highway. I can see the MPG go down quickly when tooling around town in stop-n-go traffic. Short trips are generally a killer to high FE in any vehicle. The hybrid is no different - in fact, it may be more sensitive than the average vehicle. Your short commute certainly does not make it easy. There are those that achieve high MPG even with short commutes, but I imagine they work very diligently at it.

 

I used to drive the car a bit "hard" and got 43 MPG regularily. Then my wife drove it (twice) and got 74 MPG and 68 MPG. Then, I got curious.

I'm now at 3,300 miles (owned it for 27 days) and now I'm regularily getting 48 MPG 95% highway 30 miles each direction. I do drive somewhat conservatively. I've learned, my foot has to be light as a feather.

Even while accelerating uphill at from 30 --> 65 MPH I can still pull ~50 MPG. When I go over freeway overpasses (every quarter mile here) I can get the assist to kick in (I used to never see assist) and when I'm on the downhill slope I make up my .1 lost MPG. I can get the car to 65 MPH and use a feather-lite touch on the gas for about 10 miles, keep it at 65 and also keep about 50 MPG at the same time. When fewer miles on the tank, I can keep it at 74 MPG for ~8 miles but when I have 300+ miles on the tank I average 49 MPG roughly.

My air is off but because my (custom) sunroof is popep up and back windows down, it keeps me cool until I'm in the city streets. I used to cruise control my whole way but it'll keep me at 43 MPG if I do so. My goal is to stay above 45 MPG and I will save money vs. what I was paying for gas on my truck. I don't think the "break-in" made any difference with me. If I drive as I was I'll still average 40-43 MPG.

My "break-in" was a revelation and a change in driving habbits that started at 2,900 miles. But I've learned other things. First, this isn't a racing car. Second, this isn't a lug-things-around car (the car can't make it up hills if I have 600+ lbs in it including myself and wife and SCUBA gear for each of us). It won't win any prices on acceleration. Usually, I'm in the slow lane taking 3 minutes to get to 65 MPH but also achieving what appears to be 60+ MPG on the I-MPG meter. City driving is devastating, 5 red lights and I almost always lose 7 MPG that takes 100+ miles to make up for it later on. I've had to change my driving routes to avoid city driving as much as possible.

I'm sure there's more. In all, I thought about trading for the Camry but my wife won't let me so I've made do with what I have. I'm happy with the car, the custom sunroof, the NAVI, and whatever else. The car doesn't stay clean for long (mag pearl) but its a really nice car and I accept it for what it is, a fuel efficient car that saves me $320 gas each month over what my truck was costing me previously.


Thanks,
Shawn

 

Glad to see the improvements. Apparently your wife is not only a good dive-buddy but also a good-drive buddy as well.

Mike

 

Yeah, my tank/lifetime average always improves whenever she gets behind the wheel.


Thanks,
Shawn

 

After two days and little more than a hundred miles - ya just gotta love new cars! - I'm anything but a hypermiler, but I got 55.2mpg on my 31 mile highway and interstate commute this morning. That's not typical - Friday morning summer commutes are generally the best we ever get in the D.C. area. Friday evenings are generally the worst - I'll probably be lucky to break 40mpg going home. But the potential is defintely there.

I think that's much of the message - a given route is simply going to be what it is. An experienced hypermiler would certainly get the most out of your particular route, but ultimately is going to fall well short of what they would do in more favorable circumstances. As others have mentioned, the short distance of your commute is always going to remain a fundamental impediment to really good FE. You just do the best you can, recognizing that you're still getting better FE than you would in a lesser vehicle - and that any other kinds of driving you end up doing is likely to be much better.

There's a lots of good advice on this board and over at CleanMPG. Definitely take a look at Tarabell's article, as was mentioned. The short list I've gleaned in the few weeks I've been lurking around:

- Throttle Control. Gentle accelerations. Transitions into and out of the throttle should be smooth.
- Engine Speed. Try and stay under 2K.
- Glide. Wherever circumstances permit, back off the throttle that tiny little bit which allows the instantaneous gauge to spin up towards 100mpg. Hold that as long as possible and then as speed begins to bleed off and you you need to accelerate, simply pressure the pedal a little - don't push it down. Think squeezing the trigger of a rifle.
- Traffic Gaps. Slightly extend the space in front of you so that the "accordian effect" of accelerating and braking is reduced. When braking is required, anticipate it enough so that you're getting regen braking instead of hydraulic braking. Play your commute like a chess game.
- Auto Stops. When coming off an auto stop in stop-and-go traffic, wait an additional second or two for the car in front of you to move before starting, so you can get back up to the ~10mph or so the computer requires for the next auto stop. Also, when lifting your foot from the brake (wherein the ICE restarts), wait a heartbeat or two for the engine to finish restarting before you actually give it gas to move forward.
- Be Deliberate. I think the whole philosophy of maximizing FE boils down to being just a touch more deliberate in everything you do.
- Track Segments. Record your segments so you'll know what works and what doesn't. The sophisticated FE instrumentation in the HCH allows for an understanding of road and route nuances that is difficult to see in a non-hybrid.
- The Forum Advantage. Hang out here. These forums are a great resource!

Best of luck,

Jeff

 

Hope your mpg average improves. I have 400 miles on my HCH II and am getting 41.9 mpg. Hope it will get closer to the 45mpg I got during my test drive of another HCH II. If I can accomplish the 45mpg average consistently I will be pleased, since I gave up an RX-8 that I loved to drive. The difference of $1200 or more a year in gas saving alone was my goal and that shouldn’t be hard to obtain.



Good luck on your commute and mpg gas savings.

 

i beg to differ, i bet i can milk 55 mpg on my first try, since im already averaging 45 with my current NORMAL CIVIC COUPE 7th generation with 5spd transmission. Oh how I envy those who get good mileage with just an accelerator pedal with no clutch

in my hometown of course ask me to drive in your area and i won't know what to do!