Leave 10 minutes earlier so you can drive 10 mph slower than you usually would (60-65 around here), and try to coast up to red lights to avoid stopping. Roll down the windows for aminute when you first start driving to air out the car and cool off the battery. I will then use the A/C and set it to 75-78 to keep it cool but not running all the time. I used the A/C last week and managed to get in the mid-40s using summer-blend gas. My wife got 40.6 mpg using the A/C at a constant full blast set at 67 this week but she drives the car like her Ridgeline. Driving style and where you set the A/C does make a difference. Expect the car to drag a bit and not coast quite as readily with the A/C on. That's what I have to offer thus far, I'm still learning myself.

 

I might want to take issue with a couple things here . . . well, maybe three.

1. I wonder what driving "like a little old lady" actually looks like. My commute is full of cases where I accelerate gently but wind up only a hundred feet or so behind cars that jackrabbit when we both hit the (35) speed limit. Or, turning onto freeway onramps, the car ahead hammers it and then either lets all the way off or even brakes; I accelerate slowly but steadily, never have to lift off the gas, and by the end of the turn wind up on his bumper. Am I driving like a little old lady?

Because one way to get high mileage in the HCH II is to not let the revs get over 2,000 or even 1,500 any time you can help it. That'll *feel* very slow; but then how come I'm not really being outrun by all those fast guys?

2. Let's not base *any* actual mileage estimates on what CR can get out of a car. (Or, never trust people who seem to think they're evaluating a toaster rather than a car.) You're sitting here with a *huge* database of actual observed mileage that says the mean Prius mileage is higher than the mean HCH II mileage by only 2-3 mpg. And *both* numbers are radically higher than CR numbers. CR numbers are not "real world."

3. My commutes are 52-55 mpg (today, tailwind, 58 :-) It's ~20 miles of freeway and 5 miles of 35-40 mph surface streets. I'm running A/C (outside temps in the 80s/90s), 71-72 mph, some mild grades that essentially even out to within 100 feet on each end. I let the car slow down to the speed limit (65) when climbing hills; I use the cruise control on level and downhills but not on climbs. I don't pulse-and-glide. I only inflate the tires to 38 psi. I coast as much as possible into stops and lights, accelerate gently; those are the only "tricks" I use that I am aware of, other than PAYING ATTENTION. (Which, I concur, "normal" drivers rarely if ever do, appearing most of the time not even to be aware that they're in a moving vehicle, much less that they're supposed to be in CONTROL of it.)

I just don't think that sounds all that abnormal. This is one of the reasons I really like this car: when driven reasonably, it simply returns way better mileage than a car of its size does/should. You'll see my database mileage is just over 44; my wife shares the car and has a short, hilly commute, a heavy foot, and a thirst for really cold A/C; a good day for her is 35 mpg. To my way of thinking -- use what you *need*, not what you *can*; pay attention to what the car is doing; take advantage of what there is to take advantage of -- I drive more reasonably. Why should we concede that her style (foot on the floor, A/C maxed, taking a route with more hills because it's an easier drive) is "normal" and mine isn't?

Anyway, I don't think getting 50 mpg in this car necessarily requires L-O-L driving (if you do, you'll get 60); and I don't think that the Prius attains its EPA numbers with little effort while the HCH attains its EPA numbers only through fanatical driving.

cheers --
doug

 

DougD,maybe I should have said "average" driver rather than normal driver-they are near synomyns, but average driver would have been a slightly better description.
You left out my qualification when I said that I didn't literally mean like a little old lady(slow all the time).Your wife is an average driver-just like my wife and son.They are strictly gas or brake-they never look ahead,and decide to lift and glide .Their foot is either on the gas or on the brake-never on the floorboard(gliding).
It drives me absolutely crazy when they continue on the gas just to jam on the brakes. Most people drive just this way.Even worse are the idiots that hit their brakes(brake light) every 5 seconds because they apparently don't realize that the gas pedal goes both ways.
Oh well.
My main points were that it isn't easy to get 50 mpg with a HCH 2, and it is easier to get good mpg with a Prius if you aren't particularly interested in changing your driving style.
Yes,the Prius is better than the HCH2 in every measurable way(faster, better mpg, more cargo volume, more comfortable entry and exit for older folks), but so what.A Lexus-any Lexus is better than the Prius in all but one measurable way.
Thanks,
Charlie
PS I'm just ribbing you Honda guys, of course(I like Honda-owned several-all winners)