Great Website and information! I just bought a new 2007 HCH with nav. I searched the FAQs for this site, please let me know if I missed the answers to the below.

Is the mileage database here based on gallons/miles driven calculations (how we used to do it before onboard computers), or the avg MPG shown in the trip display?

I ask this because my trip display MPG for my first 70 miles is much below what I had expected and much below the MPG shown in the database. Perhaps the trip calculator is not as accurate?

I am getting about 28 MPG. Not what I expected. I have read a few posts here and see that if I modify my driving habits that I may get higher MPG. I wish I had read this before purchasing this car.... I expected that with normal driving that I would get significantly higher FE than my Toyota minivan, which avg 21 MPG with the same kind of driving. I don't see 28 as significantly better, and I have already been coasting and modifying my driving somewhat. Does that mean that if you drive a hybrid and non-hybrid exactly the same way, the hybrid technology does not buy you that much?

Does the car need a break-in period to achieve higher FE? Maybe this is my issue.

Or my other possible conclusions are: 1) there is something wrong with the onboard calculations, or 2) I have a lemon?

I am willing to modify my driving habits going forward in the interest of the greater good (that's why I bought a hybrid in the first place). However, I wanted to see what kind of improvement I would get first without any hypermiling, coasting, etc.

Thanks for any help!

 

Do you live in a cold climate area? Is the 70 miles on the highway or lots of short <10 mile hops? I can definately see getting 28 doing normal driving in cold weather where your trip is less than 10 miles. I drove mines normally the first few days and got around 34 but that was in the summer with A/C.

The database will either let you enter the trip meter or miles traveled/gallons pumped. I use the latter as the trip meter is usually understating my mileage (unless I pump a partial tank in which case it can be all over the map).

Also if this is your very first tank and you haven't reset the meters before YOU drove it out then you're including the supposedly nasty transport from the freighter to the truck (and any points in between). The dock workers are only interested in getting your car from the boat to the truck as fast as possible which is anything but efficient even for a normal driver.

 

Congrats on the purchase. Yes, it does seem from everyone's posted experiences that the car needs a 1,000-plus mile break in period before you start seeing those 40+ MPG tanks. Some of it is the car itself, some of it is you begin (either conciously or not) adjusting your driving habits to make the MPG meter fluctuate! I've only about 2,200 miles on my car so far, and I'm hitting the 45's and up on my freeway trips - most of my runs to work and home are around 49 now.

I'll echo JohnC's comments in that when I drive around the So. Cal. neighborhood running weekend errands, the trip meter shows me getting 34-37 MPG, which I think has to do with the car not getting fully warmed up and, of course, never getting into a real consistent cruising mode. As someone else has pointed out on the boards, keep resetting that Trip B odometer on every trip to measure your and your car's progress.

- J. Ron

 

Linda,
If the dealer did not reset the trip odometers, you may be getting worse mileage because of dealer/Honda transport. I was getting in the low 40's the first several tanks last Jan & Feb. I keep learning about the car. I have a block heater now and have studded snows on the fronts (hurts the mileage some). My last tank was 49 mpg this last Dec. Search the database - there are some great threads on how to improve your mileage. My last tank in my Subaru Forester ('03 with 4 cyl engine) was 22 mpg. I live near Buffalo. My lifetime in the HCH is better than EPA - keep trying and welcome to the GH family!

 

Hey Linda-

Welcome to the fold. I agree with what the others say. DOn't forget that your car may have been sitting idling during transport or at the dealership as other people test drove it, which will significantly impact the mileage. I recall that my first tank would have been an abnormally low ~41mpg if I had included the first 20 miles before I took ownership. ~49 when I excluded those measly 20 miles.

Cheers, and best of luck with the new tanks. I had intended to do the same thing as you and try to run one tank as I had with my old Saturn. Well, I never could bring myself to do it, after the hypermiling bug caught on.

Don't forget to read Tarabell's article on how to best take advantage of your new hybrid:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/artic...h-ii-1306.html

 

Thanks for the welcome. For all that asked, I did reset one of the trip meters, because I was concerned about any test drives that had been done on the car. So I am only looking at my MPG on the driving that I am responsible for. Right now, it is 32 MPG for about 65 miles. My commute is all city driving pretty much downhill the whole way to work and uphill the whole way back. I now have about 3 round trips in as well as some errand driving while at home (flat). I live in SoCal, and it is winter (not too cold), but my drive to work is in the dark (5:30 or 6:00 in the morning), so it may be a little cold on that down hill drive.

I am now finding myself "driving to the gauges" (coasting, etc.) in order to get better MPG. But I really wanted to see if the hybrid technology is an improvement all by itself with normal driving habits. And normally, I am always driving in a hurry (not over speed limit, but will accelerate out of the stoplights for example). I was hoping to see a significant improvement to my minivan with no alteration of driving habits. After that, I would probably turn into a "hypermiling" addict too

And my post was a concern that something might be wrong with the car.

I had already read Tarabell's article, but a lot was over my head. Is there anything for a beginner to the technology that will introduce concepts like Regen and EV Glide? Also, the owner's manual doesn't tell you the meaning of the battery and assist gauge, just what they are showing.

Thanks again, I will keep reading.

 

Did the dealer fill you up before you left? Did they reset the trip odometer? As others have noted, it probably sat idle on the dock for a bit and then was driven like a race car on/off the ship. Ours had about 22mpg on the computer when we first test drove it. HOWEVER, if the dealer did reset your computer when you left and you are still only getting 28mpg, that theory doesn't hold water because it would be calculating based on your actual driving. I would suggest filling up, resetting your trip odometer, and then driving a bit.

The conditions and trip duration play a huge impact in your economy. My wife drives as if it were a normal car and gets about 40mpg on her hilly 10 mile commute, but despite my best effort to hypermile (still learning), I still only get 40mpg on my 6 mile hilly commute. A round trip to the grocery store 1.5 miles away will pull about 32mpg, but I got 69.1mpg on a 75 mile drive to Denver (with a little drafting). There are about 1,500 miles on the car now so we've barely crossed the official break in period. With other cars I've owned, it seems like the milage continues to improve over the first 10k miles, especially after the first oil change so I'm hoping to be able to hit 45mpg on my commute by the end of the year.

This site has a lot of great advice on how to get the most out of your car. The biggest single thing for me is to pay attention to the instant read gauge. I was surprised when I started paying attention to how much fuel I was wasting by pushing the pedal down unecessarily approaching stoplights and such. Reseting your trip B every drive will also help you focus on the milage. I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy the challenge of maximizing economy.

Edit: I started writing my post before I saw yours so disregard my first paragraph.

Here is my beginners take on simplified hypermiling and I'm sure others can pitch in.

Having a light foot is the most important thing. On your commute downhill tomorrow, get up to about 5mph faster than your cruising speed and then take your foot completely off the gas. You will see the instant read mpg climb to 100mpg and the green lights of your charge will start to build. When you see the green lights, depress your gas pedal very slowly until all of the green lights disappear but not so much that your white assist lights start to show. That is the most efficient coasting. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping the instant read at 100mpg on the downhills for some reason, but it's usually easy to keep in the 75mpg range at the worst.

The way home is harder because you can't be in assist as much as possible. I haven't found any really great techniques for going up hills yet other than being as light on the gas as possible, and trying to use momentum from the last downhill whenever possible.

Good luck!

 

I'm in So Cal, too... and getting around 51. Most of what I do is hwy driving, though. City driving can really mess up MPG unless it's done just right! The key for city driving is to leave LOTS of room in front of you and time those traffic lights perfectly. Cruising to a traffic light at full speed only to romp on the brakes and stop is very wasteful. Better to slow down and coast up to the light so it changes to green just as you approach. Don't worry about the jerks in the the other cars that try to zoom past you!

Give it some time to break in the new engine, and some time to learn the tricks and you'll soon be in the 40's.

Enjoy!

 

I'm a new hybrid owner as well, and would really like to see the gas mileage comparisons between hybrids and equivilent non-hybrid cars with no change in driving habits.

Having the instant mpg meter ON kinda ropes you into being too hyper sensitive to your about how much you're on the gas so I haven't really tried driving normally to see what kind of mileage I'd get.

 

welcome to the forum. this is a great place to get information and get ideas/techniques from some really great drivers.

Your 28 mpg seems low to me. "Regular" driving for me usually yields around 40 mpg. However, my driving is 80% highway. The uphill trips really suck the life out of your MPG! What are your downhill trips netting? Have you checked? One thing I learned to do is to drive conservatively on the downhill part of my trips so that I had a "cusion" on my return trip, because there is no good way to hypermile uphill. Just doesn't work...

To answer your question, I don't think hybrid technology is good enough to compensate for regular driving habits, especially nonfavorable conditions like short trips and uphill trips. Having said that, hybrids have enough gadgets and features that if you just alter a few things you can really push your mpg to the sky. The impg is probably the single greatest thing on the car. If all cars had one the world would be a better place...

good luck! Hope that helps...
jco