Well kudos to you there Leah. You can see that I'm right about at your average as well. I've put on 25,000 miles in 26.5 weeks and bought it in August '06 so one year less than you but more miles. Wheeeeeeeeeee. My current tank (worst ever) was hovering around 38 mpg then two good-weather days last week got it to 39 mpg and two more days in double-digits has it at 40.5 mpg so maybe I won't see that first-ever sub-40 mpg tank yet. =) And we all have bad tanks from friends and weather and etc. but that is why the average is called the average.

August '05 you say? That was practically one of the first available then, yes?

 

*gulp* I too heard my "other" starter crank over two days ago. Not sure why but I think it was that the plug I have my Block Heater attached to fell out of the exterior outlet. Man alive are those 5 F mornings cold when there is no Block Heater being used -- I can't imagine how you folks put up with that all the time. Brrrr was that cold. I wrote down my numbers and only mustered a 21.7 mi @ 44.1 mpg and 10 F on the commute vs. the next day (today) when I got 21.7 mi @ 47.3 mpg and 13 F. On the non-Block Heater day it took the car at least 7-10 miles for the car to get up to operating temp while on the Block Heater day it got there at about 1.9 miles (because the Interstate ramp is 2.0 miles away and there is always a bottleneck here so if I have to stop and the car can Auto-Stop then I know it happens prior to 2.0 miles - heh).

I still hope that the real starter working was a fluke. Not real sure why it did (overnight temps were a *mere* -5 F) but kinda nice to know that it does work. Tank avg finally got to over 39.9 mpg today and closer to 41.0 mpg so maybe a gentle trip on the morning commute will keep it above 40 (I still don't have a sub-40 mpg tank yet -- hoping this one won't be the first).

 

I hope you manage to stay above 40! I know it's realy not a much bigger deal to go from 39.5 to 40 than it is to go from 40.5 to 41, but it's a pyschological thing, you know? I saw that horrible reading last winter and my heart just SANK- it was below 40, far, FAR below my average, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

No, my HCH from Aug. 05 wasn't one of the first available. In fact, when I joined this forum there was a sense of moaning and groaning from some of the regular posters that the hybrid had gone too far mainstream, and relative 'newbies' like me shouldn't even 'count' as early adopters. Silly, I think. But even so, that was near the end of the availability for the HCH I, and the HCH II debuted not long afterwards.

It's my opinion that until everyone in this country knows someone who drives a hybrid, we're all early adopters.

 

I agree with this idea! If you ask most of the people I know if they can list anyone they personally know who owns a hybrid, most of them could only list me, yet I just got my car a month and a half ago! (haha)

 

Leah - My bad but do you have a HCH-I from late '05 or a HCH-II from early '06? (... and I did manage to fill up at 41.0 mpg on Fri morning though had it been Thur evening on the way home it would have been 41.2 mpg but I'm not about total mpg but usability of my car so I'm not angry about it)

 

Yeah, I guess that whole model year/ calendar year thing can be confusing. I bought a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid in August of 2005, and all that was available then was the HCH I, so that's what I got. A couple of months later, the HCH II came out, and if I'd waited a bit I would have been able to get one, but the price also went up quite a bit. I'm happy I bought when I did- I like the HCH I as much as the HCH II, and it was quite a bit cheaper. Plus, when you need a car, you need a car- not everyone has the luxury to wait around for the model that comes out next.

Smiles, leahbeatle

 

Mine was even more painful/aggravating. I researched my car, made a decision, ordered it, sold my car, waited for my new one and ... well it goes like this. I ordered my car in mid-March '06 as the dealer said it would take 6 weeks to order a car. I made arrangements to sell my car at the end of May (8 weeks later). Well, 6 weeks in I heard nothing and had to prod the dealer and he said, "Oh, it takes 6 weeks to order the car and then 6 weeks to make the order." So after 12 weeks I again had to prod the dealer. He said, "Well NOW it takes 6 weeks to MAKE the car." I had enough at that time as I was already 6 weeks past not having my car anymore as I drove it cross-country to San Fran and sold it. I was furious. I called around on Wednesday and found a dealer 600 miles away who had two of my color/option Hybrids on his lot and I picked one up 5 days later. My dealer (original one) had the "kahonies" to suggest, "Well, since it is almost August then why don't you just wait for the 2007 model year." I ordered my car in mid-March and didn't get one until Aug 7 ... FIVE MONTHS. I was losing $500 a month in gas so that amounted to about $1,500-$2,000 that I lost because the first dealer was an idiot. Do NOT go to Valley Honda in Monroeville, PA (horrible). I went to Leesburg Honda in Leesburg, VA (excellent).