That's pretty much what I've seen so far, and also pretty much my style of driving, although I have slowed it down quite a bit in an effort to use less gas.

The thing for me is that because I use the car for outside sales I haven't quite developed the higher-level thinking required to do hypermiling techniques on an automatic basis. I'm thinking about where I'm going (especially since I don't know Dallas that well yet. . .) and what is the situation I'll need to discuss with my next customer, and how I'm going to respond to that situation.

I bought the car to give me the ability to save money on gas, which is something my Ridgeline didn't give me the ability to do--but also I have to be realistic about my expectations.

I will say that last night I took it up to almost 110 on the highway and it felt like a freight train with PLENTY of power before I backed off--curiousity just got the better of me and I couldn't help myself! I simply LOVE that this car allows me to experience both excellent FE when I need it and excellent power when I need it. That is what makes it a perfect car for me. . .

 

The regular 4 cyl and the hybrid will be very close on the highway assuming you are actually in 3 cyl mode on the highway. Around town for a non-hypermilier, the hybrid will win IF it is driven gently enough to be in 3 cyl mode. Otherwise it is a 6 cyl gas pig.

 

I find it fairly easy to keep the engine in 3 cylinder mode on the highway or in the city without being light on throttle. My mpg numbers speak for themselves.

There are speed limits on the highway and in the city. Sooner or later you have to ease up on the throttle to maintain a steady speed whether you drive a hybrid or non-hybrid. As soon as you get to steady speed, hybrid goes into 3 cylinder mode without you having to do anything special. It stays in 3 cylinder mode when you decelerate. It can go back to 6 cylinder mode when you accelerate. In my case it always goes back to 6 cylinder mode since I tend to accelerate hard, yet I get pretty decent fuel efficiency since engine DOES spend significant amount of time in 3 cylinder mode.

 

Well, a quick update.

I've driven the car almost a month and here are the stats so far:

• 2641 miles driven
• 98.807 gallons of fuel purchased
• $334.90 spent on fuel

This gives me a total mpg overall of 26.7 which seems low at first, but when you consider how much power this thing has and how fun it is to drive and that I had to get all that excitement out of my system over the course of the first few fill-ups it's not that bad. . .

My last two fill-ups gave me 31.1 and 31.2 mpg's, respectively.

Here's my real-world comparison to the previous month driving my Ridgeline:

• 2050 miles driven
• not sure of the fuel purchased, just haven't added it up. . .
• $580 spent on fuel

So, as you can see, my situation has improved dramatically for the better. I love when calculations work out!

 

Greetings all. Just purchsed a 2005 HAH Nav a few days ago with only 80k miles and absolutely immaculate, and I absolutely love it so far. I did briefly run into that 55mph vibration humming thing, but it was only a couple times during one trip and hasn't repeated since, despite numerous attempts to re-create it. If it comes back, I'll have the ANC unit replaced.

I do have one question though.

The little ECO light down at the bottom means it's running on 3 cylinders, right?

 

The ANC is usually the noisiest when you're stopped, with the windows down, and in gear. As soon as you lift your foot off the brake, the noise goes away. Not sure what the noise is that you're describing.


Not really. It means you're achieving 24 MPG or greater. It just so happens to mostly also coincide with being in 3 cyl or 4 cyl operation. But not exclusively.

 

Salesrep, sounds like the car is working out great for you! Glad to hear it.

 

There were several previous posts saying that they had the hum at 55mph and that it turned out to be the ANC. That's exactly what I'm getting.

 

Update. After another week of driving it appears that it's a combination of driving 55mph (and sometimes at 28 mph too) and a particular type of rough road. The vast majority of the time it's not an issue. But there are two stretches of highway in the area that cause the hum at 55mph.

Sometimes..