My wife and I average about 38-40 MPG each tank. Since we live in Eastern Massachusetts, many roads here wind around and are quite hilly. It's also, of course, quite cold in Mass. I was curious to know if cold temperature really does affect MPG in this way, and if 38-40 sounds about right to others. Also, any other tips on how to increase MPG.

It's kind of funny, I suppose, that now that I have hybrid, even 38 MPG sounds high It's better than I was getting before, but I am always up for gas saving tips and ideas.

 

Tarabell (required reading for all HCH2 owners)
Temp/MPG chart I've been keeping since day 1

 

Wow, this chart is incredible. Too bad here in Mass, it's usually below 30 for at least 5 months out of the year.

 

How long have you had the car? Does your mileage go up in the summer, or is it too new to know yet?

I had a 20% swing between my ~45mpg average last winter and my ~55mpg average last summer. I worked pretty darned hard to get that 45mpg too! This winter, I made a grill blocker to keep the heat in (search for directions), and it's been a lot milder so I've averaged about 50mpg--still a good 10% off of my summer average.

BTW, hills are good for mpg! (although wind sucks!)

 

I would say your mileage is typical for your climate and driving you are doing.

There have been many posts offering suggestions on how to best deal with winter conditions. A grille block using foam water pipe insulation is popular, cheap, and easy! A block heater can help too.

Unfortunately cold weather, snowy roads, etc. hurt everyone's mileage. My own dropped from near 50 mpg to just over 40 mpg and I live in a milder area than you do.

There are many helpful ideas shared here. Do some research and you will learn many useful facts to help get the most out of your car.

Cheers,

Roger

 

Well, I live in Spokane, Wa. it is cold in the winter frequently into single digits with highs not above freezing for several months of the year and snow, summers in the very high 80's to high 90's with high a/c usage (I don't like to be hot)...in this I dirve 95% city (probably actually 98% I may drive a freeway once every 4 months) my trip to work is 6 miles with a series of very mild hills for the 1st 1/2 and downhill for the 2nd 1/2 with that of course reversed for the trip home. The streets here get very icy in the winter cause, we are underplowed so gridlock occours frequently in the winter. I do have grill blocks but have not bought a block heater yet. My mileage tag is below, click on it to see my log, I have kept quite a bit of info there.

 

bnfleming:

Don't worry about spinner.
Like mmrmnhrm said tarabell's article is great and required reading for almost all hch2 owners..... except spinner
Another one too: do a search on "HCH winter survival guide" on Google and the top hit will get you something even better.

ks

 

Unless there's been a stealth edit, I would not call anything in that article "hypermiling" in the extreme sense of close-in drafting, shifting to neutral and turning off the engine, or performing other unsafe acts in the quest for every last bit of distance. Stuff in there is mostly just common sense, laid out in an easy-to-digest format and tweaked for our car's quirks and talents.

 

I live in Boston and saw a 10pt drop in my MPG-o-meter over the winter. Weather in Mass is starting to warm up now but during the winter I was only getting between 35-38 mpg. When I first bought the car last spring I was pushing 50-53 mpg for the whole summer.

I probably could have gotten better numbers during the winter, but at some point you just stop caring and want to blast the heat.