My point exactly. This is a key difference in the debate of lead foot drivers and why CVT owners seem to suffer.

 

I own a 5 speed man. 04 and I don't use the a/c much but when I have I still get good mileage. I do know if you are doing city driving and use the a/c, it's a killer as if seen it happen when my wife took it just 6 miles to her place of work.
The main reason I think I get the mileage I do is it's almost all highway driving and it's a BIG AND, I DON'T speed.Would have no problem seeing how you drive.Kevin

 

Hi,

I bought my 2005 HCH CVT april 18th. At first I didn't do anything new other than drive. I right away read the manual and started the search online for hybrid owner hints. I slowly started to pay careful attention to the following: not carrying heavy loads in the car, tire psi above 35, drive in anticipation of traffic changes, try cruise control for longer drives, use less A/C and definately use ECON when used, not too much braking or hard accelerating. So, I started out with 23 mpg on the first tank. I was averaging about 31-32 mpg. I got the recall software update 1 1/2 months ago. Since then I've REALLY tried to pay ultra close attention to the above (as I was getting increasingly angrier). I now got a tank at 35 mpg. Average is still about 33 mpg. I'm pulling my hair out! I've spoken with the dealership in Buena Park, CA and they said they'd 'check the software' which they did. Of course, they found nothing. In fact, the service rep was hostile to the idea that I could get any more than 32 mpg on this make/model. I pulled him outside and pointed to the 47/48 sticker on the other hch 2005 models. I then became irate and started in on the false advertising portion of the discussion. Honda, the company, has yet to call me back though I've left a complaint/request for assistance. I would direly like to meet up with a hypermiler to go over my techniques. I need solid proof that I'm doing all needed to increase FE. I am so perilously close to investigating a class action suite. I don't want to do that. I would love even if I could get 45 mpg. Of course, I want more but I'd settle for that. I'm paying the same as I did for my 98 Honda Civic in gas costs, PLUS monthly car payment. PLEASE HELP ME! e-mail me directly. Renee p.s. I live in Fullerton, CAlifornia

 

Hi Lamu9:

___Kenny, do you live anywhere near Fullerton, CA.?

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

I would avoid cruise control. Just focus on a feather touch to your accelerator. Look at the real time mpg meter to adjust how much throttle to apply. If you see a sharp drop in mpg (real time) then you are giving too much throttle. Once you reach your desired speed it is fairly easy to maintain it with little dabs of throttle here and there. Again, the real time meter is your friend. If you see the bars drop one at a time over a given period, that is good. The longer the time between drops in bars the better. If you see the bars drop immediately, that is a bad acceleration.

 

Yes, I live IN Fullerton, Ca.

 

Hi Lamu9:

___I PM’ed Kenny earlier and if he lives near you, he might be able to take you and your HCH out for a little hypermiling ride that you will remember the rest of your life

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

This might seem like a dumb question, but is it possible that the MPG indicator needs recalibration? How many miles to the FULL TANK are you getting? Is it around 350? Or are you getting 450-500? You should reset the trip odometer, fill the tank, drive it down to 1 bar of gas, then divide the miles driven by 11.5. I think this might be nore accurate tgan the electronic gauge.

 

We get 550+ miles to a tank on a regular basis, and we put in about 10 gallons each time. Until the gas stops. One click worth. So the mpg reading (avg mpg) that we get is close if not exact with what we calculate by hand.

 

Funny, I wanted a manual, but the only used one available was a CVT. I ended up getting the CVT and being excited about it because I figured they would have programmed it to favor fuel mileage over performance and therefore do better at economy than a manual because it could choose whatever gear ratio it wanted at any time. If it were optimized for economy rather than performance then it should do better than a manual for the added brain power of the computer control. I suppose we are finding that's not true.

Anyway, for the record, I drive mine much like I drove my regular cars before, except I coast down long downgrades, take it easy on uphills, and drive 75 instead of 80. Otherwise I use cruise and AC (in econ mode) whenever I feel like it, and for the most part drive like anyone else. My lifetime mileage after 2500 miles now is 42. Not as high as some people report but it's 20% better than my commuting buddy's regular civic gets on the same daily trip, and it's 60% better than I get in my Forester. I'm happy with that. I could do better, but my time and energy are worth something too - if they weren't I could walk 80 miles to work and use NO gas. So I found a compromise that saves gas without giving up significant amount of time and energy.

Remember that the EPA doesn't use hypermiler techniques in their test, so whatever your driving style you should expect to get proportionally as close to the EPA mileage in this car as you did in any other car you owned.