Folks,

Thanks for all the responses. I really believe that my car is not performing up to the standards of others, but I posted about this a few months ago, and many people suggested that a lifetime average of around 38 MPG is in line.

My beef with the 49/51 is that under ideal circumstances, driving in a straight line at 60 MPH on a flat road, my HCH does not get 50 MPG. I think it gets around 45.

If you guys are getting 65 in these circumstances -- I would like to trade cars -- mine doesn't do this!

Dobe

 

Adding fuel but not resetting the display may allow something to inflate the "miles per tank" number (and there was an argument about exactly this in another thread), but it does jack squat for the miles per gallon number. There's nothing you can do to goose that number short of towing your car to the top of a mountain, then coasting down. I'm sorry, but your argument has absolutely nothing to stand on.

 

Agreed. I added 5 gallons last weekend because I didn't want to fill up in a small mountain town ($$$). My Trip A currently reads 55.5mpg and 745 miles. Sure, it might be POSSIBLE to run 13.42 gallons out of the tank, but it's not very likely. There is no fudging the mpg number.

 

That's low, but means nothing until we know the parameters of your typical drive, and how you drive it.
Partially right. It's EPA BS. Honda is merely USING the EPA info (like every other manufacturer does). Do you think the Hummer gets the EPA-estimate of 16 City/19 Highway?
If those are the ONLY two conclusions you can draw, then you have a defective car. I do not take any great measures, although I do have a 35+ miles one-way commute. My lifetime average is 46.4 MPG, and I just got 47.5 on my most recent tank. Using AC in the summer here in Dallas, driving 60+ MPH on the freeway, some very short trips mixed in. My numbers are COMPLETELY TRUTHFUL and accurate. I suspect most other MPG loggers' numbers are as well.
Don't bash us or this site just because you are disappointed. IF I tried to drive daily like the EPA tests were done, I'm SURE I could get 50+ MPG on the highway. That city figure does seem quite lofty, though.

 

My commute is pretty much 100% city. 17 miles or so and 42 stop lights. I have recorded every tank since I became a member here. Obviously I'm not fudging numbers as you can see some winter tanks at around 35mpg (hand calced). Instead of arguing with you I'll tell you flat out, get rid of your car. Not because it isn't performing well, but because you deserve to get another car. Im sure it probably won't have a fuel consumption display, so you can live happily "knowing" it is getting EPA right? I'm sure you won't bother to check it for yourself.

 

I am in the same boat as you when it come to mpg. I almost always get 45+ mpg here in AZ with the AC on during the summer and over 50 mpg w/o the AC. The only time I was ever below 45 mpg is when I was driving 80 MPH for an extended period of time. I found out that you can increase your mpg if you drive 60 mph vs 45 mph. Must be the way the transmission shifts.

 

What is your average commute like, kenkobra? My car seems to get peak gas efficiency at 40 - 60 mph, but that's just a gut feeling. Efficiency definitely drops substantially going 80 mph. By the way, I think the CVT never "shifts", but I could be wrong.

 

Here's a story about another disappointed HCH customer who gets 32 mpg:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/.../main620265.shtml

The last time I looked at a Civic Hybrid sticker during a maintenance visit to the dealer, the fine print at the bottom of the sticker said (paraphrased), "Actual mileage reported by Civic Hybrid owners averages ___ mpg city / ___ mpg highway." I don't remember the exact numbers, but they were quite a bit lower than the EPA estimates. There was talk a year or two ago about reducing the EPA "sticker" mileage for all vehicles down to the "actual" range -- whatever happened to that?

If anyone getting good HCH mileage in Austin would like to trade cars for a couple of weeks for comparison, I'm willing to do that too.

 

I haven't seen any stickers yet on cars listing the new EPA figures, but there's a website where you can see the new figures, as well as an option to click on the old EPA estimates for comparison:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

My car is meeting the old EPA estimates for the '04 Honda Civic hybrid.
Old estimates were 47/48, and I got 47.3 mpg on the first tank I calculated for since buying the car.

 

Of course the old EPA nos. were wrong for all cars if you look at that website. But the press doesn't always report it that way. They sort of highlight hybrids.

Otoh, right now I am driving a Corolla and getting over the old EPA nos.
It's pretty "broken in" at 100,000 miles. I drive slowly and do a lot of hypermiler things before i even knew about it though.

--des