I just got an 07 HCH and for the first 500 miles all I did was drive in heavy stop and go traffic. In the morning this especially hurts my mileage because the car is cold. You can't drive like a grandma in Boston, either. I got an average of 38 MPG for the first 600 miles.

Yesterday I drove about 200 miles and I got an average of 49 MPG. This was on hilly 55 MPH roads. I was quite pleased with 49 MPG. I was trying to maximize my mileage a bit but I wasn't trying TOO hard ("fake auto stopping" and whatnot) - just being smart about when I lift my foot off the accelerator.

--
Martin K

 

Your car just needs to break in. You will see much better FE when it does. Also you will get used to driving it and you will drive it differently.

 

niteflyp38,
Keep the car under 65 miles per hour, too.

How long is your average trip/commute? One possibility is that your commute is so short that it doesn't give the car a chance to overcome the poor cold-engine MPG (an issue for all internal combustion engines). IF you are driving it 2 miles here, then 6 miles there, that's tough on ANY car's MPG. In this case, a block heater *could* be a good thing to install.

 

gumby makes an excellent point. HCH (or any vehicle) is a comparative fuel pig in warm up, and the further you drive from that period the better mileage you'll have.

2004-2006 I averaged 64MPG in my HCH-I CVT. I drive 50 miles to work. 50% was freeway 50% rural highway, non rush hour traffic and metering fuel every foot of the way. Extremely laborous. My record is 74.9MPG over 1,004 miles on a single tank in August 2006. Average speed at that time was around 50MPH and really don't care to repeat the effort.

The point isn't to toot my horn as to show what I've found these cars to be capable of.

How about something more practical for the average joe?
My commute changed early 2007 into the the heat of Atlanta rush hour traffic. What took an hour trip now takes 1.5 to 2 with ~30 miles of stop/go/slow 6-7 lanes of madness. Unwilling to forsake economy- but also not willing to do the very laborous techniques I used to do- found an easy, happy medium and still do around 60MPG.

I'm now 100% freeway, Right lane 60-65MPH, a little less in 55zones and the BIG key is keeping a large buffer zone and anticipating traffic far ahead.
If I'm in the jam-up the car get so much regen that it stops charging at a full SOC. So I'm just driving along with flow, gently accelerating (No Assist if possible), slowing with regen and periodically check the MPG gauge. When regen quits for a full SOC, I pop it into N instead while slowly rolling.

Right lane traffic is sometimes several X faster than the clogged center and Left lanes, and a near constant speed (what ever the flow is) has big benefits- not only economy.

I look to my Left and view 99% everyone else's constant, tightly compacted lanes of:
Accel/brake
Accel/brake
Accel/brake
And realize that I'd be paying roughly twice for fuel over the same trip, arrive about the same time as frazzled mess.
Does the HCH or Prius driver I see among them know this?
I'm not sure.

First I heard of this lawsuit was last spring over in the diesel forums. Crazy I thought- Parallel to the McDonald's hot coffee suit.

**I'm not saying everyone can get 60MPG. I am saying that we all make choices as we drive and suing an auto MFG for their own poor MPG is rediculous.

 

ok, so i have about 800 miles onnow, and still averaging like 38 mpg.

I think this is a better car for people who have longer commutes that requires highway driving. out of my 850 miles, like 100 are from highway, and every time i do highway my mpg jumps up about 4-5. i hope 38 is not the most i will get out of this car since i do mostly city driving

 

I get about 43 now in city traffic. My car has 1600 miles. I pumped up my tires a few PSI and it rides just about the same but I get noticeably better mileage. Think of it this way: if you get 38 in your hybrid, what would you get in a regular ICE car? 20? You're getting almost twice the mileage, that's not bad.

--
Martin

 

I have to disagree. I have an 07 HCHII that now has just under 10,000 miles. 75-80% of my driving is city driving. I do in-home/in-business computer repair. I'm driving all around town with an occasional short freeway hop, but if I can avoid it and take a backroad, I do. I have the standard things I do everyday:

1) Drive from home to daughter's school:

4 stop signs to get out of my neighborhood going about 3/4 mile in total. then .1 mile to a stop light to turn left. 80% of the time, my car is warmed up by now so it will go into AS. I know the first light after turning left (about 3/4 mile) will ALWAYS be red, so I only speed up to about 35 or 40 (speed limit is 45) then coast and use this time to charge the battery a bit. Then through another 7 lights over 3 miles in varying ranges of green and red. Then I turn left, go through 2 more lights over about a mile and turn right. Another 4 lights over 1 mile, then a right down a side street to to daughter's school. Get the car in AS and daughter get's out.

2) Continue to work:

Back out onto the side street back to the main street I was on, turn right. Hit another 3 lights over 1 1/4 miles and turn into work.

So about 6-7 miles to school/work... and did I mention there's an elevation difference of 180 ft from home to work. I do my best to not lose any mpg, but usually lose about .1 or .2.

3) Post office trip:

At about 10:30 am I have to go to the post office every day that is only 1 mile down the road. The car is barely warmed up when I pull into the parking lot. 15 minutes later, back in the car to go back to work.

4) Trip home:

Wife picks up daugher after school, so I take less turns on the way home, but still about the same amount of lights, however elevation drops 180 ft. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of small hills (up 25 ft, down 30 ft, up 40 ft, down 20 ft).

So the average daily commute is 15 miles if I don't do any of my computer jobs. I purposely take streets that speed limits are 35-50.

I am telling you this because my last 14 tanks I've averaged 51mpg. The only exception is my current tank which I went 78 with cruise control for 250 miles to get somewhere quickly and averaged 39.1 mph for that 250 miles. I then went 82 miles doing 65 (no cruise control) and brought it up to 42 mpg. Since then I've put another 130 miles on the car in town and I'm up to 44 mpg. I have another 120 miles left on the tank and should get it up to 45-46mpg which I will be happy with!

The only thing I can say to you is keep at it. You don't have to go granny in the car, but do the speed limit or a little less. Coast/cruise often. Be patient. Read and reread tarabells guide, and try different techniques to find the ones that will work for you. Remember that the acceleratorl is a potentiometer, not a mechanical lever. It is EXTREMELY sensitive. If you keep this in the back of your mind, you will learn you don't have to press hard for a reaction, or you can release just the slightest pressure on it and bring your iFE from 50 up to 75 mpg.

 

Folks,

I posted in this thread initially disappointed with mileage (getting around 40). Was living in Northern CA.

Since relocated back to Boston, and got 47.6 actual on last tank.

Thoughts:

1) Car needs to break in.
2) Ethanol 10% is a scam. It's driving up crop prices, and gives worse fuel economy.
3) Too much stop and go yields low battery and low fuel economy.
4) Best mileage is around 40 miles per hour with little stops and long commutes.
6) Toyota's system uses much larger batteries and a more advanced design. It works best in tough driving.
7) Too hot == AC running and lowered FE. Too cold means more oil friction and more gas until engine warms up.
8) Sweet spot is 30-45 MPH, long commute, and few stops.

I now have 10K miles on the car and am getting the FE I expected -- high 40's. I was initially very disappointed with one tank at 34.

I think the serious hypermilers have flat and long commutes at a perfect speed.

Dobe

 

Shell is one of a number of retailers whose gasoline meets so-called "Top Tier" fuel standards. There has been speculation that Top Tier gas provides better results in HCH applications, so I'm giving it a shot. My first tank at 49.1 was higher than average but you can't draw conclusions from one data point. More info about who sells gas meeting this standard at http://www.toptiergas.com/

I do notice a difference in mileage when I head out of the metroplex and can get gasoline without ethanol, too. Maybe I should go for the double whammy and find a Shell (etc.) station on my next trip.

 

My commute is 7 miles each way (15 minutes) through city streets with plenty of lights. Granted these are large city streets with 3 lanes a side so the lights are fairly well timed with a speed limit of 40 or less (though traffic usually goes 45 if it's not too busy). I'm in Dallas so it's really flat but even on bad days I get over 40mpg and have gotten 50+ if I'm moderately lucky on the lights. This is with the 10% ethanol mix and in the summer. In the winter time then yes I drop into the upper 30's MPG but it has to be really cold (like below freezing the whole day with snow) but fortunately I don't have many of those kinda days.