Your wife should be pissed, to me the engineers need to come up with a mode that counters your foot (input) and terrain by optimizing the best solution for the problem at hand. The techniques that everybody suggest can be done in any car and with good results, not just hybrids. The "econ" mode should have been this "mode" that I'm talking about... if not in "econ" then you have direct control over the results of FE.

When somebody ask me about my Hybrid I always tell them that a lot of the savings comes from my style of driving the hybrid and not the car itself. They don't understand that and it's hard to explain. Once they get the technique it becomes 2nd nature but you have to work at it to achieve the desired results. If the car is marketed as a FUEL SAVER, it should do that automatically and not with a lot of effort.

 

And of course, don't forget about the A/C. Honda didn't do us any favor with the auto climate control, mileage-wise. If the system isn't completely OFF, or if it is on and does not say A.C. OFF on the display, it may very well be running, even if you don't think it is.

 

Does it hurt the AC to always be turning it off and on? I use it going down hills but turn it off going up hills. Would I be better off leaving it on?

 

I do not agree that your wife should be pissed. Assuming your previous car was 30 MPG... then that is essentially a 33% gain in fuel efficiency. To me that is a huge gain. If the whole world did that...

10 MPG doesn't sound like much until you look at it in terms of percent.

You might also look at it as a free one-way commute with each gallon if your commute happens to be on the order of 10 miles.

 

Shawn, here are a few tips I made a while back:
https://www.greenhybrid.com/learn/ar...fficiency.html

Note that some of those tips are not my own, such as shifting into Sport mode but overall might be helpful

 

Well, I tried driving from work to home an vice versa since yesterday and this post. After initial tries, I raised my MPG by over 4, however, driving a bit slower, and using the hills to my advantage. I can tell the huge difference between using CC and actually paying attention to my MPG meter. Thanks guys.

 

If I drive my MINI like I drive my HCH, I can get close to 40mpg compared to 50mpg. The difference is that it's actually easier to achieve 40mpg in my MINI than in a car designed to get better gas mileage. I can assure you that my MINI was not designed with FE in mind.

 

Another thing you may want to try is to raise the tire pressure to 40. I did it in the middle of my second tank and it did go up, although I am sure it's also due to the fact that it was breaking in.

I'm at almost 3300 miles on my car (had it 1 day more than a month) and am seeing an increase in my mpg every tank - I fill up every 3 work days (about 500 miles/tank). I know it can be "frustrating" when you hear/read about the hypermilers (50+ mpg), but I know I just can't drive that slow! Plus, there is not a huge payback in incremental MPG once I get over 40 mpg.

For example, at $3/gallon, the fuel cost per mile at 30 mpg is $0.10 and at 40 mpg the cost per mile is $0.075, a savings of $0.025. The cost per mile at 50 mpg is $0.06, a savings of only $0.015 compared to 40mpg.

For a 160 mile roundtrip, this translates to a cash savings of $4/day when going fron 30 mpg to 40 mpg (25%), and a $2.40/day going from 40 mpg to 50 mpg (20%). Again, assuming $3/gallon.

I am happy in the mid-40's as it enables me to get 500 miles/tank (that way I fill up every 3 work days instead of every other work day).

 

Yes, I read some of the hypermiling techniques and for me, it would be impossible to do 35-45 on the highway (95% of my trip). If I don't go at least 65, I get the horn in the morning anyway. I've found that rapid acceleration, to my top speed, and then slowly backing down is actually maximizing my MPG.

 

I would recommend moving half way to your job that way you cut your commute in half saving $100/month in gas..(just kidding)...

I would have to agree with those comments about DWL. From my own experience, cruise control will tend to be less fuel efficient when the terrain is hilly. Keep your speed around 60mph in the right lane if possible and enjoy the extra drive time with some good "tunes". If there are any alternate routes where the speed limit is 45-50, like 5-10 miles just before you get to work with no traffic lights, I would take those roads because that will improve your fuel economy a lot.