Cool, I think I remember your renato nick from way back when. I always figured I'd run into another TZer out here beyond the reaches of the watch universe one day. Loving the Panny, but I admire commitment. I think I jump around a bit too much.

To be perfectly frank, I'm not overly concerned about mileage. The car was purchased as a company vehicle 99% so I could get the HOV lane stickers because I commute to San Francisco 2 to 3 days a week, being able to solo the car pool lane will be huge, even if it does go bye bye in 2008. Also, though, after sticking the company with the bills for my big ol' V8 Tundra for a few years, they're ready for a 50% cut in gas expense. $25 isn't $10, but it's sure a HELL of a lot better than $50 a week

Actually, if I only have to fill up every two weeks (fingers crossed), then compared to the cost of my Tundra $25 is **** close to $10! Cool.

 

Molex,

Your mpg seems pretty low for an HCHII. I'm on my second tank now and also live in the bay area. I commute 25 miles from 2150' in the Santa Cruz mountains down to about 20' in Mountain View (and back up the hill) every day. I'm averaging in the low to mid 40s. One day last week I used Trip B to measure the in-to-work direction and I got 65mpg which included 3 miles of stop and go on 85 north.

Do you run your defroster a lot? Are you using the auto climate control? Do you drive 70mph+? Accelerate heavily? Any of these things will make a dent in your mileage, but I think you'd have to do several of them to get such a low average. It's not that hard to do better and while you may not care, it does make a difference.

Good luck,
Packrat

 

Well, that answers that then, guilty on all counts I don't use the defroster much, but otherwise I use the auto climate control 90% of the time, I drive about 75 any time I can, and I'm certainly not averse to mashing the peddle when the feeling takes me.

I guess considering my driving habits, I should be THRILLED I'm getting average 40mpg, not complaining! LOLOL

 

Read the owner's manual and tell your dealer to do the same before misleading any other customers.

Forget the EPA numbers and advertising. Click on the green Compare button at the top of this page and look up the real mileage reported by many HCH II owners at this site. If you're below average, as it sounds you may be, then either you have a different (worse) driving environment, or a bit of a lead foot. That's okay. Whatever you're getting, it's probably about 50% more MPG than you'd be getting on a non-hybrid Civic.

No suprise there. Consumer Reports recently figured that it takes about five years to recover the extra cost of the hybrid compared to the Civic EX. YMMV.
Of course, the benefits of using the HOV lane and saving the environment - "priceless".

 

Molex I did mid 40's my first couple tanks.

If MPG should become a major concern then there are many people here who can help you.

 

No offense, but dealers are the LAST place you should go for any real technical info about your car. I had one dealer tell me a CVT is a "consistent velocity transmission." Nice!

Hondacars.com states: Regular unleaded

EPA's fueleconomy.gov lists regular gasoline

There you have it. Both from Honda's own website and from the information Honda provides to the EPA, the 2006+ hybrid requires only regular (which means 87 octane) gasoline. Not midgrade or premium.

 

Your dealer lied.
Use 87 octane.

Next, if your driving style results in 41 MPG (which is 18% below the EPA of 50 MPG) then you will get 18% below EPA with ANY car you drive.
Don't blame any of the cars.
You get the credit for this.

There, both of your complaints are gone. Poof.!

Now all that's left is your love for this car.

 

sheesh...for someone who feels compelled to rant you should be more informed. "The Dealer told me.." - uh, that would get you laughed off of any enthusiast forum let alone a hybrid one. The car runs on 87 Octane from the manual plus any one who has been moderately exposed to cars of multiple kinds should have experienced a requirement to use more than just regular gas - most any BMW or Mercedes or Audi require Premium. So does something like a Subaru WRX or Legacy Turbo - hardly unique to a hybrid EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE. As far as the mileage - i live in the same area as you and haven't gotten my HOV tags yet so i sit in traffic and i average 48-51 mpg on my 70 mile roundtrip commute. I just returned from a gridlocked trip to the avenues in SF on a sunny saturday afternoon (i.e - heavy traffic) and did 51 mpg with long waits to cross the bay bridge, heavy downtown San Francisco traffic and significant uphills going up Twin Peaks. I don't hypermile (i don't even know what it is) i keep up with traffic and i drive my normal speeds (5-10 mph) above speed limits when able to. What I don't do is jackrabbit starts and i try time my braking to coast a little more when coming to a stop so you have to pay a little (maybe 5%) more attention to how you drive. I have never had a trip below 45.9mpg round trip in any weather and it's been stormy/windy and rainy in the past month and i keep careful note since the car is relatively new and i'm interested in my mileage - i'm sure i won't care that much in a few months. Assuming your car isn't defective anyone should easily be able to obtain the results i have and shouldn't be turned off from buying a hybrid.

 

Well, I guess that means you can't get a job with Consumer Reports. You'd have to do a LOT worse than that...

Maybe we're on to something here - maybe the guys who did the test for CR had the air conditioner blasting the whole time and didn't realize it? Of course, that wouldn't explain the 18 mpg they supposedly got from the EX....

 

I agree with the slam against CR, but let's be accurate. They claim 28 MPG for the EX and 37 MPG for the HCH.

Right now, out of 133 HCH IIs listed in the Green Hybrid database only 7 get 37 MPG or less.