Hi, I am one of the lucky first 350 mexicans to get a hybrid car (number 5 in fact), and I am very happy with my purchase, a Civic Hybrid 2006, which was delivered today.

I just have a question. In the moment I got it out of the dealer the fuel rating on the screen was 18 mpg, and after making my first drive (which was pretty large) it didn't change. I tried to change my driving style lots of times, but could achieve nothing better. The low fuel rating is because it's brand new?

Thanks a lot.
Pepe

 

18 MPG is definitely not normal. If you look at the database (click on COMPARE at the top of this screen) you'll that out of 112 2006 HCHs, the worst MPG is 31.9 and the average is about 45. And all of these are pretty new cars, most of them still in their break in period.

 

Pepe,
Welcome to Green Hybrid! Your mileage is very unusual. If you check the Compare tab at the top of the screen, you will see that overall the '06 HCH is getting 45 mpg. Are you looking at Trip A which shows the miles and the mpg? Or at Trip B which shows the same info? The screen on the dash can also show temp outside in either Celcius and Farenheit. If your Trip is not changing it may be set for temperature. If you quickly push the left hand reset button, you will get different information on the dash read out. Check in your manual. You should see a changing Trip A, and Trip B. I use Trip B for the lifetime mileage on the car, and compare it to what I calculate from miles/gal for each tank, and for total miles on the car. Good luck, and enjoy your nre car.
Sincerely,

 

Saludos Pepe, bienvenido al foro y felicitaciones !!!

Greetings Pepe, I've seen the news about Mexico getting Honda Civic Hybrids but I thought it was going to take longer for people to actually get them. I've been in Mexico City only once but with the amount of pollution and the heavy traffic, Hybrid cars are a great choice. Do you live in Mexico DF ?

For the low mileage I would suggest to take a look at the manual and make sure that you're not reading the wrong figure. You can also change the settings to metric to see the value in litres per 100 Kilometers, see if it makes sense that way. In any case the best calculation is when you fill-up the car to keep a record of what distance you've traveled and how many gallons you used to fill-up. This group has a section for people to keep their mileage and compare with what others are getting.

I am in Canada (Toronto area), but I am really interested in learning about the "Hybrid Experience" in other countries. Please tell us more...

If you prefer to write in spanish, I could help by translating for the rest of people in the group.

Un abrazo, Katz.

 

The only way I see to get 18mpg out of the car is to let it sit with the engine running. Reset the trip odometer and see if it changes.

 

I am sure it was the correct reading, in miles per gallon it was 18. On today's morning I reset the Trip B meter, and drove it today for a very long distance, beeing extremely carefull and driving soft, as well as trying to have the instant economy meter in the top. The new reading I got was 30 mpg. I usually have it set to kilometers per litre, but I get the miles per gallon reading by pressing the unit button on the left of the steering wheel. I'll see my dealer to check if something is wrong... Still, getting 30 today after getting 18 yesterday is a big improvement. I hope it continues to rise.

Thanks for the answers and the offer to translate Katz, but this is a good opportunity to practice my english. As for the "Hybrid Experience" in Mexico it is very mixed, with one dealer having a wait list of 3 people to get the car (because there is only one available per dealer per month) and others receiving no requests. The government has been avid to support Hybrid Vehicles (Mexico City is one of the most polluted cities in the world) by allowing tax exemptions and bypassing the "Hoy no circula" for 6 years ("Today doesn't circulate", a Mexico City program in which every car has to go to a verification center twice a year to check compliance with the emission levels allowed, to get a hologram allowing it to circulate 6 days a week (calcomanía 2), 7 days a week except heavy pollution days (calcomanía 1) or every day (calcomanía 0).

Fuel is, if I'm not mistaken, cheaper than in the US, but income is lower. Also, the car is very expensive. After paying annual car tax (tenencia), licence plates, "Hoy no circula" permission, the dealer to make the paperwork, and insurance, I paid about 295,000 mexican pesos (abut 28,000 american dollars) for the basic model. The car also comes in one color (I can't remember the name, but is sort of a combination of silver and blue) and there is no financing available.

People in Mexico (at least Mexico City) are not conscious of their environment in any way possible, and most people don't care about the tax savings (because most people don't pay tax anyway) the "No Circula" is also no problem, since most cars get to pass the emission level check, and those who don't pass the check either pay a brive or make a temporal modification to reduce the levels while the check is done (there are people who do this for a living). Fuel savings does not interest people here because they don't have a vision of how much they will save in fuel. The Civic on it's regular version is quite common, and has a good acceptance, but I really doubt, at least on the immediate future, that it can get even a small market share.

However, that is only to individuals, and a lot of companies, as well as the government, have shown interest in the car, because of the tax and fuel advantages. Maybe when (and if) companies start to adopt it, we can get to see more in the future here.

Pepe

 

Did you reset the trip meter/MPG gauge? Is it possible someone before you did the 18MPG and just needs a reset?

You know the further out you go on your trip the slower it is updated, and with smaller increments.

 

I'm proud to be Mexican, and I love my heritage, but reading pptudela's post reminds me not only how true and honest he's being with the state of affairs with regards to "green" cars and pollution testing, but how far off Mexico is as far as protecting the environment goes. And thats sad, because Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world, not to mention like he said, one of the most polluted. I hope your MPG goes up bud, or they address that problem if there is one. And I'm glad that there's at least ONE person in Mexico who cares. Hopefully you can start a trend. This one, unlike the other MILLIONS out there, would be a good one....

 

Well, it looks like that you have had alot of members here already explain and ask you the right questions about the operation of your (Settings for Fuel-Economy).

So I will just say Congratulations on your New Hybrid Civic. I just picked mine up this past Saturday and Love it.

Look at this picture and to enlarge it, Just Click on it:

Note my Mileage from my Dealer to my House.



So I hope your mileage gets better. This is driving on the highway between the speeds of 30 MPH to 65 MPH. and 122.5 miles on the trip home.

Terry

 

Release the emergency brake while driving!