Well, as you are the exception to most everyone else who is getting far better than 32 mpg I have to disagree that it is THE car.

It may be YOUR car. It's possible you have a lemon.

And it may be YOU. Your post are defensive and you seem to enjoy playing the victim without referencing ANY ways you have tried to increase your FE.

This website and others offers a weath of information on that subject and if you would take the time to search and possibly re-learn how to drive (as many of have done), then you might be able to do better.

It seems you have only come here to complain and not take any advice offered to you. That makes you a TROLL. This website is here to help those who WANT help.

If you consider yourself beyond help and it's THE CAR, then get rid of it. Let someone else use it to it's capacity.

Good luck to you.

 

I think xcaliber is a far cry from being a troll.

What xcaliber is failing to mention are the driving conditions that he is driving in. Is it mostly cold weather driving, are there lots of hills in the area, are you driving your hybrid like any other car, are you applying all the techniques that you know can save you fuel?

The advertise mpg (and stop using mph) is a number that takes some effort to achieve. It is easier for those that live in moderate temperatures and/or flat terrain. You should have to LEARN how to drive a hybrid, I sitll insist that a hybrid should be driving like any car with a mode that overrides every input with a more fuel efficient execution.

 

He is also saying that he gets almost the same mileage (28mpg vs. 32mpg) driving a V-6 Chevy under the same conditions... this is really hard to believe...
is GM producing a large V-6 as efficient as a Honda Civic Hybrid ???

He also sees himself as an expert in MPH (or MPG ???):

 

I'm sure there are conditions that can produce the same mpg for 2 different cars. A hybrid towing a boat vs a hummer towing a boat at same speeds (for entire trip), hummer wins.

So it's possible (however unlikely) that his v-6 chevy malibu is getting about the same mpg as his hybrid. It's possible if the conditions are right, which haven't been laid out yet.

 

I must say, I'm excited to have a driving teacher here on the forum. It's something I've thought about during our conversations here for... years now, I guess. Since so many people come here looking for driving tips, and since we spend so much time and effort putting together advice on driving techniques, debating safety issues, and wishing that other drivers either emulated us or at least stopped doing particularly harmful things, having a driving teacher in on the conversation would be an enormous benefit. You, at least, have a serious influence on the way other people drive.

I've often thought that the logical conclusion of many of these conversations about driving tips would be for someone on the forum to start a driving school for people who want to learn to drive more efficiently. A couple of short lessons and an instantaneous mpg-meter, and you're on your way to energy savings! It wouldn't necessarily be for first-time drivers only; older drivers who post here seem to revolutionize their driving styles practically overnight after they start to drive a hybrid, once they are really paying attention to efficiency and have an instantaneous mpg-meter for the first time in their lives. But why should everyone have to reinvent the wheel? Why not have teachers to show us the way? There are so many things people could do to save gas if someone just took the time to show them, and if we were covering this a bit in our driver's ed classes, we might have whole generations of more efficient drivers graduating in a few years.

However, I'm naturally disappointed that your hybrid driving experience hasn't been more positive. Despite a couple of lawsuits from annoyed hybrid purchasers, which it is difficult to take seriously because of my own universally positive experiences, it does appear that most hybrid purchasers are able to achieve very high mpg with hybrids. Naturally there are lemons out there, and the manufacturers need to take a good look at problems people report to find out why some cars just don't get the same numbers that other people find so easy.

However, there is just so much natural variability, due to everything from geography and weather, to traffic and tension, in the mpg that a given car will produce, that lawsuits seem a singularly inappropriate method to address the problem. Therefore, I have to disagree with you, to some extent- it is BOTH the driver, and the car. My own car currently varies from 45 mpg average in the dead of winter to 61 mpg in summer, a really broad range based on the same commute and the same driver. Likewise, when I was first driving it, on the same roads I drive today, two years ago, with similar weather and conditions, I only reached 47 mpg, while today I'm at 59, and that change is because of ME, not my hybrid. It's about the choices I make when I drive that same route. Thus, in my experience, I can say with strong assurance that a driver's skill at efficient driving can have almost as much impact on FE as the weather, all by itself.

 

Leah,

Like always you bring up very good points. Using a Hybrid car for training new drivers would be an excellent choice for many reasons. Hybrids are already being used as taxis in many cities, in Canada local goverments are also recognizing the advantages for the environment and the cost reductions that they can produce and use hybrids for official business.

My experience is very similar to yours, my MPG keeps changing with the weather and the roads I take. But the most dramatic improvement came from our family's changes in our driving habits. We also became safer drivers as we learned to be more energy efficient while driving. I see these changes more as bad-habit corrections, something that should be learned by every driver regardless of the vehicle being driven.

 

I think they should use hybrids to teach people to drive not only saftely, but efficiently. I would make the final test of the class be that you need to achieve at least XXmpg over a 30 mile mixed city/freeway driving route. The mpg set point would be determined by an average high/low of 5 to 10 drivers using the same vehicle, and the mpg set point may fluctuate depending on the weather conditions.

I do think the lawsuits are quite rediculous. It's not Honda's fault because the EPA put 49/51 on the sticker. Yes there are some lemons, but should I be suing Chevy because my 00 Cavalier showed 24/29 on the window sticker, but I was lucky to get 18 which is 33% lower than the sticker (this is the car I had before I got the 07 HCH)? Or sue Honda for our 07 Pilot that shows 19/24 and my wife is only averaging 17 which is 25% lower? Both of these situations are because of the way we drove/drive the cars. I now drive the HCH like I should have driven my Cavalier all those years. The only reason for the lawsuits on hybrids is that the numbers are now staring you in the face letting you know how bad or good you really drive! If there were iFE and mpg stats in every vehicle, then every driver would know how they were really doing and would be THEIR choice to improve their driving style to get better mpg.

If I'm starting from a light, the speed limit is 45, and I only get up to 30 before I see the next light turn red, why do I need to get up to 45 only to have to stop in the next 100-150 yards? I let my foot off the gas and coast to the light. I watch so many people jump around me to get in front of me (and they have to make it known they are pulling around you by revving the engine and just barely missing your bumper as they pull around) only to have me pull up right behind them at the light 30 seconds later! I used to be one of those people thinking I was getting somewhere faster! Now I realize how much $$ and gallons I wasted in gas because I have the iFE and mpg numbers in front of me! I actually get through more lights now because I'm doing at or just under the speed limit, so it doesn't take me any longer to get around town (long highway trips are another story).

Leah... I'm sure it was not only you that changed your driving style, but your hch continues to run better as well. Do you notice any differnce in mpg on the tank before you do an oil change vs the tank after an oil change? A lot of people here say they notice an mpg increase after the first oil change (which I am almost there so I will see if I experience it as well). Other variables such as weather conditions, terrain, smooth or rough roads (I can coast longer on a freshly paved stretch of road than on old asphalt), can contribute to the fluctuations in mpg as well. But even with these variables, its the driver's job to adjust their driving to the conditions! Don't blame honda unless you can truly prove that even with an experienced HYBRID driver the mpg still won't get within 10-15% of EPA.

I will be very happy if I can continue to get 600 miles every tank, regardless of my mpg! Driving 16-18,000 miles a year, I will save $1,200/year in fuel costs, and save over 500 gallons of gas (that's 10 barrels of oil) over my 00 Cavalier. How can I complain about that!

 

FYI. I saw a hybrid on the road with a big driving school and student driver sign on it. So there are schools now using hybrids. In my opinion learning to drive for economy while obeying all laws will make a very safe driver. Imagine if everyone looked 1/4 of a mile down the road at stop lights and watching what traffic is doing up ahead instead of looking the few feet ahead to the car in fronts brake lights.

As far as low mileage goes between vehicles of the same make and model, I am on the side of it is rarely the vehicle that makes much of a difference. Sure, there will be a tiny amount, but commute, weather, and driver are the biggest factors.

 

There is either something wrong with the car or with your driving style. After 30,000+ miles I am averaging better fuel economy in my Accord Hybrid (33 mpg lifetime) than you are getting out of your Civic. This should not be possible.

Although, there is one other possibility: what is your average trip distance? If the car is driven exclusively on very short (< 5 mile) trips then I could understand the mileage you are claiming as the car just doesn't have time to get into it's normal operating temperature range.

 

No, the oil changes haven't seemed to affect my mpg significantly in terms of performance before and after. However, during the actual change itself, while they drive my car around the dealership and run tests or leave it idling or whatever it is that they do with it when its out of my sight, they do tend to drop my current mpg from the reading I brought it in at, which can be a bit annoying. Not very different from letting someone else drive it, however.

You can't! Sounds pretty great to me!