Low fuel economy
Active Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 151
From: Palm Bay, FL
Re: Low fuel economy
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.
. I did sign up for the AAA Hybrid Driver Class they are offering in CA, NV and UT. I think I'm getting great mileage, but maybe I can get other pointers that may help even more. It's always a learning experience when you have a hybrid. They are going to have the one in Sacramento on 9/23 (I think). I told my wife that if she took the class with me, I would be less edgy if she wanted to use the car. She just laughed, brushed it off and said "no thanks"! I need to get the most out of the HCHII to offset the 17mpg she gets on her Honda Pilot 
Ridiculously Active Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 955
From: Chicago area
Re: Low fuel economy
I know what you mean; my mom usually refuses to drive my hybrid because near the beginning of the hybrid's life I was a bit critical of the way she was driving it (38 mpg!!! For a whole tank on a road trip! Definitely my worst tank ever, by a substantial margin-- wouldn't you have complained, too?) I don't care- she has a little Chevy Prizm and gets good FE.
Still, in your wife's case, it would be far better overall if she were driving with relatively cruddy FE in an HCH instead of 17 in the Pilot. 38 is still more than twice 17!
Still, in your wife's case, it would be far better overall if she were driving with relatively cruddy FE in an HCH instead of 17 in the Pilot. 38 is still more than twice 17!
Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 13
Re: Low fuel economy
I just bought a 2007 HCH yesterday, and on the way back from the dealer it showed 24 mpg. I think this might be because of test drives and such because the mpg reading has slowly been going up - but it has been going up too slowly. I got it with 9 miles on it, and now it has 50 miles and the mpg still only says 30.
How are you supposed to drive the HCH to get in the mid 40's? I try not to accelerate too hard...
How are you supposed to drive the HCH to get in the mid 40's? I try not to accelerate too hard...
Happy Camper Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 161
From: Salt Lake City
Re: Low fuel economy
I'd browse some of the existing threads on economy and driving habits here. People will probably be reluctant to say it all again (seems like they do every two weeks).
We should put together a FAQ on this.
The numbers you're citing suggest 1) lots of short drives (<5 miles) with a cold engine, and 2) heavy-duty use of the A/C. Would either of those be the case?
The short answer is, it won't get mid-40s on its own. You need to raise your tire pressures and start driving to take greatest advantage of the IMA system. That means making sure you're auto-stopping (AS) when possible and feathering the throttle (letting off when you hit the speed you want, and then reapplying just enough to hold that speed). This is also known as "fake shifting" (FS) -- it will drop your revs ~500, at least, for a given speed.
But you don't have to drive crazy, either -- All I do, in addition to the above, is keep the revs between 1500 and 2000 during acceleration, drive-with-buffer (DWB) to avoid hard braking, drive-with-the-load (DWL) within +/- 5 mph of the speed limit, and drive 71-72 on the interstate with cruise control (CC), and my commute is consistently 48-50 mpg round trip (25 miles, including 18 miles of interstate). (The discrepancy between those numbers and the average in my sig has to do with other people driving the car!)
Also, look for a gain of 5+ mpg or so once you have a few (5-8) thousand miles on it -- this car has the longest, and most significant, break-in period I've seen on a new car.
cheers, best wishes, and enjoy one of the coolest cars ever built :-)
--doug
We should put together a FAQ on this.
The numbers you're citing suggest 1) lots of short drives (<5 miles) with a cold engine, and 2) heavy-duty use of the A/C. Would either of those be the case?
The short answer is, it won't get mid-40s on its own. You need to raise your tire pressures and start driving to take greatest advantage of the IMA system. That means making sure you're auto-stopping (AS) when possible and feathering the throttle (letting off when you hit the speed you want, and then reapplying just enough to hold that speed). This is also known as "fake shifting" (FS) -- it will drop your revs ~500, at least, for a given speed.
But you don't have to drive crazy, either -- All I do, in addition to the above, is keep the revs between 1500 and 2000 during acceleration, drive-with-buffer (DWB) to avoid hard braking, drive-with-the-load (DWL) within +/- 5 mph of the speed limit, and drive 71-72 on the interstate with cruise control (CC), and my commute is consistently 48-50 mpg round trip (25 miles, including 18 miles of interstate). (The discrepancy between those numbers and the average in my sig has to do with other people driving the car!)
Also, look for a gain of 5+ mpg or so once you have a few (5-8) thousand miles on it -- this car has the longest, and most significant, break-in period I've seen on a new car.
cheers, best wishes, and enjoy one of the coolest cars ever built :-)
--doug
Think green.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 733
From: New England
Re: Low fuel economy
I just bought a 2007 HCH yesterday, and on the way back from the dealer it showed 24 mpg. I think this might be because of test drives and such because the mpg reading has slowly been going up - but it has been going up too slowly. I got it with 9 miles on it, and now it has 50 miles and the mpg still only says 30.
How are you supposed to drive the HCH to get in the mid 40's? I try not to accelerate too hard...
How are you supposed to drive the HCH to get in the mid 40's? I try not to accelerate too hard...
Make sure you aren't just reading the mileage on a trip-meter setting.
This is embarrassing, but when I first got my car, I was looking at the miles driven, not the mpg. I was like, "hey, it's going steadily up...very slowly." It was then that I realized I was just looking at the number of miles accumulating on the trip-meter: 24...25...26... D'oh!
Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 13
Re: Low fuel economy
I'd browse some of the existing threads on economy and driving habits here. People will probably be reluctant to say it all again (seems like they do every two weeks).
We should put together a FAQ on this.
The numbers you're citing suggest 1) lots of short drives (<5 miles) with a cold engine, and 2) heavy-duty use of the A/C. Would either of those be the case?
The short answer is, it won't get mid-40s on its own. You need to raise your tire pressures and start driving to take greatest advantage of the IMA system. That means making sure you're auto-stopping (AS) when possible and feathering the throttle (letting off when you hit the speed you want, and then reapplying just enough to hold that speed). This is also known as "fake shifting" (FS) -- it will drop your revs ~500, at least, for a given speed.
But you don't have to drive crazy, either -- All I do, in addition to the above, is keep the revs between 1500 and 2000 during acceleration, drive-with-buffer (DWB) to avoid hard braking, drive-with-the-load (DWL) within +/- 5 miles per hour of the speed limit, and drive 71-72 on the interstate with cruise control (CC), and my commute is consistently 48-50 mpg round trip (25 miles, including 18 miles of interstate). (The discrepancy between those numbers and the average in my sig has to do with other people driving the car!)
Also, look for a gain of 5+ mpg or so once you have a few (5-8) thousand miles on it -- this car has the longest, and most significant, break-in period I've seen on a new car.
cheers, best wishes, and enjoy one of the coolest cars ever built :-)
--doug
We should put together a FAQ on this.
The numbers you're citing suggest 1) lots of short drives (<5 miles) with a cold engine, and 2) heavy-duty use of the A/C. Would either of those be the case?
The short answer is, it won't get mid-40s on its own. You need to raise your tire pressures and start driving to take greatest advantage of the IMA system. That means making sure you're auto-stopping (AS) when possible and feathering the throttle (letting off when you hit the speed you want, and then reapplying just enough to hold that speed). This is also known as "fake shifting" (FS) -- it will drop your revs ~500, at least, for a given speed.
But you don't have to drive crazy, either -- All I do, in addition to the above, is keep the revs between 1500 and 2000 during acceleration, drive-with-buffer (DWB) to avoid hard braking, drive-with-the-load (DWL) within +/- 5 miles per hour of the speed limit, and drive 71-72 on the interstate with cruise control (CC), and my commute is consistently 48-50 mpg round trip (25 miles, including 18 miles of interstate). (The discrepancy between those numbers and the average in my sig has to do with other people driving the car!)
Also, look for a gain of 5+ mpg or so once you have a few (5-8) thousand miles on it -- this car has the longest, and most significant, break-in period I've seen on a new car.
cheers, best wishes, and enjoy one of the coolest cars ever built :-)
--doug
I will try the reset thing; how do you do it exactly? And yeah, you should make a FAQ about this.
Happy Camper Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 161
From: Salt Lake City
Re: Low fuel economy
Well, for resetting your trip gauges, read your owner's manual, which you need to anyway.
Driving with buffer: maintain a lot of space in front of you to the next car. They slam the brakes, you coast. Much more efficient.
Driving with the load: maintain an engine rpm instead of a speed when you're cruising. When going up a hill, the car's speed will drop. Let it (to whatever point you're comfortable with, and of course safety permitting). When the hill is over, your speed comes back up.
--doug
Driving with buffer: maintain a lot of space in front of you to the next car. They slam the brakes, you coast. Much more efficient.
Driving with the load: maintain an engine rpm instead of a speed when you're cruising. When going up a hill, the car's speed will drop. Let it (to whatever point you're comfortable with, and of course safety permitting). When the hill is over, your speed comes back up.
--doug
Ridiculously Active Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 955
From: Chicago area
Re: Low fuel economy
Um, not quite sure what you mean when you say we have no FAQ on this kind of thing. We have tons of information in the articles section about driving for better efficiency.
Here's an example, which might be a good place to start: https://www.greenhybrid.com/wiki/ind...uel_Efficiency
and there are other similar articles on other models in the database, all of which contain some tips that are universal to all cars and not just applicable to a particular hybrid, so they're worth reading if you want to learn how to drive more efficiently. Good luck!
Here's an example, which might be a good place to start: https://www.greenhybrid.com/wiki/ind...uel_Efficiency
and there are other similar articles on other models in the database, all of which contain some tips that are universal to all cars and not just applicable to a particular hybrid, so they're worth reading if you want to learn how to drive more efficiently. Good luck!
Think green.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 733
From: New England
Re: Low fuel economy
Um, not quite sure what you mean when you say we have no FAQ on this kind of thing. We have tons of information in the articles section about driving for better efficiency.
Here's an example, which might be a good place to start: https://www.greenhybrid.com/wiki/ind...uel_Efficiency
and there are other similar articles on other models in the database, all of which contain some tips that are universal to all cars and not just applicable to a particular hybrid, so they're worth reading if you want to learn how to drive more efficiently. Good luck!
Here's an example, which might be a good place to start: https://www.greenhybrid.com/wiki/ind...uel_Efficiency
and there are other similar articles on other models in the database, all of which contain some tips that are universal to all cars and not just applicable to a particular hybrid, so they're worth reading if you want to learn how to drive more efficiently. Good luck!
Maybe it should be a "sticky" item here like the FAQ's they have at the top of the Prius forum. Then the new folks can find it more easily.
