Wow Vegas... other than being a Honda hater and seemingly Toyota lover, you have not brought anything to the table about YOUR commute and how you drive! With ANY car, the person, location, and conditions all affect mileage.

I will use me and my personal experience with my 2007 HCHII. I have owned this vehicle since April 2007. I am not one who bought a hybrid to drive 5 miles a day and have it sit and look pretty. After 40 months I have put 88,000 miles on it... that's 2,200 miles a month average. I know my vehicle very well of what it can and can't do. I can tell you this vehicle CAN get over 50 MPG and that it CAN'T do it if you're an aggressive driver. For the first 2½ years i documented every fillup, oil change, and maintenance done in a really nice computer program so I could show people I wasn't pulling numbers out of my ***.

Now, I say all that because I have been in both worlds with this car: the wonderful bliss of not trying too hard to achieve 48-52 MPG and getting 600+ miles per tank, to being an under-achiever of 38-41 MPG and getting about 440 miles per tank. Why did this happen? I moved across country from California to Florida - 2 totally different climates, road conditions, and terrain!

California (Apr 07 - Sept 08): Sacramento - can get hot, but no humidity so didn't use the air much if at all. Gets cold but no snow. Average commute/day about 39 miles. Soft rolling hills, to 6% grade mountain climbs/decents. Commute was mostly on 45 MPH roads with several stoplights on city streets. Crowded, but not bumper to bumper. Would try to always break my previous tank record. Loved my HCH and was always ecstatic with tanks averaging over 48 MPG. Had original set of LRR Dunlop tires (but had the unknown problem with the rear brackets that wore out the tires prematurely - didn't find out till I got to Florida). Avg MPG: 49! (You can search a lot of my posts on Greenhybrid from this time period)

Florida (Sept 08 - present): Space/Treasure Coast. Always warm, avg 70% humidity, high heat index, so I now use the air more often, but I do turn it on and off throughout my commute to try to achieve a little better MPG. Average commute/day about 94 miles! Flat, and I mean FLAT roads - only hills here are the overpasses - I actually thought I would get better gas mileage because of the flat roads here... WRONG! Commute consists of a few city streets, then I 95 for 28 miles, then country backroads for another 10 miles. Just want to get to work and home as I'm already in the car for 45-50 minutes each way (but still do love the comfort of the HCH). I do 75-78 on I 95. Have non-LRR tires as I am on limited budget and got the $49.99 specials. Avg MPG: 39!

You see, 2 different scenarios, same person driving, different results! When I do try to work on my MPG now and then, I can get it up to about 42. However, with using the A/C all the time, driving 75+ on the highway, different tires, and flat roads all contribute to a 10 MPG average difference. I have not done any of the software upgrades as of yet on the system, and as of right now am still debating it based on others experiences.

So Vegas, put up and contribute your real world scenario so people can understand WHY you're getting such low MPG, or shut up and go whine somewhere else. Everyone here would be willing to help "figure out" any problems (whether it be the car, driver, etc), but you have to be willing to be open and listen to others rather than attack them.

And just FYI, I have had 0 problems with my vehicle. Do my oil changes about every 10-12k miles (Mobil 1 0-20 Full Synthetic), air filters every 15k miles, new tires at 25k (due to premature wear) and 79k, and front brake pads at 75k (with 25% pad still left). If I had to complain about anything with the car, it would be the front headrests are annoying now and then.

 

hohoho Can you delete me? :-)

 

Folks,
We also bought a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid and are experiencing the same problem of poor gas mileage. The gas mileage has gone from 50 mpg to 40 mpg on the highway. Also local driving has gone from 44 mpg to as low as 32 mpg.

I have been to the dealer and called Honda Corporate Technical Support (which is of no value as they did not help me) so many times that WE NOW HATE OUR HONDA HYBRID!

I have noticed that the ASSIST does not seem to come on very often, which I reported to Honda Corporate Technical Support... but again, no help from Honda. Also, we purchased a 5-year extended warranty which is WORTHLESS in my point of view.

Now... all frustrations aside... can someone help me with troubleshooting my Honda Hybrid? Any recommendations to fix our car would be greatly appreciated!

Myron

 

Folks,
If this is true, the HONDA IS THE WORST! This is exactly what I am experiencing!

I found this at the following website by another 2006 Honda Hybrid Owner:
http://www.aboutautomobile.com/Compl...ctrical+System

I received a notice from honda that my 2006 honda civic hybrid needed a software update to stop premature Battery failure. Had update performed. The vehicle is no longer a hybrid car. It basically runs off the engine. The only time the integrate motor assist unit works is when the car is first moving from a stop, and even then it is relatively useless. The vehicle previously was excellent. Motor assist worked great. Honda issued recall update to reduce the number of claims for early Battery failure. They have shut off the hybrid system in order to stop Battery failure which would have cost them over $2000 per car to replace. They have not extended the Warranties of existing owners like myself who have 60,000 miles. The Battery will now last to the end of the Warranty period because it no longer needs to work. According to the dashboard, the car is constantly charging the Battery, even when I push the pedal to get onto a highway. This is not the hybid car I purchased and used for the past 4 years. It is bascially a gas engine with 40 hp. The car hit over 6500 rpm to get up a hill with one passenger, and the motor assist didn't turn on..But the power bars stayed at the middle range and honda says it should. How does a vehicle reduce ima assist when hitting the gas? what is all this reserve Battery for? probably to keep the flashing lights working when someone hits me in the back thinking I am actually moving. This update is not safe.

 

I do believe that the update will lessen the chance or prevent entirely the IMA light from coming on. I have said this all along. The change in performance is entirely likely as well for many reasons.

Unless the software update is reversed or updated to a previous state, I am not sure how the situation can be improved.

This will likely need to be solved at the NHTSA or California state level. The emissions profile of the car now changes. See what I mean? In addition to changing the window sticker MPG on the car, the update changes the emissions profile of the car and it MAY no longer meet the partial zero emission etc designation. I agree that any decrease in acceleration assist is dangerous.

In the end, the number of complaints listed at many sites and with the NHTSA will cause this software update to be reversed. Somebody is going to get hurt and Honda will be in trouble. They are more than smart enough to realize this. The solution is to cost share the battery replacement with the customer so that its reasonable for both parties, or change the battery pack itself in design and materials. Trying to use software to fix a hardware defect is not the best route.

I also think this puts the better Honda dealers in a very uncomfortable position, by essentially forcing them to take an action that will alienate dedicated customers.

A challenge here for Honda. * do not take this update if you haven't already*

 

I Have owned a 2005 CH for 2 years. Only paid $9k 4it. 81k miles. CVT. In Standard everyday rush hour commuting, I was getting 43mpg. 40mpg with AC. 37-39mpg with snow on the ground. I traded in a 4-cyl Lancer that could barely get 24mpg in the same route.
Do I need more horsepower? In Rush Hour Commuting, 93hp with electric torque added was more than enough to pull along this 2700 pound vehicle.
I actually think that slow moving traffic is increasing my fuel economy, not hurting it.
I used to also own, and race a 325i bimmer, so one warm Saturday, I felt the need to drive around quickly- ALL DAY. I reset my trip odometer, dropped the shifter into S for increased throttle response, and Man! that little civic could really hold its own. Jackrabbit starts at green lights, making turns at much higher than normal speeds, and tons of late braking. By the end of the day, I saw I had still averaged better than 35 mpg!
Love this thing!

 

I took my '09 HCH in for oil, tranny fluid and air filter several weeks ago. Afterward, the mpg dropped 5-6 mpg and the battery never charged the same. It got to the point that the car could not merge safely uphill or on the highway. Honda said there was nothing they would do.

I'm all for saving gas but not at the expense of my family's safety. I had no choice but to trade the car in. Never again will I get a hybrid from Honda. They simply do not know what they are doing. We have a Prius and Camry hybrid in the family and have had no problems. It seems only Honda has no clue how to make a hybrid.

 

Honestly? It sounds like the dealership put in the wrong oil. Also, why would you be changing transmission fluid on an 09 already? That seems kinda soon to me.

 

First of all, the maintenance minder required a transmission fluid change. I had 28k on the car. Not a big deal.
Oil? Really? You mean the magic oil that gives you 5 mpg, gives you more horsepower, and tells the IMA system to charge the battery?

 

Yes. That's exactly what will happen if you put the regular Honda Civic oil grade in a hybrid. Its not magic...its too thick. You might be right about the transmission fluid if you had the number "3" show up on the maintenance minder.

The Hybrid transmission fluid is also a different animal for the HCH 2 relative to the Civic. Did you check the fluids that they put in after performance degradation? The oil is an easy check since the 0W 20 is so thin

The 2009 model year had the software updates installed from the factory. The activities that you cite wouldn't suddenly change the IMA performance, but the installed software update that everyone is talking about covers up a need for a battery replacement as the battery pack ages, in my opinion.

The HCH 2 is a light car that doesn't wear parts all that quickly but has three issues; the car battery will need to changed every 2 to 3 years. The hybrid battery pack will need to be replaced every three years for many folks, and the catalytic converter needs to be replaced or rebuilt every 100,000 miles or so ( it gets too gunked up). The rebuild is just to have it opened and cleaned out/maintenance d and put back together and re-installed.

I am sorry you had your issues, and I think their will be more folks like yourself as time goes on, because of the differences in software IMA management.

I have an 06 and have had all of the maintenance you have had and then some. At over 65,000 miles I still get about 50 MPG. The difference is I had the battery pack replaced under warranty prior to the current software debate debacle. Honda should have considered a cost share position on this issue which may have made the battery pack replacement affordable as well as preserved their margins. The car is an interim technology, not a future one.