As someone said earlier, if you want those mileage numbers maybe a Honda Goldwing is what you need, maybe a Jetta TDi might get near those numbers as well...maybe. Actually as said before as well, an Insight is probably best suited too and it may help you learn to just slow down and smell the roses. Once you get 70mpg for the first time you'll start adjusting to leave a few minutes earlier and slow down a few mph, an awesome feeling.

Good Luck in your quest.[/QUOTE]

I know two people that have had TDI one a bug and the other a Jetta and I talked to them and neither one got anywhere near that mileage going that fast. The guy with the bug said if he drove it the speed limit he would get around 45 -47 but turn the a/c on and as he said mileage dropped like a rock to around 40mpg.Kevin

 

I'm trying to restrain myself. Maybe I'm getting more cynical in my "old age". How can anyone justify driving at such high speeds? Not only is it ridiculous to expect decent FE from ANY moving vehicle at speeds above 60 or 70, but 90+ mph people that absolutely fly by in the left lane are the people that put the rest of us in danger! To me, this isn't a matter of personal preference or freedom to be stuck in your ways and drive however the hell you want - it's not a matter of FE, even - it's just stupid and dangerous. Again, I apologize as I say this, because I really don't mean to senselessly flame, and I utterly respect CGameProgrammer's thoughtful contributions to this site, but I can't help but link him/her to those speed demons on the highway for whom I harbor so much contempt. It's just not safe! The only faster way to **** me off is to light up a cigarette and blow it in my face.

 

I'm apologetic for even mentioning my "overland flight" from Dallas to Colorado. I was running late, so I put myself in a situation to speed. While getting 60mpg with a lead foot was not bad, I want to see what the results will be Aug 19 with a light foot. I got 60mpg with a CRX HF and a feather foot going that way....

When I said 40mpg was possible going 90mph+, that's at a steady cruising speed. A lot of people going at those speeds are driving at anything but a steady speed.

The other reason I'm embarrassed for admitting I blasted up Hwy 287 from Dallas to Colorado is it's a bad example. In rural areas, it's not so bad, but driving like that in the city is both more dangerous and offensive. Driving at 90 in the city is sort of like being a bad boy in the bar runing over people, screaming vulgarities, AND with a deadly weapon.

Scotty can't change the laws of physics - none of us can. Driving at 80+ severely reduces fuel economy and the reaction time to avoid an accident.

 

Well in my defense, I usually drive around 77-80 on most highways when other traffic is going around 70-75, but in California there are alot of fast drivers and often traffic would be moving around 80-85, at least on a few lanes. I'm definitely not one of those idiots who dodge and weave around traffic without blinkers, going 20+ mph faster than everyone else.

Going fast rarely saves much time, and yeah it lowers FE on some cars (not the Jetta though - I get 23mpg mixed, 26mpg when doing just high-speed highway driving), but it's fun. Fun is worth the trade-off in my opinion.

By the way, on my way back to the rental place (which was another highway sprint) I observed that I did seemingly get almost 30-40mpg sometimes even when going above 80mph, as long as my foot was just lightly on the accelerator. It took a while to notice this because pressing the accelerator further only results in a gain of 1mph every 5 seconds, yet I pay a huge FE cost for this great privilege. So it really affects FE but does not much affect speed. Therefore I think it's highly likely the underpowered engine is the cause of the poor FE and I'm going to wait for the 2006 HCH.

 

Not trying to go so far as to say you drove like the Fast and Furious bunch, while it is fast...

Underpowered is in the eye of the beholder. German cars probably cruise fast better because it's legal to do so over there. If Honda wanted to engineer for that kind of driving, they could. Obviously they don't.

I've been in California a few times and LA is similar to Dallas with the fast pack speed. Note my sig admits that much in my lifetime mpg vs what it could be....

Consider that cruising at 80mph not only uses more gas, but more wear-and-tear....

 

I have 5 motorcycles, and my '04 HCH MT gets better mileage than all of them!

 

Hi All:

___Boy does this thread fume me and I shouldn’t even respond but for a few ideas …

1. Motorcycles emit so much more pollution then the regular HCH let alone a PZEV the discussion isn’t worth bringing up.

2. Motorcycle FE is far less then what a hybrid is capable of. Until you are down in the Moped like size, do not expect Insight like mileage as an example. CBXTC6, thanks for the reply.

3. 80 - 90 mph? Let me take a guess that you actually average 45 mph and you have bursts up to 80 - 90 mph. As I have written many times in the past, it is very tough to stop from 90 mph as you enter your garage without driving through the back of it and into the neighbor’s pool.

4. I have driven a 2004 VW Jetta 1.9 L TDI and it will not get 40 + at 80 mpg w/ A/C running. The one I drove was placed into this exact situation as it was his wife’s daily long haul driver until she received too many speeding tickets here in Illinois. She was averaging 33 - 37 mpg when blasting across Illinois at those 80 + mph hyper-velocities.

5. What car receives > 40 mpg at 80 +? Only the Insight 5-speed. Drive an Insight like that all the time and you may as well not own it imho. Just a waste if its capabilities is all. DF, no slight to you because I know when you get the chance, you hypermile the hell out of her

6. A Prius II’s aerodynamics are only slightly better then that of the regular HCH’s. The EPA highway of the Prius II is where its Achilles heel lyes as everything is unnecessarily spun up at those speeds. You don’t want a Prius or an HCH and expect > 40 + consistently at those speeds imho. Again, back to the Insight and it is not just because of its excellent Aerodynamics, it is because of an extremely efficient system including the 3 cylinder - 1.0 Liter ICE pushing an 1,890 # automobile.

___Sorry for being an @$$ but 80 - 90 + mph on a daily basis? Why bother worrying about your FE? Buy an H2 and to hell with everybody and anything that gets in your way. I hope you would consider a manual based Toyota Echo w/ a stick as it is cheap, gets decent FE, and can blast along at 80 + w/ A/C. Maybe 25 – 28 mpg if you are lucky … The upcoming 07 Honda Fit/Jazz might be a decent inexpensive automobile with great high speed FE but it too will not be approaching 40 + at 80 + mph consistently. I will shut up and let this thread take it natural course. Hopefully into the garbage can as that is where it belongs imho.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Um, what? I drive 80mph on the interstates, which make up the majority of the roads I travel on. At any given moment I am usually going equal to or 5mph faster than the surrounding traffic. Most people do not drive 60mph on the interstate.

I consider that excellent. My stated figure of 40mpg was for mixed "lifetime" driving, not really what I'm shooting for on the interstate. I realize I wasn't clear on that point. By the way, when my speed is 0 relative to the cars around me, I don't consider that "hyper-velocity". I consider it safe.

You do realize that any car gets its best FE cruising at ~50-60 mph, don't you? So are you outraged at every car that goes 30mph or 70mph? You're encouraging the stereotype of hybrids being only for ultra-economical cars and drivers. I believe they're a good technology just like all the others that have already made ICEs much more fuel-efficient and powerful than they used to be.

I think you're forgetting what fuel efficiency means. It refers to the energy the car is able to squeeze out of a given amount of fuel. This energy can be used in a short amount of time (high power) to deliver quick acceleration, or it can be used over a longer amount of time (low power) to give high mileage. Why are you so upset?

Take the Accord Hybrid for example. Apparently it has a 0-80 time of just over 11 seconds, versus over 20 for the HCH and I think 19 for the Prius. So it accelerates about twice as quickly as the other two, but gets more than half the mileage of them (especially considering I'd probably get similar HAH mileage as I got with the HCH). So the HAH is very nice, yet alot of the people here seem to loathe it. Of course only a tiny portion of time is spent accelerating so it's not the best usage of FE but it's not bad.

Although I'm only getting an automatic, it should still perform well and I'd love to test-drive one. Alas, that would be difficult to arrange. Maybe I'll hunt around for one, or someone selling a used one so they won't mind me taking an extended test-drive.

I can't believe I have to explain the appeals of high FE to you.

Gee, let me think. It has a 0-80 time of 17 seconds, making it comparable to the Prius, but gets 11mpg and is alot more expensive. And nobody "gets in my way" if I'm going the same speed as everyone else, or only slightly faster.

Maybe; after all, I'm even considering a diesel... but I do find hybrids appealing. They turn off when stopped, regain lost energy when braking, and increase the FE in any situation they're thrown into. Hondas use only the ICE during high-speed cruising, but the HCH has only a 78hp gas engine and it just struggles in those conditions. If I were to drive a non-hybrid 78hp Civic, I'd get even worse mileage and worse performance.

 

Again, I'm embarrassed about revealing my eleventh-hour "overland flight" from Dallas to Colorado, partially because it's setting a bad example, partially because the Insight was not intended for that kind of driving. It may be the best-built Honda, but this is abusive driving, meaning over time 40mpg at 90mph will likely degrade to something worse.

I personally think the hybrids currently on the market have adequate acceleration. Hybrids may not have the zip for CGameProgrammer, but xcel might actually desire a smaller engine for better hypermiling (I could be wrong on the reduced engine assumption).

Is going 80+ often worth it? Increased gas consumption, increased tire wear, increased wheel alignment problems, more wear on the drive train, need to change the oil more often to deal with greater engine wear, increased brake wear, more chance of a bad accident....you need a lot of "fun" to justfiy this. P.S.: in a hybrid, the battery will give out quicker because it was assumed you would not cruise over 70 on a daily basis.

P.S. For any given car, optimum fuel economy is around 45-50mph (not that many would cruise that slow....)

 

I never said it was practical to speed; I just said I like to. I am far from the only person with the same sentiment -- GreenHybrid is one of the few places in which I'm a minority. But yes, I do find it fun. I'm getting a license plate "I [heart] DRIVN" to drive this point home, no pun intended.

By the way, my current car has a 0-60 of 10 seconds and a 0-80 of perhaps 17. And I'm satisfied with that. I'm not looking for quick acceleration; I'm looking for decent high-speed cruising FE in addition to comfort and enjoyable handling. As far as I remember, the Prius has the first, but not the last two.