Your MPG will get better as you learn the tricks. Hang in there !!

Here are some things I have learned in my first 100 days that have helped my mileage. I have taken the Trip B lifetime MPG up from 34.4 to 38.2 in about 100 days, from 4823 miles on the car up to 8106 miles. I live in Phoenix and have a short city-based commute of only 10 miles each way, with about 8 stop lights and two stops in the morning and about 10 stop lights in the afternoon.

1. Coast, Coast, Coast. I have a manual tranny, so it is Oh So very easy for me to just pop the tranny into neutral when I have some speed built up and see that I have an open space in front of me an no one behind me to slow down. I usually coast in neutral when I need to keep my speed up because the car rolls much better out of gear. If I need to boost the battery or if I know I am going to be coasting only for a block or so, I leave it in gear to get the charge boost, because the charge increases when you coast in gear. I have even taken to TURNING THE CAR COMPLETELY OFF in rare instances when I know I can coast in a straight line for a longer period of time. Always put the key back in the start position so you can keep control of the steering and brakes !!

2. If you can drive as slow as 30 mph, do so and put on the cruise. In my manual tranny, I put it in fourth gear at 30 mph instead of 5th and it gets better mileage on the real-time meter. If I get up to 36 mph, I put it in 5th gear. Both 30 mph in 4th and 36-42 mph in 5th are the best for high MPG readings on the real-time meter. Yesterday in only a span of less than two miles at 30 mph I saw the real-time meter stay mostly 65-85 mpg on a flat road. I am always careful to avoid slowing anyone down who is zooming up behind me. I usually have three lanes to choose from so thus far I have avoided any Road Rage incidents !!

3. At your first oil change (I would do it around 5000) change to synthetic oil if you can. It allows for less friction in the engine and you can get a 1-3 mpg boost from the added efficiency of the reduced friction. In a 1997 Suburban, I went from 17 mpg to 19 mpg just from the oil change alone.

4. Drive like there is an egg between your foot and the gas pedal and never accellerate harshly unless it is required for safety purposes.

5. Learn how to use Auto-Stop and milk it for every stop it's got !! It's easier in the manual tranny, because I can stop behind someone and take it out of gear and if I have to creep up a car length or so, the Auto Stop will kick in again after I creep up when I put it back in neutral. I don't know how the CVT handles that sort of thing, but other users on this board can tell you how. If all else fails and Auto Stop fails to engage if you have to creep up, TURN OFF THE IGNITION while you wait for the light to finish. These cars do not have starters, they are started by the electric battery system, so it's OK to start it a few extra times a month in the effort to save fuel and reduce idling emissions, right? Right.

6. Avoid A/C usage when you can, as it KILLS the MPG. My latest tank I amd at 650 miles and 55.6 MPG and I have managed to avoid the A/C the whole time on this tank.

7. Keep your windows rolled UP when you can to avoid extra wind drag.

8. Try at all costs to avoid getting into a situation where you must drive faster than 60-65 MPH. These speeds will MURDER your MPG.

9. Run your tires at MINIMUM 40 PSI when cold.

Hope this might help you. My MPG has gone steadily up, but I think I have just about peaked on my driving techniques. I would be shocked if I can ever get more than about 55 for a tankful with my commute. Good luck and keep up posted !!

 

I'm not so sure #1 is completely correct. While coasting in a normal manual tranny will net you better mpgs, in the hybrid, it may not be the best thing to do when faced with the situation.

Instead of coasting out of gear, you can back off the accelerator, keep the car in high gear, and press on the gas just a tad to keep from entering regen. What this does is not only getting the car to coast, it also allows the engine to shut down 3 of the cylinders and only keep one running. It can't do this if the car isn't in gear; therefore, the car's momentum helps keep the gas engine running, and 3 cylinders can be shut down. I do this frequently. It seems to net higher mpgs in this manner. I have 819 miles at 66.2 mpgs at the moment.

There's been discussion about #2. Personally, I don't use the cruise at all, and haven't after about the first 3 months. I find that I can do much better than the cruise, because I can anticipate uphills and downhills. When the traffic allows, I can keep mpgs up on an uphill, slowing down a little, only to pick the speed back up on the downhill. This is what others call "driving with the load".

I do practice the other items that lars has mentioned, except turning the car off before you come to a stop. Turning off the car by hand before completely stopping allows the possibility that you lose brake pressure, and then it's really hard to press the brake pedal.

 

In regard to coasting, buzz70 is correct if using 1 cylinder uses less fuel than using zero cylinders. Because coasting out of gear is using zero cylinders to push the car, while using the method he describes is using 1 cylinder to push the car.

On the cruise control issue, I have seen all the arguments for an against, and all I can say from my experience is that on FLAT ROADS which is mostly what I have here in my neck of the woods, the cruise does a better job of maintaining solid steady speed without fluctuations than does my foot, at least in a manual tranny HCH in Phoenix AZ. Your experience will vary, but on flat roads the cruise does a better job unless you have the steady foot of a surgeon....

And buzz70 is correct about the loss of brake pressure - if you choose to use the "turn the car off" method, be sure to pick and choose wisely (as I do) when and where you do it. Remember your emergency brake !! No amount of fewer teaspoons of gas used is worth your safety and the safety of the other drivers on the road....

 

I agree, cruise control on a very flat road will most likely produce better results than your foot.

On the coasting issue, if the gas engine is running, then you're still using gas in all 4 cylinders to keep the engine running while you're coasting, using more gas than just using 1, and letting the inertia of the car help turn the engine. That's what I was referring to, not shutting of the gas engine completely and coasting.

 

I guess I must confess my ignorance to the "3 cylinders shutting down" aspect of the HCH technology.

Question: So does the RPM go down when the engine cuts to 1 cylinder? If the RPM does not go down, how could it possibly be using less fuel, because would not using fewer cylinders decrease the RPMs, barring that the one remaining cylinder take on the whole work of driving the RPMs? And why would it only do this when needing to push the car and not do this when the car is idling at rest?

Is there a thread on this site or a web page that explains under what conditions the HCH will execute this shutdown? I'd love to know more about it and how to force the car to do it.

Thanks...

 

This article talks about the Variable Cylinder Management system equipped on the Accord and other Honda hybrids: http://www.motortrend.com/features/n...ws_030618_hon/

 

When the car is coasting in this mode, the RPM doesn't change immediately. Sure, the car is slowing down at a very slow rate. The active cylinder isn't really "driving" the rpms, the inertia of the car going forward with the transmission engaged is driving the rpms.

On the other 3 cylinders, the valves are closed, causing very little drag to occur from them. This is done so that maximum transfer can go to the regeneration of the batteries.

However, by pressing the gas pedal slightly, you can "tell" the car not to go into regeneration mode, because it thinks you want to accelerate. Your foot isn't pressing the gas pedal enough to actually accelerate, however, so what you get is pretty much coasting -- except the transmission is still engaged, and the engine is only running on one cylinder, giving you the best of both worlds. You get coasting with very little engine dragging, and the engine running only on one cylinder using very little gas because the inertia of the car is helping to keep the engine running by way of the transmission.

It's not obvious when running at highway speeds, but at lower speeds -- 40 mph and under -- where I can really note the difference. Since our FCD can only go to 120 mpgs, the slower speeds will show the difference. Shifting to neutral while only going 25 mph might get you 90 mpg, but if you stay in 4th gear and let off the gas without getting regen, you'll get 120 for sure.

 

Well, I think I understand, sort of. :blink:

But you are talking about the VTEC method of reducing engine friction when engine braking, are you not?

If that's what you mean, that's fine, but your method still slows the car down much more than just coasting in neutral, does it not? With the manual tranny, if you leave it in gear at 40 mph and take your foot off the gas, it will coast to a dead stop in less than a block because of the engine braking/regen function. So what you are telling me is that if I leave it in gear but do not press the pedal enough to actually increase the speed, it will slow down less quickly and increase my MPG higher than letting it just coast out of gear?

When taking the car into neutral at speed when I know I can coast a while, I can coast for stretches of 1/4 to 3/4 a mile, some cases farther, while only losing 8-10 mph at most from the time I shift to neutral until the time I must engage the tranny or else start stopping. The whole time, the engine is idling at it's lowest RPMs.

I still cannot understand how forcing the engine to push the car even with one cylinder, while still having the tranny engaged, can possibly be more fuel efficient than the car idling at it's lowest RPM with no tranny engaged......???

 

On my commute home at 2:00-3:00AM I have about 5 areas of 1-2 mile stretches where I put the car out of Drive and into Neutral.
These are all downhill grades and it definetly consumes less fuel to do so, as in evidence by the more rapid movement of the average MPG gauge.

In both instances of coasting on the edge of Regen and in the case of coasting out of gear the instant MPG meter is pegged and therefore useless as a measure.
Because of that, in that instance we must look to the average meter.

Vtech or no Vtech the average meter clicks more rapid while out of gear.
I don't always use the technique, but only when I need to "catch up" on a particularly bad day.

I belive that if I had a manual transmission I'd opt to reboot and simply roll instead, but it's hard on the CVT if you restart going over 35-40MPH.
But that's just me...keep in mind that my commute is in the wee hours of the morning and almost zero traffic.

In my busy afternoon commute to work I don't reboot or coast out of gear unless I'm sitting in a 0-20MPH traffic jam. In that case I refuse to watch my numbers plummet so I'll do what I can.....reboot, coast or whatever it takes.

 

Something about the Motor Trend article I noticed:

If this were true and the cylinder head is sealed but the piston is still working,
that would cause a huge drag for each of the 3 cylinders for the air compressing-and the following vacume on top of the piston.

I'd venture a guess that at least one valve is open to vent the dead cylinder?

Does anyone here have the HCH service manual?
Perhaps it may shed some light on the subject.