I just did a round trip to Seattle from Yakima, WA. We start out about 1200 ft in elevation, go up to about 2400 ft at the Snoqualmie Summit and then down to sea level oaver 170 miles (and then of course reverse the trip). I ran on cruise set about 72 mph. Had AC on, but it was pretty mild so it wasn't running hard. Wasn't really paying much attention to my driving as I was busy talking with my friend. Same for the return trip, though we did stop a couple of times on the way home but didn't shut the car off (quick stops!)

Anyway, the trip over to Seattle showed 41 mpg for the trip and since I had just filled up and only had about 15 miles on the tank, the tank MPG showed 40.4 when we got there. Return trip mpg was about 38 mpg and the tank mpg dropped to 39.4 mpg.

I am very pleased with this performance! It is only my 4th tank of gas and my 3rd out of town trip. Local trips have been averaging about 36 mpg.

 

As a private pilot, I have become more aware of the issues of wind resistance. Add in my TCH and the freeway on my commute, even though my ground speed is 65 mph, travelling to work, my windscreen speed is 50 mph and travellling home it is 80 mph. That makes a big difference in my FE. Whenever practical, following an 18-wheeler makes a big difference in my FE heading home. Also, I find that on the mild uphills, the 18-wheeler slows down and then catches up on the other side of the hill. The result is no one behind me expects me to push the 18-wheeler faster. Also, I find that I get better FE than the cruise control but I have to allow the ground speed to slow slightly uphill and go slightly faster downhill (while the cruise control always wants to accelerate up the hill faster than the 18-wheeler). My current tank is at 43mpg using these techniques with 66% freeway 34% surface traffic.

 

Highway mileage is incredible. The more I drive on the freeway, the higher my FE becomes. Typically, for me, I drive 67% highway. Recently, I have been doing less city driving and my FE for this tank has gone up to 45.4 mpg (I calculate 78% FWY). My mileage has become predictable. I can plug in 47 to 48 mpg for the freeway and 36 or 37 mpg around town. I put these values into a spreadsheet and then use % highway as a variable. The calculated FE is very close to what I have been achieving.

 

I can get MPG of mid-to-high 40's on the highway.

Paul

 

I managed 50mpg for 180 miles on one tank.

If you don't have to run the A/C, have mild temperatures, no wind, and can maintain ~60mph, the TCH delivers amazing mileage.

 

My 2nd tank was manually calculated at 43.23MPG (AVG TANK 45.6MPG and NAV screen 43.6MPG) of a total 589 miles mixed driving (70%/30% city/hwy) without CC and A/C........ wow, what can I say the 2007 TCH is truly one awesome HYBRID vehicle!!!!!!!