I have two hybrids so I tryed deviding short trips between them. the best example was on the camry; Short trips netted 37 mpg on tank average -longer trips (15 miles and up) I netted 40.2 tank average. Anyone notice this much difference. this was a lo-tek study!!

 

I'm surprised you're only getting 3.2 mpg difference. If I drive a short trip which doesn't allow the engine to warm up or batteries to recharge I find a much greater difference than that. It's also true for non-hybrids, short trips kill mileage.

 

Pulling a decent grade for a couple of miles or so is even worse. I normally do this as my normal work commute.

Lately I have been forced to take a different route due to major road work and wow what a difference (almost 4 mpg)!

 

I live on top of a hill. All the errands like grocery shopping or taking the kids to school requires me to come down from the hill for about 2-3 miles. By the time I get home, the average fuel economy won't even register a single bar(<20mpg). Luckily I work 20 miles away. This allows me to increase my average fuel economy to make up for the last couple of miles of steep hill and still maintain an average tank milage of 41 mpg after 2 tank fills. As for errands, I completely stopped taking the TCH for trips less than 5 miles.

 

This might make sense if your overall goal is to increase your Camry's mpg. However, I can almost guarantee that whatever you're driving on short trips is doing much worse than your TCH, so you may as well drive the Camry. Sure your average will suffer, but you'll still be using less gas and spewing fewer emissions than if you drove your other vehicle. And I assume that's why you purchased the TCH in the first place.

 

That's just it. I don't think I'm saving that much gas going up the hill with the TCH while the engine's cold as compared to my wife's car.

 

My commute is a little over 5 miles one way (shorter now that school has started) and I have 7 traffic lights and one stop sign, plus I stop once at a convenience store. So that is NOT the recipe for high FE in a TCH at all.

Here's what I have found, from a tip I got on this board or Edmunds:

34 miles per hour is a sweet spot, even with a cold engine.

On a flat road, even freshly started car, temps in the upper 80s in Phoenix in the mornings, I see my real-time MPG meter hovering around 38-44 MPG when I set the cruise on 34 MPH.

Slower is worse, and faster is worse, but 34 MPG seems to be a good sweet spot.

Try that next time you can. See if it helps. My current tank is 36.8, but I have to use the A/C in the afternoons on the short commute, so that is killing me right now. Only about 5 more weeks of that I hope though !!!

 

Unless your wife's car is already warmed up I would find this surprising. It seems the start of your trip, heading downhill, would be perfect for some regen and would get you some excellent mileage. But you know your driving conditions better than me.

 

Maybe because my wife's Corolla is lighter. I don't know. It doesn't have a trip computer so I don't know if it's getting better milage. It just feels like I can go up the long steep hill eaisier with my wifes car. I don't have to press the gas pedal as hard and car seems quicker.