Civic Hybrid: Your Gas Mileage

[07mugencivic]

who get more than 64+

[cam_love]

I get about 38 mpg and I can't figure out how to get it any higher.. I get really good mileage on the highway but all the stop and go traffic really seems to lower it. I get the worse gas mileage of course when climbing hills, which there is a lot of where I live in the midwest. So what do you think would be some good ways to improve my mileage? I've read all the articles and try to implement them into my driving but I still can't help getting horrible mileage around town..

[cam_love]

-- bump --

[Soybean]

The simplest technique for me is to simply keep the tach below 2000 RPM (and this works in all cars, hybrid or not). In fact, I aim for 1500-1800 RPM, and only go up to 2000 to avoid pissing off the people behind me (well, I still piss them off, but at least not as badly). Slow acceleration is key. And if you see a red light ahead, don't accelerate towards it.

Beyond that, learn how to glide. You do this by letting your foot off the gas slightly. You'll feel a slight shudder as the IMA goes into charge and the instantaneous MPG meter goes up to 100. Then apply just a little more pressure until those charge bars go away (charging slows your momentum). Presto! You're gliding. If you continue to apply a little more pressure to the pedal, you can get 1-4 bars of assist while the MPG meter is still pegged at 100! No gasoline is being pumped into the engine. This is pretty hard to maintain for too long. Once the valves open and gasoline gets pumped in again, you'll feel a slight shudder and the MPG meter dropping.

You say you've read articles, so I assume you've read the following. But if not, here's a great guide (there's even a small section on hills):
Adapting Basic Hypermiling Techniques to the HCH-II

[ryker]

Originally Posted by wrxsti03

Wow rocken poll

In the summer I will get ~50 MPG but in the winter ~43 MPG.

Route the airbox intake to a hot section of the moter.. I did this on my old Insight also blocked off the radiator with cardboard.

[GoHuskies]

Originally Posted by ryker

Route the airbox intake to a hot section of the moter.. I did this on my old Insight also blocked off the radiator with cardboard.

Or put padding in the air intakes. As long as your not doing 65+ or heavy accel. the padding helps the engine warm up faster and gives you regen capacity sooner.

An engine block heater is always nice too

[ryker]

padding in the intake? OMG! explain that one more?

[GoHuskies]

Originally Posted by ryker

padding in the intake? OMG! explain that one more?

I got the idea from a user on another forum. The foam is meant to help with starting cold during the winter. When starting cold, the car doesn't use regen unless you force regen and as such your mileage suffer for the first few miles untill the engine and battery are at good temps.

To comabt this during the winter months I use pipe insulation foam. You can some at any Lowes or Home Depot. They alreay have a slit and hollow center, so just cut them to fit and slide over the intake grill bars on the lower grille, then cut some pieces to fill the gap on the upper intake.

I don't use glue or any adhesive but I've never had a problem with them moving. They still allow limited air to get thru, this is a small engine, it doesn't need much air, but the foam helps build up hot air inside.

The basic is the foam helps the engine warm faster. Added with the engine block heater and you can get regen working much faster than just starting cold. Small boost but over the life of the car can add up.

[GardenWeasel]

Let's awaken this sleeper. I have, today, 170 some miles (total) on my HCH, and the display says I'm averaging 42 mpg. I think I'll put a few more miles on it before I hit the poll....

[mijc13]

Originally Posted by Soybean

I've been averaging 55 mpg, using some hypermiling techniques I learned from CleanMPG.com (I don't do the dangerous stuff, though, like drafting!). Friday I managed to get 68.1 mpg on my 20 mile commute to work.
Beating the EPA - The Whys and how to Hypermile
Adapting Basic Hypermiling Techniques to the HCHII

Crap, my SI is jealous of you!

[Janizary]

Unlike the Si/EX/LX/DX MPG threads, this is the first time I have calculated averages for the Hybrid (due to the low number of responses).

With 76 data points as of 9:355 a.m. PST, 2/11/08) using a weighted average of all of the respondents and the mid-point for each poll category, the current weighted average of all responses is:

46.4 MPG for all Hybrid logged replies.

As with the other threads, MPG estimates are submitted by forum members. I would not have guessed we had 76 members with Hybrids.

A slightly offset curve is evident; however, the sigma group here appears to be those giving a stated 65MPG or higher. Hypermilers, perhaps. Discounting that group brings a return of 43.8MPG averaging all other stats.

[duk]

man looking at this thread makes me sad. I can still only achieve about 40 mpg in my HCHII, and i drive very conservatively (very rarely go above 2500rpm). The weather just warmed up here, and it seems to make a bit of a difference, particularly with the climate control off. Hopefully in the warmer months i can get up to that average 45-47mpg, but damn!

[spinner]

I can't report until I have gone through at least one complete year, Summer and Winter averaging each other. That will come in July, 2008.

The following graphics will report my running average. They are linked to my entries at spritmonitor.de, which are in Metric:

[duk]

Originally Posted by spinner

I can't report until I have gone through at least one complete year, Summer and Winter averaging each other.

I'm in that same boat. Will have to wait until October 08 for that.

But today was my first fill up in warm weather and i am noticing a massive difference. I averaged about 44MPG today in about 60 KM's.

[Jayhawker]

I said it in another thread, but I achieved 52.88 on this past tank of gas. That's 60-65 on the freeway and slow acceleration from stops. I am in Phoenix and I had no idea that the colder weather was impacting those in cold climates. We had a mild winter and I was still getting 42+ mpg driving 75-80 just a month ago.

[2006_Civic]

I started off getting about 42 to 46 MPG when first got my car. But now that I have learned how to drive it I was getting about 46 to 52 MPG. HOWEVER... I had to get new tires to pass state inspection and I have noticed some odd readings on my guages.

I had to get new tires on the first of the month and ever since then my milage readings have been different. My GPS shows that I am doing one speed but the speedo in the dash shows me going about 2 MPH faster. I have a feeling that the tires are a different diameter than the original tires and threfore causing my car to show inacurate readings.

Has anyone noticed this with their car and is there a way to re-calibrate the car for the new tires?

[OrdnanceMarine]

I'm surprised some folks here aren't getting better numbers. My best tank over the 4000 miles and 4 months I've had my Si was 36.9, which included an incredible 41.8 MPG over a 110 mile stretch with the A/C on and with two mountain passes (~3500' and 4000'). 32.7 MPG is my lifetime average and that includes having fun since that's the reason for buying the Si in the first place. I'm getting low to mid 30's back and fourth to work (2 round trips, 5 miles each) and can easily get mid to upper 30 on the highway at 65-70 MPH.

Sounds like the hybrid could really benefit from a manual transmission!

[GoHuskies]

Originally Posted by OrdnanceMarine

I'm surprised some folks here aren't getting better numbers. My best tank over the 4000 miles and 4 months I've had my Si was 36.9, which included an incredible 41.8 MPG over a 110 mile stretch with the A/C on and with two mountain passes (~3500' and 4000'). 32.7 MPG is my lifetime average and that includes having fun since that's the reason for buying the Si in the first place. I'm getting low to mid 30's back and fourth to work (2 round trips, 5 miles each) and can easily get mid to upper 30 on the highway at 65-70 MPH.

Sounds like the hybrid could really benefit from a manual transmission!

I wish you could view who took the polls.

I'd hazard a guess you wouldn't see just people with hybrid profiles taking the poll.

Same could be true for any of the civics.

[Logan176]

I'm no hypermiler by any means, but lately I have slowed down a lot and I'm getting 36-38 mpg with a best of 42.3. The price difference between the LX and the HCH is about $6,700... that's a lot of money to make up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to my calculations, it would take almost 175,000 miles to break even when taking in the account of the price difference between the LX and the HCH. Here's what I did...

According to CarsDirect.com, an LX is $16,517 and a HCH is $23,235. That's a price difference of $6,718.

LX at 32mpg with gas at $4.25/gal will cost $132.80 per 1,000 miles
HCH at 45mpg with gas at $4.25/gal will cost $94.40 per 1,000 miles
HCH fuel savings per 1,000 miles is $38.40

Original cost difference of $6,718 divided by savings of $38.40 per 1,000 miles is 174.947. Now multiply that by 1,000 and you get... 174,947 miles!


I know that there are government rebates available and that as the price of gas goes up, so does the mpg savings return with the HCH. But I also know that batteries don't last forever, so the batteries in the HCH will need to be replaced eventually and they will be expensive. On the other hand, that $6,718 could make a small return in a high yield, online savings account or mutual fund.

Now, if going "green" for the environment's sake is your goal, I salute you. If my math is wrong please correct me, but if saving money is your main goal, based on these numbers the HCH doesn't seem like a good way to save.

[CFCHYBRID]

Originally Posted by cam_love

I get about 38 mpg and I can't figure out how to get it any higher.. I get really good mileage on the highway but all the stop and go traffic really seems to lower it. I get the worse gas mileage of course when climbing hills, which there is a lot of where I live in the midwest. So what do you think would be some good ways to improve my mileage? I've read all the articles and try to implement them into my driving but I still can't help getting horrible mileage around town..

CleanMPG, An authoritative source on fuel economy and hypermiling Read the article on hypermiling, i average about 65+ on the freeway, but only around 40 on the street here in hollywood.