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Originally Posted by davidb
I'm considering purchasing an Accord hybrid but have been a bit put off by Consumer Reports overall mileage estimate of 25 mpg -- only 2 mpg better than the non-hybrid V-6. This is far from the improvement in mileage one would deduece from figures provided by both the manufacturer and the epa -- 40% better on the highway and 20% better in the city. In the real world this would work out to something in the area of 28-29 mpg overall rather than 25 mpg. ( I'm not expecting to get epa mileage. I'm just expecting that real world improvement in mileage would be greater than 2 mpg or 8.5 %.)
Does anyone have an explanation for the minimal improvement suggested by Consumer Reports?
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CR also got 36mpg for the Civic Hybrid, but most users see around 45mpg with normal driving. I get about that and that includes all kinds of driving often with A/C on. I use moderate acceleration, etc. But since the HCH has wimpy acceleration, it is far easier to drive it efficiently.
With the Accord Hybrid, you have a lot of power at your disposal. I'm sure that in their testing, they ignored the FE light. Still, it looks like even careful drivers are only seeing 30mpg.
It seems to be a catch 22... if you use the extra power that you paid for, you don't get the extra fe. If you want extra fe, you don't get the extra power.
HCH makes "an automatic" sacrifice of power via design.
Personally, I think that existing cars have enough power and it is better to just make hybrids equal that power and exceed in FE.
Take the new Lexus Hybrids for example. They get better fe and performance than the non-hybrid versions. IMHO, the base versions of the models have plenty of power. Just equal that power and excel in fe.