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Originally Posted by gschoen
If they drove the cars differently, it wouldn't be a very good comparison! They don't drive like a hypermiler because their readers don't. They drive like a regular adult would, not flooring it, not 85MPH, but zippy acceleration and keeping up with traffic on highway. I couldn't find the specifics online, I think I read it in the Car Buying Guide they publish, where they detailed their road test routine. For my Prius and my last two Saturns, my MPG was similar to what they got. I'm not a hypermiler, and I like that I get 45MPG despite hard city driving. I don't drive like a race car, but I don't think buying this car was "stupid" either. My last car was listed as "efficient" at 34/24 and now I get double real world mileage in the city, with a bigger, heavier, faster car. I might not get the BEST possible mileage, but I get everything I want. I never "drive with load", go 75MPH on the highway (faster when passing), blast the AC if I'm hot and leave it running with the dog in it... I'm probably a "real world" driver.
I would imagine most Accord drivers WANT power, since it has so much to give! Some reviewer (CR?) said it has V8 performance with 4cyl economy. Those who are more economy minded might pick a different, less powerful car.
Personally, I don't think anyone has to "learn" to drive a hybrid, unless they want to. That just makes people think these vehicles don't deliver on their promises and are slow and underpowered. Drive like I want AND get great mileage? Now THAT's technology!
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I agree with that. There is a difference between "real world" driving--taking advantage of acceleration and steady driving at 70 or so--and guys who burn rubber and speed all the time. I was referring to the latter when I mentioned that hybrids wouldn't be a good idea. I just find the consumer report FE ratings still a bit too low, considering even "real world" drivers tend to get low 40s MPG on the HCH. Not mid 30s.
For the last couple tanks I've been enoying the hypermiling thing as a bit of an experiment, to find out what is the best fuel economy I can get for my commute. After a while, I'll settle into a more natural style with the occasional "good fuel economy" trick thrown in here or there.
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Personally, I don't think anyone has to "learn" to drive a hybrid, unless they want to. That just makes people think these vehicles don't deliver on their promises and are slow and underpowered.
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True. Most of the people I've let test drive the Civic actually expected it to be a lot more underpowered than it really is. People also tend to expect a car to deliver a bit under the EPA estimates no matter what, hybrid or otherwise. The only thing that seemed strange to me is the fact that the Consumer Report showed almost no improvement between the Hybrid Accord and the standard Accord.