GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post

HondaHondo · #20 (**permalink**) 11-03-2005, 09:26 AM

Okay here's an update...

I think I've figured it out. I did exclusive highway driving to test and got 40 plus mpg. But my city still was pretty dismal. So I created three categories of driving:

City - stop and go Manhattan
Local - suburban
Highway - cruising on 3 - 4 lane roads

Using those categories, my wife and I drove seperately resetting the trip mpg for several trips in each category.

Paying close attention to the ECO light even at the cost of running behind schedule we posted these ranges:

City - 9 - 16 mpg
Local - 15 - 24 mpg
Highway 33 - 45 mpg

We were able to stay near the upper end of the ranges most of the time. It just seems to me that the HAH just doesn't do as well on mpg when you need to get through and around traffic.

It needs all those rip roaring 6 cyl. I know this seems obvious but I guess i didn't expect the difference to be that great.

We did get our average commute up from 18 mpg to 27 mpg being very careful in the city and trying to cruise on the open road.

That's the biggie. A commute like that gives us better mpg than the 4 cyl Accord and more pwer when needed. It's also tighter ride.

Anyway I'm much less concerned but still have some kinks to work out.

And...it would be a great service to inform anyone about to purchase a hybrid that to take advantage of the green factor and make it worth the extra dollars, you do need to adjust the way you drive. It actually makes a cleaner, sharper driver, less sloppy drive. But it is a change to get uses to...

Thanks all for your help.