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Tim K · #2 (**permalink**) 07-20-2006, 03:19 PM

How many miles are on your FEH? I couldn't get better than 27mpg no matter what I did the first 1,000 miles and it even says in the manual not to look at your MPG until you've 'broken in" the engine to at least 1,000miles. Others here will tell you that you'll see improvements when you hit 3,000mi, or 5,000mi too.

I've got about 2,200 miles on my Mariner Hybrid (4wd) right now and I am also struggling with MPG. I'm down from 28mpg to about 25mpg in mostly city (stop and go) in the last week or so as temps have been 90+ degrees.

I was going to ask for some advice myself but if you don't mind I'll piggy-back on your thread and maybe we both can learn something.

My situation:
Short commutes 4x per day driving my son to daycare and home, and then picking him up later and coming home. It is about 5 miles each way and when he is in the car I have to run the AC. Obviously the AC hurts, and I'm wondering if I am experiencing particularly low numbers (currently about 24.7mpg) given the new-ness of the vehicle and the usage?

Driving method:
Like Doug, my approach is to accelerate slowly in D to maximize EV mode. If I get up to a good speed I will attempt to coast as much as possible in N or at least in D. I always 'down shift' to L in order to slow down and regen. I try to 'fake shift' as much as possible to keep RPM's down. On highways I try to coast as much as possible as well and rarely exceed about 55mph.

options:
1. I can drive in stop and go traffic with a red light just about every city block. Problem is I don't get enough drive time for regeneration so the ICE ends up going on and off, particularly at idle.

2. I can hop on the highway for a couple of miles, but then the ICE has to run.

3. I can drive a little bit out of my way but reduce the number of traffic lights, thereby being able to utilize regeneration. This is my current strategy, but I only just started this route about the same times temps jumped into the 90's.

Any thoughts?