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Originally Posted by lakedude
Maybe, but are you sure that your own personal story is not the exception? Also are you sure it is the car or is it perhaps the driver that needs the break in? All of us are learning to drive our cars better with time.
I'm not at all sure that my personal situation is at all normal and admit that it my be a rare exception.
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I believe both the driver and the car need a proper break in. It is well known that hybrids fall short of their EPA gas milage estimates and I believe that is both because hybrids are new cars and are still breaking in and the general public still doesn't know how to drive a hybrid the way it should be. Taking advantage of momentum and using the car with the gas engine turned off are both major parts of acheiving fuel economy with a hybrid and people aren't used to that yet. At the same time, it is also well known that cars don't perform the way they should during their break in periods. Gas milage is one of those area's, hybrid or ICE alone.
I can't wait for hybrids to saturate the market and drivers start acheiving and surpassing their EPA estimates and magazines will start sayings "Its about time the EPA revised its testing methods!" when in reality it will simply be because the market adapted to the hybrids.