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Originally Posted by flopshot
In general, I would agree with your statement. But there are numerous articles out there specifically about hybrid cars, and how the formula for calculating EPA estimates does not really apply to how hybrid engines work. Consumer Reports does "real-world" fuel calculations and they are consistently less than the EPA. Heck, for the HCH the EPA rating is 51 city and Consumer Reports came out with 40MPG. So when I said "best-case scenario", I was specifically talking about for hybrids, and in particular the TCH. Based on where I live and work, I will never see anything close to 40mpg city, because half the time I will be starting from a dead-stop on a hill. And my 45mile commute is not on flat-land, so no way will I see 38mpg highway. So far I am getting about 36mpg combined mileage, and although that is below the EPA estimates, I'm perfectly happy with that number for the size car I'm driving.
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Our own database shows average MPG for HCH around 47 mpg with more than 600 sample cars so I don't know why Consumer report shows such a low FE for that particular car, but then which city driving are we talking about? there will be huge difference between driving in NYC or LA during rush hour and lets say Casper, Wyoming. If you're averaging 36 mpg right now I bet you could easilly get 40 if you work on it. I would disagree that Hybrid engines are any different from normal engines or the EPA numbers do not reflect real life milleage. What I think is happening is simple: older cars were rather inefficient and the difference between worst and best mpg was small enough for everybody to accept. No matter how you drove you still would get 15-20 mpg in the city and 23-28 on the highway. Now with the hybrids you can get anywhere from 10 mpg going up the hill to 100 mpg going down the hill or in the electric mode. My own commute with the same car, driver, conditions and similar traffic patterns I got as high as 46 mpg and as low as 36 so no wonder different drivers with different driving conditions will get huge differences in MPG. Also even EPA sticker states that the numbers are for comparison to other, similar cars only and do not reflect real life data which depends on too many variables to be fair for everybody. Of course in my case all the cars I ever had always meet EPA numbers , including TCH, maybe I would feel different if they didn't.