GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post

AshenGrey · #13 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadGL

Well, guess what - our 2 week old GL is retruning pitiful MPG (yes, the economy setting is on, yes, the green setting for AC is on, and no, we don't have a lead foot). We've done 700 miles and so far achieved 26, 21, 21. The first was mostly highway, the other two in suburbia.

This is way less than anything we were expecting - in fact only 2 MPG better than the 03 VUE V6 AWD we traded in. There are no known problems (the computer is clean) - how do we know that - well, it's spend 4 of it's 15 days of ownership in the shop, one being for an electrical problem.

Feeling very conned.

I wouldn't feel too dispirited yet. My HCH had a few quirks that had to be ironed out in the beginning. As far as the mileage goes, the phrase "your mileage may vary" is VERY applicable to hybrids -- much more so than regular vehicles. My HCH is rated for 47 MPG, but I've gotten as high as 69 and as low as 36. That's a 33 MPG variance. Even under normal circumstances, it varies between 40 and 45 (my commute is 90% city, so it's not the best commute for an IMA hybrid.)

You'll probably find that it's better to measure performance in 5,000 mile chunks. Like, "I got 28 MPG since my last oil change".

For what it's worth, BAS and IMA hybrids really suffer in stop/go traffic. On 100% highway, I almost always get *better* than the EPA estimate. You probably will too.

If you do both kinds of driving, probably IMA2 or Two-Mode would be the hybrid of choice. For my, I'll probably have to go HSD next time around, since my commute has 12 traffic lights and my speed never exceeds 40 MPH.