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Old 03-27-2005, 08:00 PM
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Hot_Georgia_2004 Hot_Georgia_2004 is offline
Ridiculously Active Enthusiast
 
Real Name: Steve
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Hybrids: 2004 Civic CVT Hybrid
Posts: 1,676
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I've never really added it up before but was suprised that I'm traveling almost 3 miles without burning any gas at all.
Wayne is right, I travel those 3 miles at 2-3:00 in the morning on completely abandoned streets, except for the occasional pedestrian critters that may cross my path, or the confused cop attending to his speed trap as I roll slowly, silently by.

I don't reboot at all in the daytime except in the case of a traffic jam.
I refuse to be at the mercy of the Auto Stop not coming on, so if my SOC is full I'll shut her down. When the cars move again to provide me with some buffer room I'll start back up, nudge ahead to a measured roll and immediately shut down and reboot.
I might loose 5 MPG's if I just let her run in a big jam, but mabe loose only 1/2MPG by rebooting.
Durring the day I might switch to N and idle down a hill if my SOC is full.

For anyone new here please let me post this warning:
Quote:
DO NOT EVER restart your CVT equipped HCH while going over 40MPH.
Even if the shift is in N you will cause a potentially damaging jolt in the drivetrain. If your engine is not running, you can loose your power brake assist, requiring substantially more foot pressure to stop.
Some of the other wierd, odd things I do to improve MPG deals with stop lights. Often I find myself with no other cars to change the lights ahead of me. Still, I'm not satisfied with stopping so I did some experimenting.

One light that I wish I could go straight through is always red, but I can keep most of my momentum and hang a hard Right, then quick Left and this road merges with my original road.
Instead of stopping and burning it off in the 30-40MPG range, I can keep it in the 60-100MPG range all the way through.

Another light I'll hang a hard Left before the light, drive all the way across an abandoned (Closed for the night) supermarket parking lot, pull a Right out of the driveway and turn Left back onto the road I was just on.
This saves alot of fuel as the light is situated in the middle of a strong incline, a real FE killer if coming from dead stop.
Remember, this is done at about 1:30 in the morning and no one else is around.

This can only show that not only how we drive but where we drive can increase MPG. I used to just easily hop right onto the freeway thinking it is the only practical way to work, until I did some experimenting. That's how I found my highway route and can avoid the 70MPH limits. Now I gain several MPG just with that alone.

I haven't found much to do with the 5:00PM Atlanta city traffic. Just a big jammed mess. Probably the best I can do is just watch everyone else pass me as they gas it to the next piled up stop light and I'll arrive just as they are beginning to go.

A word of advice to anyone who is not satisfied with their current MPG and is willing to make some changes:
1. Get the advice from experienced hypermilers (Not neccessarily me, I'm just an apprentice. There's lots of us to tap into.) and then:
2. Experiment! Experiment! Experiment! Try it out, follow the advice given.
Remember this is a learned skill that can be applied to all your other vehicles as well.

Springtime must be for Hybrid cars.
I haven't seen any other hybrids for some time and just yesterday I saw a brownish-gold Insight in my tiny community of Hoschton, Ga.
I was so impressed, almost wanted to follow to see where they go.
Whenever I see one of those things I always get Insight envy. I always imagine Homer Simpson saying "Mmmm, a hundred miles per gallon"

Later on the freeway I was passed by an '03 HCH, followed by a red Prius hot on his heels. I was tempted to catch up and wave or something but didn't want to burn off the fuel and likely be mistaken for a nut. (Or not mistaken)
I'm just going to have to come up with a sign or something to display my MPG to another car, like the passing Prius or HCH friend.

Enough rambling, thanks for reading.

.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Last edited by Hot_Georgia_2004 : 03-27-2005 at 08:15 PM.
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