Hello, all. I just bought a 2005 Civic hybrid, and after just 300 miles the mileage is only 32 mpg. Is it normal for it to start low? At what mileage can I expect the optimum mileage? I live in deep south Texas, so not running the A/C is out of the question? Maybe that's the problem.

I got mine in Feb, and I'm in NY. it was cold and my first tank was 40mpg. my second was 44mpg, and I'm in the low 50s now at 5000 miles.
one of the first thing most people do here, is pump up the tires to the max cold rating on the tire. (mine are the OEM bridgestones at 44psi) Honda recommends 32psi which gives you a much softer ride. I don't find the handling or cornering troublesome at 44psi- in fact it's alot better than my old explorer. This right away brought up my mileage about 5mpg.
alot of my improvement was from warmer weather- which you already have- but really, you have to 'learn' how to drive it efficiently. You need to use AC in texas, but unless you're driving really fast (over 65mph) on the highway all the time- you should be able to get mid-high 40s.

much depends on your driving style, speed & conditions

I found the best learning tool was the instant consumption guage (FCG) and the trip display. I use trip B for my tank mileage and trip A for individual trips. If you reset trip A, each new trip you make, you will really learn quickly what works and what doesn't. basically 'drive above your average' on the FCD and avoid quick starts. ease back on the gas to 60 or better on the FCD when you can. the car gets it's best results between 35-45mph. if you have a commute where you can drive a 45mph road you'll really see your mpg shoot up.

I'd think both you & the car need to 'break in'. There's alot of advice and people here who get outstanding mileage and are more than willing to pass it on. it's a great car, and you should have alot of fun driving it!
Kate

KLC
2005 HCH CVT 'Verdigeek'

i agree, im in nebraska, i bought in february, I had 35 mile tanks for awhile and progressivley got up to low 40s over 7500 miles. then a day after doing some reading on this site, I had my tank average up to 51 and have been able to sustain it for a 650 mile tank. I agree that you and your car need to break in, and you will. just sponge up some of the info from around this site and I think you will be amazed.

...most likely a donkey, but if he had to drive a car, i bet it would be a hybrid.

I live in Austin, and bought my HCH in April. It had 4 miles on the ODO when I drove it off the lot. I've logged all my tanks for 'dopmobile' in the Compare section here, where you'll see my first tank at 45mpg. Soon thereafter I began achieving 50mpg+ tanks.

Even with the A/C on, I can manage 49-50 mpg, as long as I keep the Econ button on. At stoplights, switch the fan off of Auto and activate the recirculate button. When the light turns green, turn it back to Auto and deactivate the recirc button.

Recently, I changed my 5-mile commute from an all-highway route to an all-surface street route. It takes me twice as long, but despite the occasional red light, I've managed to raise my average to ~60mpg by driving very conservatively and using a method similar to the "pulse and glide" method popularized by the recent PriusII marathon.

From my experience, even with a brand-new HCH, you can achieve way better than the low 30's... you just have to modify your driving habits.

Driving habits of conventional cars have to be forgotten. They will only keep your MPG from hitting hopeful numbers. You have to retrain yourself to make the most of your HCH. There are posts on this forum in which you can find hints on improving your mileage and some that will bring you to hypermileage status.



Some simple pointers:

-The car is not a pocket rocket. You have to drive with a light foot and coast whenever possible (making sure that you coast without the IMA regenerating). Take off from complete stops with gentle acceleration (at least 5 bars on assist).

-FE is the key to great mileage. Try to keep the bar at least in the 40's if possible but 60 would be the sweet spot for best results.

-Tailgating traffic will kill your mileage (not to mention your brake pads). This took some patience on my part for fear of cars cutting in front of me when leaving a gap which always drove me crazy. Now I just shake my head and let it slide reminding myself that I'm saving gas and decreasing my chances of rear ending another car (which is a good thing).

-I live in a hilly area. Anticipate power needed to climb hills by attaining enough speed before you make the hill to use less demand on the engine rather than to just putt to the hill and climb it.

-A/C is a necessity at times but can be used wisely. A/C does put a drain on your mileage but it should only dip a few MPGS at best. I pulse the A/C button which means, with the vent ducts directly pointed to me, use the A/C till cold then toggle the button off with fan still running till the air becomes warm again. With re-circulate button on, the cool air will last for a bit for me.

-Try not to let the car idle in one place for very long. I start my car in the morning and while I let the car warm up I watch my MPG indicator go down (it starts to plummet very quickly when the car is idling at 1,300 RPMs when first started). I usually let the RPMs drop to 1,200 before I drive off taking it easy till the car warms up which will cost me about .4 MPG and a little more in the winter months.

There are ton more ways to maximize your mileage to be found. Experiment with them and find what works best for you.

The nice part is using this knowledge to get better MPGs on any car you drive.

Wait, you can coast without allowing IMA to recharge? Meaning it is solely the electric working during the coast and not the ICE? How, other than balling into neutral?

To coast in a Honda hybrid, you let the accelerator pedal almost all the way out, to the point just before regen kicks in. The ICE continues to be engaged and running, but you're sending practically no fuel to it. There is no way in the current Honda hybrids to run on electric only.

I never said electric only. I mean coasting with engine running and IMA not charging (no bars) with foot off the gas pedal.

ICE is always running unless you shut it down. The car can coast (no foot on the gas) without the IMA recharging. ICE shuts down cylinders when coasting to maximize regenerating IMA but it is possible to coast without charging. This happens for me when traveling between 25-40 MPH and I remove my foot off the gas slowly (I can't be going down a hill when doing this or it regenerates). Most times I have to give a quick pulse of gas to trip it to regenerate for me when I want to slow my speed (when I don't want to use the brakes). I think it relates to the way I drive my car.

I can't imagine why this never happened for you. Unless you remove your foot quickly every time, it should be able to coast.