Attention Hypermile CVT owners:

I'm going to be assisting an HCH CVT owner here in Phoenix next week in a test to see if her car is achieving proper MPG or if it has a problem with the IMA system. She's only seeing upper 30s and is wondering if it is "just her" or if her car might have a problem.

Myself being the owner of a "manual tranny" HCH, I'm here today asking for some tips on achieving lean burn at certain speeds in a CVT so that I can maximize the MPG during the troubleshooting drive.

Any tips on what speeds between 34 and 58 are good "cruise set points" to achieve max lean burn MPG? Or any good tips at all for CVT drivers? I can manipulate the MPG pretty well in my MT, but the CVT will be a new ballgame for me, and I want to go in well-prepared.

Thanks All !!!

 

If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say it's just due to A/C use, really. I mean, I can get anywhere from 35mpg on a bad drive home from work with the A/C blasting to 45mpg or even twice now I've gotten over 50mpg with no A/C use and optimal driving conditions. This is of course with my own Civic HX, Honda's other lean-burn Civic. Maybe we should have a Phoenix meet some time to share techniques and such? Also I'd love to hook up my ScanGauge to a Civic Hybrid and compare a few things from the hybrid to my non-hybrid Civic.

 

We live in North Phoenix and our 2005 HCH is consistently getting 44-46 MPG during the summer (over 50 MPG in the winter). That is with the A/C on between 72 and 74 degrees and the ECON button OFF. We drive mostly city but some highway at between 55 and 65 MPH.

Personally, I think it all comes down to driving habits and how quick you are off the line. If you keep below 2000 RPMs, even from a stand still, you should get the mileage you need. You cannot drive this like you would any other car to get the high mileage.

There are a lot of tips from these high mileage guys on this board.

 

As it's been mentioned before, make sure she puts it in "D" and not "S". Since I got my Insight my wife has been driving the HCH and she has a problem of putting it in "S", she just won't fess up to it but it's the logical explaination with the exception she waits about a week to pull into traffic waiting for an opening while I'll pull into traffic and accelerate briskly. The speed limit is 55 but EVERYONE seems to do 70+.

That's a thought though. My optimum speed has been 49-50 mph, that seemed to be the sweet spot for my car driving in my area late at night without A/C on and no traffic.

 

Thanks AL - that's the sort of real CVT driver tip I was looking for - 49 to 50 is your sweet spot. I will definitely try that, and make sure she is using "D" and not "S" for sure.

 

You know I've been following that thread as well.
I haven't driven a MT for at least 15 years myself so I know what you mean.

I haven't noticed any specific "Set points" to get effective lean burn in a CVT, it's good through the entire ~30-65MPH range.
60-65MPH on level windless road is good for around 60MPG to maintain speed while 30MPH is good in the +100MPG range.

One minor note to mention is that the CVT will find the proper ratio for max efficiency for a given input. (Gas pedal position).
I've found that if I continuously change that input during accelleration or pulling hills tends to confuse the controller in what I want.
Typically I'll judge how much feed is neccessary for the task and hold it there until its finished.
If I need to make adjustments along the way they will be very slight, then I wait a few seconds and see how the car reacts.

If I need to accellerate at a good pace it is usually done with minimum Assist locked in at 36-40MPG. Nursing the feed in the 15-30MPH range can be pretty intense, as the ratio and load is continuously changing.
If the MPG goes above 40 then 95% of the time Assist will drop out.
If I still want assist I'll give the feed a slight but quick jolt to kick it back in.
Make sense? I guess your MT is the same way?

If it were me, I'd explain to her that you've not driven a CVT before. I'm sure she appreciates the help.
Don't worry, the CVT is easy to get used to and I'm sure you'll do fine.

 

Thanks HotG - more good tips. I'm writing these down, and will give a full report of the test drive on this thread next week.....

 

The number one culprit of bad mpg is improper usage of the throttle. Honda screwed up on this one for the CVT version. If the throttle is drive by wire then they could have created a mode that gave optimal fuel efficiency regardless of how hard the user is pressing the throttle. Instead, they didn't and you have to "feather" the throttle.

What you want to do is minimize the number of bars dropped in the active mpg screen. That screen can tell you if you are feathering the throttle or not. If you see the bars go down smoothly... you are doing a great job. If you see the bars drop suddenly... bad job.

 

The absolute lowest mpg I have gotten in my HCH (CVT) is 42mpg, that was achived by averaging 87.5mph for 4 hours (distance 350 miles). This included stopping for 3 tolls, and a 10 min pit stop. How you can get less than 40 mpg in this car is beyond me.

 

The CVT will automatically figure out optimum engine configuration based on you current speed and the position of the gas petal. I have not observed any "sweet spots" with respect to speed, engine RPM, etc. The car does a lot of that. I manage my daily drive by watching the real-time MPG display. I think there are "sweet spots" relative to that guage.

When I accellerate, I try to keep the real-time bar no less than 20 mpg until I reach the desired speed (usually it takes a "20" to accellerate and keep up with traffic). If I'm by myself, sometimes I can get up to speed holding at 40. Under most conditions, I try to get up to the desired speed in short order (i.e. the pulse in a pulse-and-glide) without being overly-aggressive.

At speed, I dial-in the gas petal to hold speed. This is what I've observed:

20-30 MPH is actually more difficult to cruise at. It takes 40-60 on the real time display to maintain speed on flat, level ground.

30-40 I can hold speed on the 80 MPG mark.

40-50 I can hold between 80 and 100.

50-60 I can hold closer to 60.

60+ is more difficult - takes 40-60 to hold.

Now that I've laid all that out, I cruise most efficiently between 35 and 55 MPH. Does that get at what you were looking for?