While attempting to merge two cross-posted threads I accidentally deleted them! (Whoops!) I still have their posts cached, though, so here they are. Sorry about the problems.

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THe Bug:

At multiples of 63 miles the trip meters zero themselves - sort of.
(It just starts averaging from a new point, but the miles-driven-since- zeroing-trip meter read-out does not actually go to zero.)

Hypothetical example:
So, lets say you are doing great for the first 62 miles and get 55 MPG.
Then you park the car for the night, with 62 miles on the Trip meter.
The next morning (cold) you get into the car and drive off.
At first you MPG reads 55 MPG at 62 miles.
About a mile later it plumets to 20 or so.

What happened is it "zeroed" at 63 miles, so it is averaging since mile 63 not since mile zero.
It is reported to do this at multiples of 63 too, 126, 189 etc.
This is my unerstanding of what I have read.

Here is what I have seen in MY car so far:
Since learning of the problem I zeroed Trip meter A yesterday.
This morning in the middle of my commute I hit the 63 mile mark.
(My MPG was 57 MPG at 62 miles.)
At 63 miles my MPG jumped up to 60 - which makes sense considering the bug since I was going 50 MPH with a warmed up engine on a flat road.
Then the MPG jumped up and down a lot with every slight incline. (Much moreso than it would have if it was really averaging together 66 or so miles.)

When I got to work 10 miles later my TRIP A MPG meter read 67 MPG - Certainly too good to be true (unless I had zeroed the trip meter after the engine was warmed up on the freeway). (Which is exactly what the faulty gauge is doing - except it does not actually zero the "miles driven" portion - it just begins averaging from a new starting point.

This is hard to describe, and I am not 100% sure I even understand it yet.
Make sense?

Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.

Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.

jsal,

The break in period will have a lot to do with the tires initially. I just replaced mine and noticed a profound "tugging" for the first 500, even 1000 miles. After 1K, they seem to be rolling nicely.

Short answer is if the 06 follows the same pattern as the HCH I, expect a lower inital MPG that will increase over time as the tires/car break in (and your driving style becomes more refined).

I noticed unexplained jumps in MPG at around 1K, 3K and 10K, that could be attributed to break in. Several other owners I know had the same thing happen. Remember that environment will play a huge role in your initial MPG. If it's cold out, or raining, or snowing, etc. you'll be low just because of that, regardless of the car. You'll get a true measure at around 3K miles in some good (70-80 degree) dry weather. I guess I'm saying don't read too much into your MPG for a bit. Takes time for the car and your driving style to all adjust.

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

When you said 'dry' weather I know you were talking about rain ... but it made me think about humidity ... does this factor in at all with MPG, or is it one enviromental que that makes no difference?

I noticed an improvement in MPG around 5 months with 05' at 3500 miles. While not altering my driving habits or commute about a 10% increase in MPG. I believe it's due a break-in finishing, whether or not there are multiple ones who knows? Notice my mileage chart.

I'm confused. Your mileage log only has 4 entries covering 2 months and 1,700 miles?

I didn't start keeping track of mileage the first 2000 of driving but was averaging around 35 mpg before offically keeping record.

Got it. I was confused because the GHDB says "This member began contributing at 0 mi and has driven 1,700 mi over 4 tanks since". I guess it always says that when you create a new log, even if you didn't start at zero. You can use the 'continue from X miles' option, but if you do that you also have to specify starting MPG, which doesn't make sense to me (what if you bought the car used and you have no idea what the lifetime MPG was?).

I guess when I started I though about putting my current mileage but thought it easier to just start from scratch or zero. Sorry for the mixup.

I initialy didnt' have my starting milage but then one tank I accidently reset trip a which I was using for my tank mileage so I didn't know how far I went on that tank and had to hand calculate all my trips to total up my mileage (yeah I know I'm obsessed). Now that I entered it I know exactly what my odometer was the last time I entered a tank.

My hydroponics experiment

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