Well friends, here's my long story.
I didn't keep very accurate records of the drive home from the dealer; I wish I had.
Turns out my MPG gauge is erratic like others have described.
I had not read the “90-MPG” thread so I didn't know about what I am positive is a bug that Honda must fix.
I bought it in Bishop California, which is at an elevation of 4100 feet.
I live at sea level, about 350 miles away.
The net elevation drop helped MPG.
BUT. .
For the record I've owned a 2004 HCH CVT since April 2004 and have averaged 60.1 MPG over almost 23,000 miles.
So, while the 06 HCH2 is different and will take some getting used to, I am familiar with how to get super mileage.
It was a strange drive (hypermilingwise).
I couldn't use cruise control since I was breaking in a new car.
Some parts of the highway was one-lane each way and full of trucks and SUVs that probably carried guns.
So I really had to drive around 70 miles per hour during parts.
There were many long uphill grades, at times steep.
I tried to plan the route to avoid these but some were really bad and on one uphill climb I actually backtracked and drove way out of my way to a major interstate (15) which I knew would have more than 3-lanes in each direction and a more gentle grade.
Some of the up or down grades were very gentle and long and you couldn't detect them by sight or feel, only by MPG.
The dang MPG meter jumped around so much (and I had not read too much about the problem) so I thought it was the grades and speeds that I had to drive.
Still it the numbers I saw had me confounded.
Early in the drive home I was sort of disappointed with my MPG of around 50.
Then I went down a long grade and it upped to around 66 and stayed there for a long time.
Down another grade I was MPG in the 80s for a while.
Then later after a long upgrade it was at 39 (with over 250 miles on it).
This made no sense to me.
I had so many miles on it that it couldn't jump THAT much.
Then after the El Cajon pass there was a long decent that I took slow in the right lane.
At the end of that downhill period I was at 73 or so.
Anyway when I got home the MPG for the 350 mile trip was about 69.
Keep in mind there was a net 4100 feet decent.
Honestly by the end of the trip I decided to ignore the MPG numbers.
They were BS.
It seemed that instead of averaging all the miles since zeroing the meter it gave more weight to recent miles.
Till Honda issues a fix the only thing we can trust is our calculator at the gas pump.
Also, I couldn't find a air pump at a gas station that worked till I got 200 miles into the drive.
Since the tires were hot I couldn't get an accurate reading and just put a few extra PSI in.
BTW Keith McCue at Perry Motors in Bishop California can sell you one for almost $1000 under MSRP.
Tell Keith that Kenny sent you; I don't get anything but goodwill.
Keith was very cool, didn't try to sell me lots of extra stuff.
And he delivered exactly what and when he said he would.
A real straight shooter.
They sell the Toyota too.
It was funny to see HCH and Prius on the same lot.
Nice for people who want to compare them.
Keith's email is
keith@perrymotorsinc.com
www.perrymotorsinc.com
Now that I'm back in town and about to start my first regular commute I am looking forward to seeing what this baby can do.
I got silver with no NAV.
Orgasm on Wheels!
