Im waiting for my New Civic delivery within the next 3 weeks, I do not know anyone with this car. Im trying to find someone that drives the car as if was not a Hybrid and drives combined freeway and stop and go as I live in S. Calif. Looking for realistic gas mileage estimates not staying at 55mph because this is just not realistic for me. I generally drive between 75-80 miles per hour and Im wondering if the mileage will just be like a normal small car 35-38 mpg? Looking for Realistic estimates without trying to squeeze every ounce of gas out of it.

Iam waiting for my new Civic and still wondering what mileage I will get they was I drive in S. Calif. I drive 80 miles a day, most of it at 75-80 miles per hour and would like to know what I should expect? Iam wodering if the mileage really suffers when you dont baby the car and drive it like a regular car? I do not know anyone with this car for advise as this is why I joined this Board....Thanks

At that speed I'm going to guess that you will get around 40mpg.

talk to Cgameprogrammer. He has many miles and a lot of good observations for the style you are talking about.

You'll do better than a 'normal' small car, but the difference will be smaller than if you drove gently. Its still a net gain, so congrats, and welcome!

note: I merged the 2 threads that were in 'general' because of same OP and same topic.

Does the Civic suffer the warm-up penalty, like the Prius? If not, he might squeak out a few more, because it's consistently warm in SoCal. If yes, 40 seems about right. At those speeds, the car's not going to do much better.

Patrick, keep in mind, the EPA tests for highway efficiency never exceed 60MPH. It's not a real-world test, so you can't expect to get that kind of mileage, in the real world. Check the mileage database for other drivers in SoCal.

Engines often run at roughly 200 degrees Farenheit. California may be warm, but it's not that warm. Thus, a cold start is still a mileage hit since the engine and oil are only at 70 degrees initially. Actually the HCH suffers more from a cold start than a Prius because it will not auto-stop until the engine is at operating temperature (and sometimes not even then).

Anyway I live in San Diego and you can see my lifetime mileage over 12400 miles in the 2006 Civic Hybrid I just sold. Note that while I do drive 80 miles per hour on the highway, I still try to drive somewhat gently, including coasting where I can, cruising at a fixed speed instead of varying my speed often, etc. Anyway tanks that were largely composed of highway driving net me around 42 mpg (like if I drive to LA and back), but my overall mileage is worse because non-highway driving (or stop-and-go driving) result in worse mileage.

Driving on I-8 from San Diego to El Centro and back results in 40-41 mpg. I mention that because it's a large uphill climb (to 4200 ft I think) each way. The car gets 30-31 mpg on the uphill segment but that goes up to 40-41 by the time it reaches the bottom again.

A Prius is more efficient in addition to being faster, but I personally don't like them for other reasons.

My experience has been similar to CGameProgrammer. I live in SD, drive 25 miles between home and work, half in stop and go traffic and half at freeway speeds.

The first year or so of my driving my HCH around town I averaged 42.7. That was going about 72 miles per hour when I could, and before I got to use the carpool lanes, so lots more stop and go. And more driving "realistically" without squeezing every ounce of gas out of it.

(I now usually drive no faster than 70, mostly 68 miles per hour and get to skip some traffic by using the carpool lanes... I've bumped my mpg to 46 in recent months.)

Good luck!
--A

I tried to get straight answers on this too as my mileage was far short of EPA estimates. If EPA city is 49 then you'd think that it should be in that neighborhood.(without getting into the whole how the EPA figures mileage debate) Based on the gauge I'd say I get about 36 or so. Lately I reset the A trip meter and now getting around 40 but it takes some work. That's mostly around town kinda stuff. I can't even imagine how you could average what the EPA says without being fanatical about it. Those people that claim really high mileage, I'd like to see proof of it. Digital pic or whatever of the gauges. Hey, I'd just like to see it with my own eyes.

Flat hwy at between 45-65mph commuting 40 miles Hwy 101 bay area, more go than stop, I get 44-48mpg. On return home on rolling hills on Hwy 280, same speeds, I get 40-42mpg. On streets during weekends, normal driving, I get 38-40mpg. At speeds above 75mph, I'll only get 40mpg (huge difference) and have gotten under 33mpg by going 90mph. My driving style is normal to light footed on my HCH, not like some of the Hybrid idiots that drive 15mph in 35 zone and 55mph in 65 zone. Those slow morons are really hurting the environment because all the other drivers waste a huge amount of gas getting around. But they do get 60mpg or whatever. In my V8 400hp other car, my mileage only fluxates between 20.5 and 21.0 mpg if going from 65mph to 90mph so huge difference in HCH if going faster or rolling hills.

SrfCity, there are some good FCD pics in the GH share section:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/category6.html

My own record to date last summer:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/files/2/0/2/840.jpg

Today I parked at work with 66.9MPG. Too bad I forgot my cellphone with its camera, it was my record for the year over that 47 mile segment.

Here my tank filled up May 23 (A few days ago):
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/504/840.jpg
I've driven 248 miles on this current tank, FCD says 66 point something for the tank and the fuel gauge is still full.

FYI my wife thinks nothing of driving for FE, although she's seen what I'm doing and simply has slowed down (Hardly fanatical) and gets low 50's.

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