How do you keep track of lifetime MPG. I think the insights do it automaticaly. Is there a way to do it on the civic? Do you just have to use trip B?

My hydroponics experiment

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As far as I know, you can either use a trip counter or simply keep a record somewhere. Most of our members use the real hybrid mileage database at http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage

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I have Trip B as lifetime right now, but I heard a NASTY RUMOR that the Trip B resets itself at the 10,000 mile mark.

Is that confirmed, anyone with HCH? Trip B rolls over at 10K?

I have not heard of this before.

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

Well, my Trip B is at about 9,670 miles, and next Wednesday I leave on a 2,500 mile Christmas trip, so I will know for sure soon enough !!!

Trip B does not really reset itself. What it will do is wrap around back to zero (as far as the distance traveled), but the mpg will still remain, and the actual amount of mileage will be 10K + whatever the Trip B says.

In a nutshell, it still calculates the mpg based on the 10K+ mileage, but it only shows up to 10,000, then goes back to zero.

The mileage in the trip OD is simply wrong. for two reasons:

1) The odometer in the car is inaccurate. The odometer states that you've drive further than you actually have (I calibrated mine on a long highway stretch, and saw approximately 3% optimistic error). This was with the tires at 42 PSI (cold). This is the case with almost every vehicle on the road. My Honda motorcycle was off by over 5% - not to mention the speedo off by 8%!

2) The MPG value is also inaccurate. I've recorded a log of the actual fuel I've consumed (assuming that the fuel pumps are accurate!) over 5 fill-ups in a row and have calculated MPG worse than indicated every single time. (sorry I don't have the percentage inaccuracy for this at hand)

Since both numbers will compound the "fuel efficiency" to be overly optimistic, I'd only report "trip FE numbers" as a very rough estimate and use them as a guage of how you can improve your own econony from tank to tank.

I'm logging all my data in a notebook now, but will eventually get around to posting it, and thus be able to calculate "true MPG".

As long as I keep recording these data, I should get to the point where I'll have a "true corrected lifetime" figure.

BTW, on my 80 mile (this is round trip distance) commute I got an indicated 59.0 with a MT and temperatures above freezing.

I recored my lifetime MPG on all my cars, along with service expenses, with a little application that I downloaded years ago now that resides on my Palm. It is called Automobile, or something like that, and it does a very nice job of tracking MPG and also reminds you of regular maintenance based on the mileage log that records with each fill-up. You are in total control of maintenance reminders and distance or date between reminders, plus you can record the costs associated with maintenance. It shows current economy, lifetime average economy, average miles driven per year, actual miles per year and a number of other statistics.

I'm sure it wouldn't meet everyone's needs, but it does seem to be as accurate as the database here at Green Hybrid. It is a very useful tool and I highly recommend it.

When you sync to your computer the application will backup its database, however my version is old and I don't believe there is any interlink to any kind of computer application.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)

JeromeP,
I've tried about a half dozen of those auto programs.

I have a Tungsten E and use 2 automotive programs:
Auto buddy http://www.freewarepalm.com/travel/autobuddy.shtml
and
"How long" http://www.rodrigosoftware.tk
Input how many miles to go and your speed and know when you arrive.

Both are freeware.

Sometime if you could post the actual name of your program I'd sure like to try it.

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

I'm using AutoMobil 1.6 dated 25-Oct-1999
http://www.linkesoft.com/ is the address that is on the about box. I have no idea if they are still in business or not. It was shareware.

Ok, I still use my Palm IIIx, but it suits my needs. Anyway, I've been logging one of my cars since then, so I have a really large internal database from that time forward. Lifetime average is really stable with that car. I've started the Prius from 2 miles out of the dealer. So I should have very accurate lifetime data as time progresse. It will suck if I ever have to move over to another product.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)