for us newbies, can you please explain how that works?


thanks

Best fill 66.7 MPG, best tank 801.5 miles



laurie, central minnesota

I'm getting much better mileage than when the car was new 2 months ago. Maybe some of it was "break in" effects in the systems, but another big part is that the cooler temperatures have us running the AC a lot less.

I find that I have to watch 2 things, big time:
- Make sure the AC, the "defrost", and the "auto" climate settings are not engaged. The AC causes about a 10% mileage hit, so I use it sparingly (the way cars work: the AC runs and then the heater is used to warm it back up to where you like the temperature setting dial).
- "Second" gear is a waay too easy shift vs. "D" with the CVT transmission (because that's where the shift lever hits the "stop" when you pull it back). This is both lousy for mileage and probably hard on the tranny too. I have found myself a mile down the street, and even once already on the freeway, while still in second.

Yesterday I meant something completely different than the good old days, when I told somebody "I got up to 60 on the way home from the gas station."

(I'm getting 46-47mpg these days, but I haven't figured out how the "signature" feature works)

I can help you with the signature:

o - Go to http://www.greenhybrid.com and go into the mileage database.
o - select view my cars
o - copy the text link below the sample graphic at the end.
o - paste the text link (from above) into your signature.

The text automatically transforms into your signature when you post.

Thanks for the signature help!

Other mileage facts I've collected:

Approximate highway mileage:
80mph: 36 (AC on)
70mph: 41 (AC off)

The odometer reads 1.5% low, meaning I'm driving 1.5% further than the car knows about. Not a big deal, and probably very common in cars, but it also means:

- I'm figuring gas mileage 1.5% too low.
- My speedometer reads 1.5% too low (don't cut it too close for the speed traps).

(I figured all this out on a trip to South Carolina, where I-95 is flat with a high speed limit for 100+ miles)

Sure. When you press the accelerator from a stop, look at the "charge/assist" indicator. As you are aware you will see blue bars when IMA is engaging.

What you want to do for "good" mpg while still driving at a reasonable pace is ensure that it is about at the halfway mark.

Keep this level engaged until you reach your target speed (say, 30 miles per hour on a city street or 65mpg on a highway). Then, you must immediately ease up on the pedal.

If you watch the instant mpg display you should see it go way up as you ease up on the pedal.

Now, with your foot just barely pushing down on the accelerator, keep pressed down just enough so you don't slow down. You know you are doing well when the instant mpg display stays at about the same level.

If it goes down a lot you are pushing too hard on the pedal.

Now, all of this advice was for flat terrain. For hills, it gets a bit more complex.

Basically, as you approach an uphill stretch let your car slow down a bit. It's ok since other cars around you will also be slowing down. Make sure that the instant mpg is at least 40 when you are going up. Only a very steep hill will be any less than that. As you reach the top let up a bit on the pedal.

Now ride the hill down. A bit before you reach the very bottom, apply the accelerator. This gives you a boost of speed to make it on the next hill. (If there is no hill coming ignore this). Basically you want to slow down a little uphill and gain speed downhill. That's why cruise control does not give the best mpg in hilly terrain.

Cruise control is great for flat terrain though. I'm looking forward to a cross country drive someday to test it out on some long, flat stretches.

great, thanks! i was using the assist, but not long enough.

i am kind of frustrated this morning, since i was watching my FE display 60.9, and since i needed coffee, i filled the car at the same time. my manual calculation came out to 55 something. how can it be so far off?

Best fill 66.7 MPG, best tank 801.5 miles



laurie, central minnesota

Ive had tanks as much as 5.5 and 5.8 MPG off, but my average over 16 months show only 1 MPG difference between FCD and my manual calculations. Being off more than 5 MPG happens on rare occasion, just the combination of things, hard to exactly pinpoint the problem, since no one really knows how the computer does it's calculations drive to drive.

Don't expect it to be that far off all the time. If it does THAT, then your car might have a problem.

It is really easy to get an extra 1/2 gal or more into your tank if the car is not sitting level at the pump. Or it will click off when you're 1/2 gal or more short of a "full tank". That's why it's risky to talk about your mileage on the basis of only one tank. I have calculated tank averages that are at least 5 mpg higher or lower than indicated by Trip B (which I reset when filling the tank), but my long term average (40000+ mi) is very consistent - Trip B reads 3.2 mpg higher than my calculated values. I believe the trip computer is pretty reliable, but it just may not have the absolute accuracy which we would all like, and I'm pretty sure it's accuracy depends on Civic model ie '03 vs '05.

Sorry this isn't on topic, but it's been on my mind for quite a while.

Dave

I know this has been brought up in other threads but I haven't seen it in this one yet...

Bear in mind many back-to-bank tanks will show individual skews due to overfill/underfill. For example, if you check my last 2 tanks, they were hand-calced at 58.1 and 49.8 MPG. It wasn't intentional, I just always cut off at first click. Pretty big difference, but the display read 56.3 and 53.3 for them, which was a whole lot closer. If you took the average of the displays, it comes out right about to the average of the manuals, only generally speaking, hand-calcing is a more accurate method. Since your second-to-last tank was such a stud, maybe it left you filling a bit more on this one when you took it in, even if the comp hadn't detected the lighter fuel load that whole trip.