I will be getting my 06 HCHII next week and had a question regarding mpg with stop & go driving. I am an outside sales rep in northern california (I live in the Eureka area). I daily have a 1/2-3hr highway commute (all types of terrain, flat, hills etc.) to whatever city I am seeing customers in for that day. Once I arrive in the area I'm working, I will have between 15-20 stops. They are anywhere form 1/4 mile to 1 mile between each other. I am in each customer from 10 minutes up to 1 hour. I know this is the worst type of driving you can do and expect to get any kind of decent mileage. I was wondering if anybody is doing anything remotely resembling this torture test? I am presently driving an 05 Acura TL automatic and avg 23mpg. Also wondering how the starter in the civic will stand up to being started 20 times or more per day, 5 days a week . Thank you for any responses.

i don't drive anything like this but i can tell you that: 1) if your acura is getting 23mpg, then the hch will get at least 35mpg and possible higher. 2)the hch doesn't have a starter so there shouldn't be any problem. hch uses the electric motor to instantaneously turn the i.c.e. up to 1000rpm. it is virtually silent. the car is designed for many many starts and stops since it has auto-stop built in.

Actually, there is a starter in the 06 HCH II - it was covered in a few posts in the HCH forum. Apparently its used by exception than the norm. Don't really remember the circumstances, but if I recall correctly, some owners have heard it start up the car in the winter. Other than that, the IMA motor starts it up.

I do agree that the start and stop frequency is not an issue as some people who drive in heavy traffic will experience even greater start and stop frequency.

With respect to the MPG question, I've actually found that the local driving portion (I'm defining local as single lane roads - one each way - that has a speed limit 50 miles per hour or less, typically in the 25 - 40 miles per hour range) of my daily 160 mile (round trip) commute improves my overally mpg. The local driving portion accounts for about 25% of my trip. The rest are on the highways (which I define as a multi-lane road, 2 or more lanes each way, with a posted speed limit 55 miles per hour or more, typically 65).

On the local roads, I am typically travelling at to no more than 10% above the speed limit - not by choice, just due to typical traffic conditions. On the highway, I cruise between 75 and 80, with occassions to pass "slower traffic" so I accelerate up to 90+

You can see my overally mpg in my sig, but I thinks it slightly skewed by my last tank (it was a full serve station - where I normally top off to make sure I get 500 miles/tank)

Also, it seems to me that the local driving (15-20 stops, short distance) is somewhat offset in that your car is already warmed up from the drive to whatever city you are in. The classic guidance that short trips kill the mpg is mainly due to the warm-up. Sure, the 1 hr stops will allow the car to cool down but if most of the stops are in the 10-20 minute range, the car will still mostly be warm for the next segment.