Hello all:
I just found the site today after seeing a report on CBS news last night in which the single person CBS interviewed stated that he's only getting 32MPG with his HCH and, since this didn't even come close to my own experience, I decided to do a little searching to see if this was common. Apparently it's not. I would guess that the reasons the man interviewed, Pete Blackshaw, is getting only 32MPG would have something to do with his driving habits and/or mechanical problems.
The reason I mention this news report is that I feel that by relying on the single interview of one disgruntled hybrid owner, as well as (what I consider to be) questionable data from Consumer Reports, CBS left the impression with millions of viewers that all HCHs only get 32MPG. Of course this isn't true and I would urge everyone to contact CBS News and ask them if they couldn't find even one person who was happy with their hybrid.
But enough of that already.
My name is Mark and I live in upstate NY. I purchased my HCH about 1.5 years ago and have about 40k miles on it. I haven't recorded my lifetime stats (I wish I would have found greenhybrid.com sooner), but my best guess would be that I have averaged about 51 MPG overall so far. The Honda has two trip meters and right now my TripA is showing 50.3 MPG over about 10k miles and TripB is showing 52.6 MPG over about 3700 miles. My best tank averaged 56.2 MPG and got me 630 miles. Even when I first got the car, in the dead of winter and before I learned how to drive it, I never averaged less than 45MPG per tank.
No doubt you all have seen most of the "tricks" already, but I will list what I do with the Honda to squeeze every mile I can out of each tankful:
1. A no-brainer really, slow down. Keep you foot out of it.
2. Get up to speed quickly, then feather the gas. I have the manual shift, and Honda uses indicators to tell you when to shift. I have found it's best to follow these indicators. Basically they want you in the highest gear as quickly as possible. That keeps the RPMs down.
3. Use the brakes as little as possible. When coming up to a light, or getting off the highway, let the engine/motor do most of the braking. This was the hardest habit for me to learn as I used to push the clutch in and hit the brakes when stopping or slowing.
4. Use the auto-stop function of the engine as much as possible. In the summer/winter, I turn off the AC/heat when coming to a stop, then turn it back on again after the engine starts back up. This is especially helpful at long lights and drive-thrus.
5. Try different brands of gas. For whatever reason, my HCH seems to love Hess.
6. I haven't proven this to myself yet, but my Civic seems to get lower mileage when I top off the tank. Has anybody else experienced this?
7. Use the stock tires. I have talked to a couple of people who saw their mileage drop drastically after putting on snow tires. If you live in an area where you need snow tires, take them off in the Spring.
8. Number 8 because this applys to all car owners, not just hybrid owners, get your car serviced regularly. Oil, oil filter, air filter and tire pressure.
So theses are the tricks I use on my Honda. Most of them would also apply to the Prius I would guess, except for the auto-stop feature which i guess is a little different in the Toyota.
So greetings again from upstate NY. I look forward to checking out the site.
Mark Cohen
Duanesburg, NY
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1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT
