Hello and a few observations - GreenHybrid

SuperC · #1 (**permalink**) 05-15-2005, 04:34 PM

Hey everyone, I am brand new to this board, but have been on several others for past vechicles. I bought my new Accord Hybrid on Friday and live about 200 miles from the dealer where I purchased it. I traded in a 5 month old Nissan Titan Crew Cab 4x4 with about 5500 miles, only because of it's 15-17 highway mpg. Otherwise, it was an excellent truck.

I was car shopping and hadn't even thought about a hybrid vehicle. I stopped at the Honda dealer wanting to look at a loaded up Accord. The salesman pointed out the hybrid and asked me if I'd ever considered one. At that point, it struck me as an excellent idea. I especially liked the appearance of the Accord and was really impressed by the test drive.

After taking delivery, I drove around town for a couple of hours putting on about 115 miles. Then I headed home. I was eager to see the mpg indicate some big numbers and show me what a great choice I'd made. Over the course of the 3 hour drive home, I never saw it climb above 31.9 and that was during extended hiway stretches. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and thought about taking it back to the dealer the next day.

In order to get my facts together first, I went to my gas station and decided to do a real mileage check before I claimed it wasn't delivering what I'd paid for. I was very surprised to find that despite what the indicator was saying, I'd actually averaged just over 32mpg for the total 315 miles. I didn't think that was bad at all for the combined city/hiway driving.

Yesterday I decided to go for a drive and see if I could learn a little more about what sort of driving conditions the car liked best and to see if I could get the numbers up on the mpg indicator. I drove about 80 miles of mostly highway driving and actually got the mpg indicator up to 38 by the end of the trip. I stopped and filled the tank again to see how it really figured out. Sure enough, I had used just slightly over 2 gallons.

So, the point of all of this is that I'm realizing the car will do what's advertised if you learn how to drive it and give it the opportunity to do so. Having a lead foot won't get big mpg numbers, although the performance of the car does make that a real temptation!

I'm looking forward to learning about the HAH here, and I'm already seeing threads on a real mirror that have me thinking about some baubles.

Thanks - a 400 mile newbie!

Jason · #2 (**permalink**) 05-15-2005, 04:47 PM

Welcome! Many people are concerned about their initial mileage; don't worry about it. Even 32 isn't bad. Remember, you got the V-6 Accord, not the Prius! Keep up the good work, and maybe you'll push yourself into the 40's.

ericbecky · #3 (**permalink**) 05-15-2005, 07:42 PM

Welcome SuperC,

Quote:

Having a lead foot won't get big mpg numbers, although the performance of the car does make that a real temptation!

Must ...resist....
I know what you mean. The Accord certainly has power. It's often hard to decide which "personality" to use when driving an Accord; The fuel concious or the power.

Good luck choosing and enjoy!

Delta Flyer · #4 (**permalink**) 05-15-2005, 09:01 PM

Welcome, but beware of the trap most writers fall into reporting hybrid performance - it takes awhile to learn the nuiances.

Over the first two months my fuel economy improved 15-20%. To me, the dashboard is like a video game, paying attention for any advantage to gain.

Even if you drive somewhat agressively, your mpg will improve.

Some techniques are just common sense, such as maintaining a constant cruising speed (except hills), looking ahead at traffic lights and vehicles ahead.

One Insight technique is from a standstill to almost cruising speed accelerate moderately hard. The idea is to make the electric assist do as much of the work as possible, limiting the amount of gas required to reach cruising speed. After some practice, you will know when to let off the accelerator and let the momentium carry you to your cruising speed.

When you reach cruising speed, the electric assist will disengage and if the speed and load is not too great, using three - not six cylinders.

Hope that helps.

SuperC · #5 (**permalink**) 05-16-2005, 08:33 PM

Delta Flyer, the tip about moderately hard acceleration makes sense. Or at least hard enough to engage the electric motor to assist. That's free power pretty much, and the sooner you can get to cruising speed, the less fuel you'll use. Thanks, I'll try it

This may require a re-learning of how to drive!