Yeah. Sorry about that. Darn reading comprehension. I get hit by those It's all the time. I had Highlander on the brain.

So something positive about gas mileage.... just done my first tank (14.14 gal) on my new 4wd HiHy and got 32.5Mpg.

This is better than the 4wd FEH i just traded (did 30mpg at the same time last year).

I guess it's been said already hybrid fuel economy is so affected by 2 major things, your driving style and the temperature.

I drive the HiHy in the same way as i did my FEH (Which i had for 18 months) and the Hihy's Battery capacity (Much Much greater) and that it will shut off the gas engine at a much higher speed when coasting seems to be the difference.

Dave

hi dave
congrats on kicking the FEH on the mpg. We drive our hihy generally 1 or 2 miles to the store. I took it on the highway once, just to help break in the engine. We have 150 miles on the car after a month, 68 being that highway trip.

on the highway, it averaged around 25 or 26 mpg. I was able to get it up to about 65mpg then coast for a spell without the engine, but it would keep trying to kick back on.

other than that, we decided the mpg we are losing in the city due to short trips is well worth the enormous savings on gas and miles on the vehicle by not driving it. We have a jeep grand cherokee limited that can get 20mpg on the highway so we use that for long trips.

overall , we are getting 22.5 mpg on the hybrid ,but after a month of owning it, it has almost a full tank still . I really cant wait until we can get the conversion kits for the optional plug in . Then our tank of gas will probably go bad before we use it all!!!!!

lol

A properly driven FEH will get 42 MPG highway ( 1 passenger, no luggage ) and about 54 MPG in city-like conditions ( no A/C ). The HiHy does have more electric horsepower, but more battery power? Not sure on that one. You have to look at watt hours.

The Ford Escape Hybrid battery has 330v x 6 Amp-hours, or 1980 watt-hours.

What does the HiHy have????

gpsman1,
The figures you give for the FEH are really hyper miler or 'Offical numbers'. As shown by the database on this site most will never acheive them (and if they do they won't over more that maybe one tank or part tank). I was getting the average that the database says (28mpg) overall with 18 months of FEH (4WD) Driving which is still very impressive. (and 30Mpg in the same week last year for a tank)

Please don't use language like 'properly driven' it's flame bait and doesn't gain anything.

My point was over the identical journies for a whole tank ( somewhere between city and highway) same weather for both cars the MPG was higher, there are other factors for me too (I live at 3600 feet) that will reduce it as a number to others. But it isn't the absolute numbers that matter but the valid comparision.

The Hihy is a much bigger (and heavier) car and is giving at least the same or better MPG, in the identical conditions so something must be different about the HiHy that perhaps suits my regular journey better.

So as a real comparision between vehicles (in the same driving conditions) i think this is a good thing to share. For others the FEH may well be better in their conditions.

Don't get me wrong I am not trashing the FEH after all i owned one for 18 months, it is a good vehicle that i am recomending to others, but now i can own a HiHy and want to share the Hybrid differences.

My comment about battery capacity is again based on real driving in the same stop go stretch on my commute the FEH would run out of Energy and had to start ICE part way in. The HiHy didn't and seemed to only lose 2 bars on the energy meter over the whole stretch.

The Coasting again over the same journey the FEH wouldn't shut down the ICE untill i was less than 37Mph the hyhi would shutdown at 49.7Mph



Dave

The HiHy is 288v at 6.5Ah which is 1872Wh - but that's neither here nor there in comparison to the FEH. I've driven my HiHy at nearly 50mph with the ICE shut down (on level road and already up to speed). The HiHy is bigger, more capacity, and can tow 3500# - which helps on the farm. The acceleration, when needed, is great - as well as showing off those Expeditions (use to own one) who glance down their nose at you at the lights - and you leave them behind, while they try to catch up burning at a rate of less than 10mpg.....

seadog


LOL -i like your post. Good mileage so far on the hihy......i do almost all city and still im at 22.7 . Cant drive far enough to warm the sucker up.

i have however-when nobody is looking -opened her up and blown past all kinds of so called 'monster trucks' .......all at 20 plus mpg real world . Im LOVIN IT..........

update.



I am actually learning to drive the highlander due to my wife. I was busy trying to stay in EV all the time. My mileage readings were in the low 20s. My wife got in and drove the thing the way she has always driven , and IGNORED the readout. I didnt ignore it from the passenger seat however, and was AGHAST at what i was seeing.



she was averaging 31mpg even though the trip was 6miles round trip. It seems to be the best when the EV works in tandem with the ICE, with the battery constantly recharging!!!!!

I knew i married her for more than her looks.........

Just took a pic with my phone cam, getting 27.9 MPG Average on 303 miles,.... not bad.

Disappointment may arise from driving a hybrid the way everyone drives regular cars, revelling in the acceleration that is boosted by the hybrid system over and above the standard version, and braking to a stop just before hitting the last car at a light. Car dealerships with the exception of the Prius sell the customers with those tales of how much better hybrid versions accelerate, and when you consider the inertia involved, means the same old huge gas consumption.
You have to change the way you drive and drive for a substantial period of time every time you drive, or you will be disappointed.

2007 Prius, 4.0 liters per hundred K