My dad has a Prius and said there was a break-in period on his car before he started getting really good milage. I'm a weak and a half into my new civic hybrid and I'm getting like 35-37 MPG driving in Chicago. I'm guessing this is partially because of air conditioning, but is there a break-in period on this car too before you get really good milage?

The consensus appears to be somewhere after the first 3500 miles. We hit that a few days ago and did not really see major improvement but it also coincided with the heat wave in SO CAL and much more A/C use.

Take care,

2006 Taffeta HCHII with Navi

I really noticed mine at around 5000 miles.

And then what did it go up to and what kind of area do you live in (urban, suburban, country)?

I saw mine around 3500 miles as well - most of tanks up to that point was around 42. When I was around 3500 I got around 45 for a couple of tanks. Now I'm around 53. Still driving the same - I tried going no AC (windows and fan) but did not see any noticeable affect on my mileage for the last 2 tanks. I'll try 2 (I go through a tank every 4 days - about 600-650 miles/tank) more before I go back to Auto (usually set at 69 or 70).

And do you drive mostly city or highway?

Hi Alex,

I bought my HCH-II on the 16th. The first day and a half, I was only getting something like 40-42 mpg, but that was before learning about and using any of the special hypermiling techniques.

After reading Tarabell's article on CleanMPG.com and using all the new techniques I didn't know about, topping off my tank, and resetting my Trip A, I've been able to get my MPG way up. Pulling into my parking garage at work today, I had something like 600 mi on the car, and for the past 230 or so since the reset, it's reading 51.8.

Most of my commute is highway, and I've actually noticed I do better on the highway, than on the back roads. Both highway and backroads around here are VERY hilly. My whole ride to and from work is nothing but up/down hill (very large hills), where I have to unfortunatley push my tach up to 2,500 - 3,000 to keep my speed above 50 when I near the top of some of them (starting off doing 65).

Although there is some city driving I could do in my area, I haven't had the need to test it out, so I don't know if my practice of the techniques would be as good off the highway.

Hope that helps you out some.

- Mo

I live in cement heaven - Los Angeles.

Mine went from about 43 to 50.

I also read the tarbell article. It has made a big difference in the last month.

I hope to be at around 51 mpg by end of summer.