Hello everyone. I am new to this forum. I just bought an 08' HCHII about 10 days ago. The salesman just called me to follow up on the purchase. I told him I really liked the car, but I was surprised that I was only getting 33mpg overall so far. His response was that there is a break in period of 3-4,000 miles (I don't remember the exact figure) where you do not get the advertised mileage.

Have other people noticed this?

I do at least 90% city mileage. I have driven the car very gently. The oil or the tire pressure can't be the issues, as the car is brand new. Anyone know why I am only getting 33mpg instead of the 40mpg advertised city driving?

I've had mine for 2 years and I logged my mileage with each fillup since then. I noticed perhaps a 5 mpg difference between between the first months and now at the same period of the year.

You will find that the mpg will drop as the weather cools and then improves in the spring, dropping off in the hot summer with A/C use. So I compare my mileage as a 12 month average, to catch all of the different conditions.

I would still check the tire pressure. Even boost it a bit to around 38 psi. This car coasts like crazy. Just take your foot off the accelerator and it still keeps going. I try to coast as much as I can.

i think its less related to break in and more related to learning to maximize the systems.
my experience was that once i learned to optimize my driving habits the mileage came up.
the car doesn't do as well in the city as it does on the highway, but driving style is more important in the city.

just watch the gauges until you learn how the fuel economy reacts to your inputs, I am sure you can get it much closer to 40mpg. i used to average 47 without much trouble, but I too am at about 35 mpg now.

I definitely notice that the MPG goes up when you coast. I will try to maximize that. I am not sure what the saleman was saying is correct, however. Thanks for the input.

As others have already mentioned, there is a driver retraining process if you want to get the most out of the HCH technology.

Some suggestions:

1. Make sure the tires are up to 38-40 psi. They're rated 44 psi but you may find that too hard for your road conditions.
2. Watch the green regen bars carefully. If the battery is up to 6 or 7 bars you should gently push the gas pedal until they disappear whenever you can in order to extend your coasting. However, because the regen puts a drag on the car it can be useful when going down a hill, but not on level ground.
3. Watch the RPMs and speed. Try to stay under 2000 rpm and 60 mph as much as possible.
4. Drive like you have no brakes. Anticipate traffic signals and use the terrain as much as possible to stay off the gas. Coasting without regen is fantastic.

I've had my HCH II since May and find that I have relearned how to drive more than at any time in over 40 years! The metric fuel consumption display can be wonderful when you see it drop to 1 bar meaning NO gas consumption -- it's a great learning tool.

Cheers,

Roger

These are some good tips. Thanks alot, Roger.

Hi Roger,

You said "Coasting without regen is fantastic" - but how can you "turn off" regen? I thought it engages automatically every time you stays off the gas. Is there some trick to have it off?

Hi Denis,

Refer back to my point #2. What I am describing is how you can use light pressure on the gas pedal to modulate the amount of unwanted regen. For example, if you are going down a hill and the car shows, say, 4 green regen bars, you can reduce this to zero or one bar by applying light pressure on the gas pedal. Too much pressure and the engine may restart as will be noticable by a slight lurch and several bars on the fuel consumption display (assuming you use the metric setting).

With practice you can use this technique to adjust the "drag" caused by regen whenever you want. Be aware that the computer controls the regen when the battery is low so this method works best when you have 5-7 bars showing.

In case you are not familiar with the engine's valve control system, it closes both intake and exhaust valves when coasting to eliminate the usual engine "compression" braking found on other cars. This means that the car will coast far better than normal if you can eliminate the regen drag when you don't want it or need it.

Final point -- when the battery is up to 8 bars you may experience no regen at all. You will feel that you need to press the brake pedal harder than normal. This is because you don't have the regen drag that you usually have under normal braking. The brakes on a hybrid will last far longer than a regular car as a result.

Hope this clarifies things!

Roger

Thanks Roger! This helps

Denis

There is definitely a break-in period, both in terms of the car, and in the driver. As already noted, outside temperature plays a big role in your mpg's as well. I need to update the picture, but take a look here to see my tank/temperature history

Someday I might even beat that wascally kenny!

No whammies... no whammies... no whammies...