45 mpg makes the whole idea of buying the car work for me financially, and that assumes gas stays around $3/gallon. I like hearing that people are getting more than that.

It will be a challenge for me as I am used to driving fast and braking hard.

Trucker,

I raised my tires in stages to see if there was any handling or road noise impact. By doing it that way, I guess I got used to the changes more gradually. I bumped from the 32 up to 36... then 38 ... then 40. When I think back to the "early" days, it was a bit quieter then! In fact, I have the Navigation system, and the voice activation feature is now unreliable... I guess due to road noise. Except for that, I do like the handling and ride, and the noise isn't too bad. The real question is... does it impact MPG? I can't really say for sure (since I was improving my driving skills and the engine was breaking in)! Now that my MPG has stabilized (consistently 52 - 54) I guess I should LOWER the PSI back to factory to see if it has some impact!

First thing I did when I got the car was pump the tires up from 32 to 40. I figure if I always have the car at 40, I'll never be aware of a a rougher ride. Of course, I do notice the bumps a bit more than with my old car, but I don't really mind. I haven't had any problems with voice recognition due to road noise.

Otherwise, just follow the suggestions here. Just as sports cars are built to be driven hard and slung through the twisties, hybrids excel when they are driven properly. Go easy on the gas, coast when possible, bump the AC temp up a few notches. You will notice the difference. You don't have to wait 5000 miles to see great fuel efficiency. I got 48 mpg on my first two tanks and my third tank looks to be in the mid 50s. My guess is that the break in period applies as much to the driver as it does to the car.

I'm not sure which gets broke in, the car, or the driver. I started getting over EPA right away.

When my HCH was new the factory tire pressure was only 25psi. If your oil people also check your tire pressure you might very well be running higher pressure after you first oil change which could be part of any increase.

Also many of you gen2 folks purchased in the winter (low MPG) so your mileage would improve as it warmed up. The bad thing about this is that your mileage will go back down went it gets cold.

Lastly, most all of us seem to get better and better at learning our hybrids so you can expect an overall increase in mpg over time.

I agree - I think the driver has to be 'broken in' to the car.

We had a Prius. Following the advice of this forum, I quickly learned how to consistantly get 60+mpg (my wife averages under 40).

After purchasing the HCHII and applying the same driving techniques as I used on the Prius, I discovered that the HCHII is not a Prius. I had to be retrained. I got a lot of information from this site on maximizing FE on the HCHII - I am now on my third tank and have averaged 59mpg overall with about 1800 miles on the car.
Perhaps someone should open up a hybrid driving school...

It really is a learning curve in many respects.


There is an element of break in involved, and many thanks to all the members of greenhybrid.com too.

There's lot's of good advice. I now run my tyres at 44psi...and yes it does make a noticeable difference to Fuel Efficiency.

For the first 5,000 miles I struggled to get better FE than 42 mpg. It's steadily improving as I learn to use the guages.

Use them carefully, particularly the instant readout and you'll learn to improve FE.

It is tough though, and you have to drive like you really want to save gas.

The Civic is an amazing car and looks great to boot!

Good choice!

I had the same problem. 42mpg was the best I could get. Hills will really knock your FE about, and so will stop-go city traffic. My best FE is on an open freeway - over 50mpg in fact...but boy was I working to get it!

Speaking of FE, I carpool with a guy that bought a Camry Hybrid around the same time I got my HCH II. He's no hypermiler, and I'm sure I'm doing a lot more to get better FE. Plus, his wife drives the car sometimes and has no clue about any techniques to get better FE. We live pretty close to each other.

His overall mpg is 39.1. Mine is 41.5 (readings taken from the dashboard readouts). Not much difference there, and he's got a car with a lot more power, leg room, features etc. On the plus side, the HCH qualifies for the HOV sticker and the Camry does not.

Slackandsteel. An interesting post. What is the price difference between the two cars?

Toyota Camry Hybrid MSRP is $25,900. Here's a link to info on it:

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2007/toyo...id/index.html?