I note that I am on the low end of the MPG database at 34.5 MPG over the first 1450 miles on my 2008 HCH. I am disappointed but I didn't expect that I would have to change much in my driving habits in order to see atleast 40 MPG! I drive 17 miles to work with 3 miles of 45 miles per hour w/ stoplights, 75 miles per hour on Fla Turnpike for 14 miles, and 2 miles at 45 miles per hour w/ stoplights. I thought I should at the very minumum get 40 mpg. I have been thinking that there is something wrong with the car and should take it to the dealership; however, I am not sure that there is anything wrong with the performance only the mpg. I am using COSTCO gas exclusively and thought I might change to AMOCO or someother major brand that has a cleaner in it as recommended in the manual. What do you guy's think? I would appreciate some help. I certainly would love to be your all's club of very happy HCH owners getting unbeliveable gas mileage! Thanks!
Fran

The answer lies in your right foot! Watch the instant read out (top left ) and drive with greater care and more sympathy than hitherto. Softly softly catchy Monkey. Good luck

Change your gas to a Top Tier-approved one, as per Honda recommendation:
http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

Check your tire pressure. They should be at 32 psi as a minimum. Is the alignment correct? It shouldn't vibrate at speed or pull to the right or left (unless the road is graded).

It takes a few thousand miles to get good mileage, new tires even LRR are sticky.

Check your a/c use, it is better to start out with it at 80 and I have all 4 windowd cracked, then start lowering the temp as the car cools off.

In that hot climate, look into window tint (the maximum allowed by state law) ask for the 3-m kind that has ceramic microbeads in it, it reflects a lot of heat rather than asorb it into the car, look for parking in the shade.

When you accerlate, keep the rpm between 1,500 & 2,000 rpm (unless there is an emergency) NEVER let the cvt/engine race when you take off.
Coast more, coast up to a stop sign/light...be patient, in break-in and in driving....remember, you may take a couple extra minutes to arive but you will arive with greater gas savings....

As I told one friend who hasseled me for ariving at a mutual destination a couple minutes after him, these days, it is far more important to see 75 MPG than to go 75 miles per hour.

I agree, you shouldn't have to change your driving style to hit 40mpg unless you aren't able to hit EPA estimates in other vehicles. I have a co-worker who thinks the hybrid EPA estimates are garbage, but he gets 20% under EPA estimates in his other car too so he's just blind to the common problem.

Hi Fran! I think the biggest thing hurting you is the 75mph section of your trip. It takes you 11.2 minutes to drive that section, but by slowing down to 65mph, it would increase your drive time by 1 minute and 45 seconds but you should be able to average 50mpg for that segment (maybe 45 with the AC). An extra 3 minutes of commuting each day shouldn't be too problematic right?

The two 45mph sections are a little tougher to remedy. My commute is similar to that, and I've found that I hit the same red lights every day. For the lights that I know that I am going to hit, I will put the car in glide early and coast my way up to the light. When accellerating, there are some lights that I know I need to get up to speed quickly for to hit the next light on green, and there are others that I feather the gas on because no matter what, I'm going to hit the next light red. Don't knock yourself out just to wait at the next red. I find that most cities have timed lights, but not many people pay attention to the timing...

Read Tarabell's article on Cleanmpg.com about how to maximize the HCH (there are thousands of links here to that article from here--use search). Even if you don't choose to adopt all of her recommendations, understanding how the car works will help get you up to the 45mpg you were expecting. Also, my mileage is continuing to increase at 14,000 miles--you should see a big improvement between 5k and 10k.

Commuter car, grocery getter, and summer road tripper--average 10k miles per year.


Winter road trips and ski trips, bad weather commuter and my wife's "daily" driver--expected average 4k miles per year.

You can't get decent mpgs driving 75 miles per hour!

If thats how fast you want to drive you bought the wrong car.

Oh yeah, I forgot, bring the tires up to 40psi, I find a huge difference in mileage and the way the car feels....funny, it does not seem to ride harder at that pressure, it seems to have less drag.

I just got my HCH 08 this week and have been averaging 45-50 mpg on the highway and locally. You really have to watch the MPG gauge in the upper right and the RPM's. I used to have a bit of a lead foot but if you gently push the car you can get great mileage. I have even managed to get is going in IMA mode for a mile or two when it shows 100 MPG...good luck

I have used Costco gas almost exclusively since day 1 and my mpgs are still pretty high (~46-49 now). It took me until 3K-4K miles to fully break in the car, before which I was averaging 35-42 mpg. Also, keeping the speed in check (i got 67 mpgs driving to work today at 65 miles per hour) helps. Some have differing opinions, but I've not had a serious issue that can be attributed to Costco gas so far (we have E10 everywhere up here by law).