took possession of my first-ever hybrid car 9/13/06, build date 8/06, and i want to document my experiences in this thread.
wk 1: started to read this forum. used slow take-off technique and tried to peg the mpg monitor at 100 whenever possible. tire pressure from dealer=44psi. avg mpg wk1=~41.
wk2: read tarabell's article. tried "moderate" acceleration from stops, and drove with the flow of traffic...it killed my fe.
this week: increased tire pressure to 55psi, per excel's rec. ride is rougher and noisier, but i'm more concerned with fe than ride comfort or noise. accelerating to no more than 2600rpm, at a slow rate. found ev mode, which i define as monitor pegged at 100mpg with 1-4 bars of assist showing. it happens around 1100rpm and doesn't last long before ice kicks in. i'm driving in the right lane whenever possible, much slower than flow of traffic. best run so far happened this week, 57mpg over a mixed, 16-mile run. eggshell analogy very helpful.

 

Matt, please take a look at your tires and make sure they're rated for 55psi. Granted there's a safety factor built in, but no need to crank it that high, especially in nice sunny SoCal (see https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ad.php?t=9653). Don't get too worked up over your FE for the first few tanks. The car will spend it's first couple thousand miles just breaking in, just as you get used to the handling differences between your old car and this one.

 

thanks chris. i'll read it.
for the record, at this point in time, i'm not using cc at all, and i use the ac on auto at 75. i sweat easily.

 

wow, 55 psi seems a little extreme. Granted if MPG is your ultimate goal then you may try to limit your highway speed to 65 mph.

 

I agree with Chris, here.
Check your tire sidewall. Most of these tires are rated for either 44 psi max, or 51 psi max.
And give yourself some time to be trained by your new car! My mileage started out at 41-43, but now (4000 miles on car), I am cranking out maybe my first 49 mpg tank. My last two tanks have been my best. I think you will see improvement as you learn, with or without high tire pressure. BTW, I have the Dunlop SP31 tires, and use 37 psi. This seems to be a good compromise for me.

 

thanks for your feedback, steve. my sidewall says 44, but as you can tell, i'm jonesing for better fe, and at least one hypermiler, excel, has had good results from increasing into the 50s without any safety issues, and there seems to be some controversy over tire pressure on this site. have there been any catastrophic failures due to hyperinflation of tires on hybrids?
as of today, i have 408 miles on the odometer with overall fe of 40.3.

 

I think it is in a high-stress emergency maneuver that you will want the tires to not fail.
You won't know you have over-inflated them to a dangerous level until it's too late.
I would not go over the sidewall max at cold.

Good luck.
Take your time.
Read a lot here.

You'll get there.
I've had 3 years of practice (I drove a 2004 HCH before this 2006) and I'm still improving.

Look in the database here.
Everyone starts with lower MPG and improves over time.
We think it is part the car breaking in and part the driver gaining experience.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=1

Excerpt from Tire Rack website:

Disadvantages of Overinflation

An overinflated tire is stiff and unyielding and the size of its footprint in contact with the road is reduced. If a vehicle's tires are overinflated by 6 psi, they could be damaged more easily when encountering potholes or debris in the road, as well as experience irregular tread wear. Higher inflated tires cannot isolate road irregularities as well causing the vehicle to ride harsher and transmit more noise into its interior. However, higher inflation pressures reduce rolling resistance slightly and typically provide a slight improvement in steering response and cornering stability. This is why participants who use street tires in autocrosses, track events and road races run higher than normal inflation pressures.

 

wow, 51 dang, my tire pressure is at 41 and i'm averaging 51mpg. tire pressure matters but not that much it's driving style, terrain, and (well at least in my case it's age of the car) My car seemed to get really better right around 3500 miles on it. Before 3500 I was consistently hitting 45 mpg, afterwards it went into the upper 40's and now it's in the low 50's.

Jayson

 

while negotiating a high-speed freeway transition today, my car felt very wobbly, not stuck to the ground. scary. i'm going to decrease the tire pressure back to 44.
first tank refill today: 11.04gal at 466 miles=42.2mpg. i had set gauge b to record tank data, but somehow it was reset/zeroed out before the end of tank 1.
was in a hurry today, so i tried to accelerate rapidly to desired speed, and the result was decreased fe by 2-3mpg. reved to 4-5k during accels.
tomorrow, i'll concentrate on accelerating to no more than 3k.