I''ve had my California HCH CVT AT-PZEV for a year now.

My lifetime average is 58.7 MPG.
My best tank was 62.4 and my last tank was 60.1.
Don't worry about what your get at first.
If you read the MPG tips here it will get better.
My first tank was 52.

 

When I first got my HCH, I was very anxious about gas mileage. The benifits of being stress-free going roughly the speed limit were cancelled out by my stress at trying to get every ounce of mileage out of the car.

Now, after about 10,000 miles, I just enjoy the fact that by doing what you say in the quote above, I can get over 46 mpg in my short city commute, and over 50 going 65 on the highway.

My advice would be to relax, enjoy the car, give it some time, and find the right balance of mpg and driving experience for you. Look at it this way: even if you were to speed around, driving fast and paying no attention to mileage, you will still get 40 or more mpg. Doing the same thing in any other car would be giving you 30 or below. And in an SUV you'd be getting 15.

So find what's right for you, and enjoy it. I would still love this car, even if I wasn't getting the great mileage that (IMO) I currently am.

 

Hey my first tank was 40mpg too, and I felt exactly the same way- dissapointed. I've had my cvt since feb. and my last 2 tanks were 50mpg. you'll get there! I've always been a conservative driver, so I was really surprised at not getting great mileage right away.
I drive moslty local- home office & no commute. some hilly (hudson highlands), some not. stuff I do:
pump up your tires to max cold psi- my bridgestones are at 44.
coast as often as possible on the flats while maintaining speed: sometimes this is at 60mpg, sometimes 80mpg sometimes 120. if you keep your foot very slightly on the accelerator, the regen won't kick in an slow down your coast. the car also coasts better with hard tires.
drive above your average- if your average is 40mpg, try to keep the instant guage (fcg) at 60mpg.
I accelerate moderately from a stop (I try not to go below 20mpg) to speed, then back off to drive above my average. note- this is on local roads with speed limits 30-45. highway merging is different. note- this is how I drive- some of the guys that do alot better than me accelerate much more gently.
I drive the speed limit on the highway now too. 54mpg last trip at 63mph.
also- I use tank A guage for individual trips, and B for tank average. lifetime I figure out in my gas notebook. (and here) I think you get really good instantaneous feedback on what works in what conditions with individual trip mileage.
my best trip so far was from here to the printers & back: 7 miles- 2 miles down hill, 2 miles uphill then return. I got 59.7mpg.
I love my car!

 

OK, now that is just INSANE (I didn't realize a vette had a dashboard like the HCH), but like everyone says here, give it time. To train yourself, focus less on the speed, but more on keeping the real-time gauge over the 60mpg tick. (Obviously, focusing on the road is the first priority)

I'm going to get my first 60+ MPG tankful, and I can attribute this to, the car breaking in, knowing how to drive it much better, focusing on mileage, not speed, and finally, the nice warm weather.

Enjoy!

 

dont worry, just like KLCarch, i received ~40 mpg in my first few tanks. it was only recently that i applied some hypermiling techniques and broke the epa numbers. you can certainly get 45 mpg, just give it some time to break in your car and learn some new techniques

 

It depends. Sometimes I like to drive 'with the flow', which in my area is around 70-75 most of the time on the freeways. Using those FE tricks, not racing between lights, anticipating stops etc, feathering the throttle alone makes a big difference. I can get to a distination the same time as an untrained driver test-driving my car, and average 6-7mpg higher. For example, driving "with the flow" (normal accelearations, speed limit +5-10) I used to get around 40mpg overall. Now, I can match EPA and get around 47 still "driving with the flow." If I want to maximize my mileage, drive with the truck lanes and so on, I can average 54. More for long trips. Sometimes I hypermile, sometimes I don't. If I have a lot of time to spare, such as driving home on a mostly empty road alone, I'll use every trick in the book.

One thing I have been experimenting with is coasting. I have a CVT so that really limits me to very slow speed coasting, such as rolling around in parking lots. (I'm not interested in a manual, living on top of a hill with a manual is a real pain in the neck...) On one tank I actually lost 3 mpg for the whole tank driving around a local college campus for a while, lost. The campus is huge, has lots of stops, speed bumps, and hills. There are places on campus I could coast along at 5-10mph. Going home from there's also a long perpetual "traffic jam" that's situated on a downgrade. Instead of near-idling for 5+ minutes, I can sit with the engine off and "roll" down the hill, then turn the engine back on at the last red light before getting on the freeway.

I haven't got a chance to try that last one out, but I bet it could help me a lot.

 

Lakedude,
I'm so jealous of that pic. I was getting 80 mpg this morning, but only on 5 miles of driving.

 

most fe saving comes from how you start and stop, and how you utilize gravity to your advantage.

for accelerating - use 4-5 bars of constant electric assist to get you up to speed, and then throttle lock (hold the pedal steady so that the fe indicator bars don't move) at a level that allows you to maintain speed. start braking well beforehand, just pushing the pedal down enough to turn on full regen. if you are not driving that fast, simply coast and let the slight regen work. turn off autostop if you're going through stop signs - no need to cut the engine for 2 seconds.

while going up and down slight hills, speed up going downhill while maintaining steady instantaneous fe average, then slow down going uphill - called driving with the load. that has boosted my mpg from 46 to 49, and now about 51 mpg on this tank. gravity's free - use it to your advantage if you're starting downhill, don't accelerate very much; just let gravity pull your car down the hill and get you going up to speed, while you feather the throttle

some little things:

avoid using the air conditioner - put the fan on medium or high, or open two windows if you're going under 45 mph

pump your tires from 30 to 35 psi, then from 35 to 40 psi. go higher if you want, but don't go overboard

try not to carry too much cargo more weight means you have to accelerate for a longer time and it takes more throttle to maintain and increase speed.

never floor the car or gun it, you waste lots of gas and destroy your high mpg quickly.

know when lights will be probably red or will probably turn red by the time you reach them in a familiar route. dont accelerate up to a stale green light (been green for a long time), it'll probably turn red by the time you reach them

 

You got some good advice here, tire pressure, coasting, anticipating stops, letting the generator stop the car, etc.

You should be able to climb most hills at 40mpg. Steep ones (we have a lot of them in San Diego) might need 20mpg once in a while.

The biggest thing to remember is that the key to good mileage is to engage the lean burn mode of your engine. Basically, it involves pressing firmly on the pedal and then easing up slowly. As you ease up you can see the mpg go way up on the display. Keep it at that level for an extended period and you are saving lots of fuel.

 

yes i forgot to mention lean burn, but since i have a california at-pzev hch, this doesnt apply for me and i have had no experience with it