Thanks Hot_Georgia_2004,
I see your 2004 Civic Hybrid weight is about 1000 pounds less then our TCH. No doubt it takes less power for your acceleration and cruising. I read that Toyota may come up with a Corolla Hybrid soon. Not sure if it will come out here in the States or some other country.

You sound a lot like me, taking it as a personal challenge to beat your on record numbers. No doubt you know your high mpg is due to decent weather, the hybrid you drive and your expertise at driving a hybrid car. Work with the hybrid, and not to drive it like a regular car.

I read a month ago some fellow testing the new plug-in Prius for 2012 was getting 90 mpg combined while driving around in and near San Francisco. It will be interesting to see how the 2012 hybrids compare.

I would love a new TCH but will hold off till Toyota included the Lithium Traction batteries. It will be interesting to see the mpg jump for the 2012 TCH if they keep the same NiMh cells for the traction battery. No doubt these top auto manufactures are coming up with engines that get improved mpg over the previous years. Other improvements are laying the windshield back, improved fuel injection, oem low rolling resistant tires and lighter car weight.

rburt07

 

rburt07, I second that congrats! Thanks for sharing that information.

Are you running a KN filter or stock filters?

I was going to just have the dealer do my oil changes--they use synthetic valvoline, but I prefer Mobil 1 myself. Are you going 5 or 10k on oil changes?

I think my tires are a big factor in my MPG at this point as the dealer put on nexen brand of some sort. I have them at 40-42psi but after that the ride is stiff.

I'm almost positive I have 5w20 conventional as well in the crankcase. So I have a few options to still pursue.

One of the biggest things I wish is that the E-mode would go a solid 45mph so I could drive most of the city streets where I live. When I'm at 40mph in E-mode I'm really at 36mph and that speed is very hard to do when people expect 45-52mph...

I will report back as promised.
Thanks again.

-Mike

 

Also, on the oil, I have access to Eneos oil (as a distributor) but Mobil 1 has always been hard to beat for the price. I was also tempted to try that oil as to my understanding it was part of the factor fills for the newer vehicles that get 0w20 synthetic.

 

I don't use a K&N air filter, only the stock one that came with the TCH. In fact mine is about 4000 miles overdue on replacing it. I drive slow so at the lower rpm I doubt it gets as dirty as someone that drive their hybrid like a regular gas powered car.

I doubt it makes much difference on which brand of oil, other than I picked up 1 or 2 mpg by switching to the 0W-20 weight oil. I choose the mobil one as it's easy to by oil at Walmart while my wife buys the groceries. lol

5000 miles on the oil changes using the oem toyota filter. I also rotate and balance my tires within a week of doing the oil change. I let walmart do the rot & bal while me and the wife shop. If walmart ever damages a wheel or lug nut, be sure to put it out to the automotive manger as they will replace it like new with parts bought from the toyota dealer.

Best I can find the Nexen tires may be a south Korea company that compete with Kumho. I read on some forms where customers are satisfied with them, quite, long lasting and like the lower price. Some mention they wish the tires had the LRR feature. I think they do make one that starts with a CR designation but may cost more.

Think toward Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires next time. They cost more but oh what a nice ride. I enjoy the 8% increase in mpg that michelin said they would provide. Well out here I ended up with 10% increase, 50 mpg +10% gave me 55 mpg. That increase really helped during the winter months and also helped swap out for the AC pulling my down about 2 or 3 mpg depending on how hot the day was.

I use the max air pressure at 44 psi cold in my tires. They do ride really smooth, better than I ever expected. I would say more like 37 psi in some other brands of tires. Another overlooked popular LRR tire is the Goodyear Fuel Max Tire. I have not looked into the tire rack customer reviews on that tire in a long time. It's maybe $25 per tire cheaper than the Mich Saver tires.

My speedometer reads 2 mph fast at 40 to 45 mph. I use a scangauge and calibrated it on some trips years ago by timing the mile markers that are 1 mile apart. It's easy to do out here as most all the highway are straight. I also have a escort radar decetor and if it picks up any radar it alerts the speed i'm going from the gps satellite and it also matched the scan gauge speed at 2 mph slower than the speedometer. Again this is around 40 to 45 mph.

If you think about it even driving at 45 speed, your traction battery is more charged up and so the battery can assist your engine during driving. When I see my engine and battery both propelling the car the mpg jump to 60 to 70 mph most times and showed a high charge by the time we reach town 8 miles away. With the charge topped off I have more battery to run around town in the EV mode keeping speed around 35 to 38 mph, always using the cruise.

I forgot to mention, we do have two railroad overpasses. When I go up those I release the cruise around 33 to 35 mph and hold stead the accelerator. This saves lots on gas, never accelerate going up any grades if possible. I climb in our nearby mountains rarely but I found if I climb at 40 to 42 mph using the cruise the mpg seems to be ok. Any faster it starts using more gas. Actually I get high mpg even in the mountains as on the downhill side or return trip back down the 8000 foot mountain I make up for the extra gas it took to go up it. We haven't drove up to the little town of Cloudcroft in a long time.

The town of Alamogordo (pop about 35,000) where we shop and eat out is located in the foothills of this mountain range. The main drag runs north and south and is rather level other than the north end of town is maybe 150 feet higher. Their is a bypass just east of town with only one red light. I can drive at 45 mph and then come over to the north main drag and head back south which is now downhill. Even with 3 or 4 red lights I can take off easier sometimes keeping it in the EV mode, as now it's slightly downhill for the next maybe 3 miles though town.

rburt07

 

I don't use a K&N air filter, only the oem stock one that comes with the TCH. In fact mine is about 4000 miles overdue on replacing it. I drive slow so at the lower rpm, 1250 to 1500, I doubt it gets as dirty as someone that drive their hybrid like a regular gas-powered car. My theory on K&N air filter is their to help at high rpm, maybe 4000 to 6000 range. I try to keep my rpm around 2000, maybe as high as 2500 on some red-light takeoffs when traffic is behind me.

I doubt it makes much difference on which brand of oil, other than I picked up 1 or 2 mpg by switching to the 0W-20 weight oil. I choose the mobil one as it's easy to by oil at Walmart while my wife buys the groceries. lol

5000 miles on the oil changes using the oem toyota filter. I also rotate and balance my tires within a week of doing the oil change. I let walmart do the rot & bal while me and the wife shop. If walmart ever damages a wheel or lug nut, be sure to put it out to the automotive manger as they will replace it like new with parts bought from the toyota dealer.

Best I can find the Nexen tires may be a south Korea company that compete with Kumho. I read on some forms where customers are satisfied with them, quite, long lasting and like the lower price. Some mention they wish the tires had the LRR feature. I think they do make one that starts with a CR designation but may cost more.

Think toward Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires next time. They cost more but oh what a nice ride. I enjoy the 8% increase in mpg that michelin said they would provide. Well out here I ended up with 10% increase, 50 mpg +10% gave me 55 mpg. That increase really helped during the winter months and also helped swap out for the AC pulling my down about 2 or 3 mpg depending on how hot the day was.

I use the max air pressure at 44 psi cold in my tires. They do ride really smooth, better than I ever expected. I would say more like 37 psi in some other brands of tires. Another overlooked popular LRR tire is the Goodyear Fuel Max Tire. I have not looked into the tire rack customer reviews on that tire in a long time. It's maybe $25 per tire cheaper than the Mich Saver tires.

My speedometer reads 2 mph fast at 40 to 45 mph. I use a scangauge and calibrated it on some trips years ago by timing the mile markers that are 1 mile apart. It's easy to do out here as most all the highway are straight. I also have a escort radar detector and if it picks up any radar it alerts the speed i'm going from the gps satellite and it also matched the scan gauge speed at 2 mph slower than the speedometer. Again this is around 40 to 45 mph.

If you think about it even driving at 45 speed, your traction battery is more charged up and so the battery can assist your engine during driving. When I see my engine and battery both propelling the car the mpg jump to 60 to 70 mph most times and showed a high charge by the time we reach town 8 miles away. With the charge topped off I have more battery to run around town in the EV mode keeping speed around 35 to 38 mph, always using the cruise.

I forgot to mention, we do have two railroad overpasses. When I go up those I release the cruise around 33 to 35 mph and hold stead the accelerator. This saves lots on gas, never accelerate going up any grades if possible. I climb in our nearby mountains rarely but I found if I climb at 40 to 42 mph using the cruise the mpg seems to be ok. Any faster it starts using more gas. Actually I get high mpg even in the mountains as on the downhill side or return trip back down the 8000 foot mountain I make up for the extra gas it took to go up it. We haven't drove up to the little town of Cloudcroft in a long time.

The town of Alamogordo (pop about 35,000) where we shop and eat out is located in the foothills of this mountain range. The main drag runs north and south and is rather level other than the north end of town is maybe 150 feet higher. Their is a bypass just east of town with only one red light. I can drive at 45 mph and then come over to the north main drag and head back south which is now downhill. Even with 3 or 4 red lights I can take off easier sometimes keeping it in the EV mode, as now it's slightly downhill for the next maybe 3 miles though town. I drive the same route many times a week so it's easy for me to remember where I can use the EV mode and what best speeds to drive.

rburt07

 

ukrkoz, sorry I guess I took over your mpg subject. It somehow triggered me to tell about my mpg experience. I used to drag race when I was in my early 20's. I found it's the many little things you do to make your car better than the competition.

I used this same theory in my self challenge to beat my own record for combined mpg in each of the cars I have owned over the last 46 years. Believe me that's lots of cars, Chevy's, Cutlass's, Cavaliers and then Toyota's and the one Ford I had for only a year.

With the TCH I bought the highest mpg tire I could find after the oem's were worn. I heard the 0W oils helped with the mpg so the cost is the same so why not. Some worry that oil is not good to use in hot areas. Well I drove mine here in the desert many times when it was 105 degrees and I see no problems whatsoever. Even the toyota tech said it's good to use the zero weight oil out here before I switched to it.

I learned about the ECO button a few years after buying the TCH. A fellow in Denver named Tom, experimented using his ECO button and found it shut the engine off quicker at red lights than with the ECO off.

I try to type a detailed message maybe yearly on how I get my high mpg numbers. Still I say your location has lots to do with it. ukrkoz, I don't think you mentioned your location. I read some say they don't get good highway city or highway mpg. But they never say how fast they drive or where they live. Makes it hard to then figure what would be the problem. I did find that humidity can hurt the mpg, especially if your around 60% to 80% much of the time.

I hope with my details on my driving I may have helped you somewhat.

Keep trying, it's a fun, but sometimes tiring challenge.

rburt07

 

" I DO NOT AND WILL NOT believe that this car is capable of anything close to 50mpg"

At certain speeds, the TCH gets FE that can average well in excess of 50mpg for extended periods of time. So for someone who lives in an area that allows for a lot of driving at these high FE speeds, it is not unreasonable for an enthusiastic driver to be able to obtain high FE averages.

 

It helps a lot if you live in a place that is FLAT and RURAL, and where your regular commute is long enough so the warm-up period is only a fraction of the distance.

FLAT means, you don't have to go uphill, or at least not very much or very often.

RURAL means you don't have to drive in heavy traffic on high-speed roads, with angry people behind you. In areas where there are few other cars, you can drive slow if you want, without getting shot at.

Where I live, and on the commute route that I must drive, going that slow would be dangerous.

 

Thanks Steve, you are very correct in what you say. I can remember back when you were driving on the service roads where you were experimenting, and could drive slower to work and get higher mpg numbers. Between you and my slow driving wife, I somehow found the TCH gets it's best mpg around 45-46 mph with the cruise. That's like you say, if you on near level terrain.

We retired and moved out here from crowded Garland/Dallas, Texas in 1999. We found the traffic was like back in the late 50's. One night we shopped at walmart. I was dark when we left the parking lot at 8 pm and drove a block down to the red light on the main drag at white sands blvd. We sat there waiting for the light to change. We both looked both ways for any cross traffic. You could easily see a mile to the north and a mile to the south and their was no cars driving that we could see. What a great feeling that was.

Over the last 12 years though the traffic has picked a lot up due to Holloman AFB bringing in the F-14, F-17 and then later the F22A Raptor jets. The planes brought in more pilots and maintenance personnel.

Snowbirds up north like to come here due to the dry winter weather. Some retires move here from El Paso and Las Cruces to live to a smaller city. Alamo is in the foothills of some 6000 to 8000 foot mountains. The so the 30,000 has grown around 37,000 in comparison to Garland, that's now around 225,000.

rburt07 Jimmy