Some of my observations on how to get the car to run on electric-only mode.

• It will not engage if your speed is below 10mph
• It will not engage if you have less than 1/2 of the battery left (4 bars)
• To nudge the car into electric, I let go the gas, let it charge the battery for a second, then I gently press the gas again. It usually gets me into electric-only mode.

Sure, the IMA is not as strong as the full-hybrid options, but I can get some good stretches without using gas. It won't accelerate the car, but it can certainly keep the speed.

Any other observations?
Or comments on how to get higher mileage?

 

I concur with your methods to induce electric only (glide mode) in the Civic Hybrid.

Amazingly, you can get the car into glide mode doing 65 MPG or whatever speed. Some magazines state you can only do that up to 35 MPH and such.

The hybrid battery recharges quickly and if you work it as you described (without going too slow and messing with traffic flow) you can squeeze really strong MPG numbers from it!

 

A few other observations about electric only mode. Once into electric only mode, on level ground or slight incline my car will accelerate (very slowly / slightly). The key is not to push too far down on the pedal or it will light up the engine.

Once in electric only or glide more - if the road is fairly level (no step hills) the car can go quite a way in electric only mode.

When pulling away from a stop, if you accelerate up to 12 - 15 MPH or so then let off the gas and the the RPMs drop way down - (gets into charge mode) then gingerly push on gas and usually car will go into electric only mode and on fairly level ground the car can slowly accelerate up to 30 MPH or so. There are hyper mileing videos that demonstrate the technique. I think the key is to modulate the accelerator deftly - very gently - like there is an egg between your foot and the petal.