So after 4 full tanks, I have yet to hit 40 mpg, let alone 50. I am utterly confused because I am driving very controlled, not speeding, etc. . . I live in L.A. so that might have something to do with it, since I take the streets for most of my travel and the freeway for only a small portion (freeway, I have noticed I will get between 50-60 mpg). Is there anything that I am missing? I will get between 450-500 miles per tank. Any advice would be appreciated.


Alan

 

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1306
i've noticed the guys who get the big numbers tend to drive longer each trip than the rest of us. also, my tire pressure dropped during the colder weather the last couple mos.

 

Lower your expectations?

Doesn't seem like your car is broken in yet. How many miles are on the car?

 

You are not going to break 50mpg driving the city streets of Los Angeles. You would be lucky to break 40mpg driving only on streets. Worst tank I logged was in the low 30's (only street driving ) and the best was over 55 (non-rush hour freeway).

Worst segment was 6 miles from Santa Monica to my home where I averaged 18mpg. It was bumper to bumper and miserable. Sometimes...I hate LA.

 

Soldierbot's right ... really really hard to do if you're on all surface streets in L.A. Am having the same experience.

I'm getting 47-50 mpg on the 30-mile freeway portion of the trip to Santa Monica, but then the last four miles on surface streets bring the average down to 43-45 usually.

 

Sounds like your best hope is to attempt to time traffic and lights to the best of your abilities. That may be a ridiculous proposition...I don't know what it's like out there...but the better you conserve your momentum and the less you use your brakes the better your fuel economy will be. It's a non-trivial art and takes quite a bit of concentration, but at least it keeps you focussed on the road. The hardest part for many people (including me) is getting used to the idea of letting an empty buffer zone open up in front of you while everyone else rushes ahead. About the time they slam on the brakes you will have been coasting for several seconds and, ideally, wind up right behind them. This is one of those "sacrifice-free" tactics because you don't get there any slower than anyone else. Just a whole lot more efficiently.

With the Civic you will want to practice feathering the accelerator to get into that region just between regen and acceleration where you coast with minimal drag. Also a learned art from what I hear but I'm sure it gets easier with practice...it's essentially the equivalent of a glide in a Prius.

 

There are a couple of easy things to do and several hard ones. I don't know your route at all, so the other posters could be right and 50 mpg isn't possible for you. However, 40 and 45, even 47, should be reachable for you, especially once the weather warms up a little more.

First- check your tire pressure. If it's low, increase it. If it's not low, you still might want to increase it a bit- don't exceed safety warnings, of course (though some posters here do go so far as to suggest that) because having a little extra tire pressure can improve FE.

Second- check a few things about the car. Are your windows closed? Open windows can really up your drag and drop your FE. Is your car in Econ mode? The indicator under Econ should light up, if so. Econ mode allows you to auto-stop, and turns off your fans when you are in autostop, which doesn't affect the temperature of the car TOO much, and saves energy. Is your defrost on unnecessarily? This will keep you from auto-stopping.

Third- have patience. It sounds like you're still breaking in your battery. Four full tanks later, you would hope that it would be broken in, but it hasn't been for some people, and you may not 'break through' right away.

Brick's suggestions about driving are good ones- coast as much as you can, avoid braking as much as you can, drive a little more slowly if you can. It sounds like you aren't doing any terribly aggressive driving, though, so making even more changes might take some effort. Still, no matter what car you're in, finessing your driving technique to conserve your momentum will save you gasoline.

If you're in a lot of stop and go traffic, then it's especially tricky to do this, but you just have to resist the urge to race forward those eight extra feet just because it's open, particularly if creeping forward takes you out of autostop and you're just going to sit there for another thirty seconds anyway. Auto stop is your friend. Aim for as much auto stop as you can get, and if you can tell you're going to be sitting at the light for at least ten seconds anyway, and you don't manage to get the car to auto stop, then shift to neutral and key off. It only takes a few seconds to key the car back on again, shift back to drive and go.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes for you, and if you manage to get your numbers up!

 

Good advice from all. Just one minor point - the HCHII doesn't have an econ light. I'm not sure what econ does on the HCHI, but the only thing you should have to worry about in your HCHII is to ensure that the climate control screen always says "A/C OFF" (unless, of course, you want to have the A/C on). To ensure that the A/C is off, push auto, then push A/C button. The A/C OFF message should show up.

You never really told us what type of traffic you are seeing on the streets of LA. I assume, like the rest, that you are seeing lots of traffic, making it very difficult to pulse and glide. I have that issue in the afternoon returning home from work, but the streets are very clear in the morning, so I can make hay then. If you're seeing heavy traffic most of the time, then like the others have said, you're going to have to really work at it, and then you will struggle to get into the 50's.

I'm also surprised to hear that you're getting between 50's and 60's on the freeway. That sounds high, unless you're keeping your speed in the 50's. Are you drafting trucks or anything like that?

 

If you have went 500 miles on a tank, you CLEARLY have gotten over 40 mpg. The tank holds 12.3, and 12.3 multiplied by 40 is only 492. Are you going by the gauge in determining your mpg's? Mine is ALWAYS low compared to calculated, usually 1-2, but once it was reading 43mpg when I had 565 miles on the tank !!!!! When filled, it calculated out to over 51 mpg

 

TheBundo, that isn't quite correct as most of us don't drive the tank to the last drop...

If I remember correctly, my first few tanks were in the mid 40s. A year later, my average is around 52. When I accelerate from a stop, I tend to keep RPM under 2000, rarely above 2500. Of course, I apply the usual tactics of anticipating congestion (look far ahead on the freeway, at least two lights out on signalled roads) and driving at or under the speed limit. In bumper to bumper traffic, I brake at 7-8 mph to force auto-stop (esp when on a downward slope). Since I keep a larger than normal buffer in front of me, a few cars inevitably cut in front, but this is no big deal.

Getting just the right touch on the accelerator to keep the instantaneous reading consistently above 50 mpg takes some practice. I've only gotten very good at it recently. I used to use cruise control all the time, but I stopped about four tanks ago, and my mileage has been averaging 55-57 mpg since. This weekend, it got a bit warm here so I actually ran the A/C (was driving with the missus...). For once, it knocked my battery down to a few bars (sat in traffic for several minutes) so the engine ran more than usual and at higher RPMs. Still, it's pretty cool when I can look at 54.7 mpg, and my initial reaction is "Ugh, a bad tank."