I have had my 03 Civic Hybrid for a month now and have to say I am very disappointed with the mpg / mileage I have been getting. The car only went 500 miles (approx 38mpg) on the first tank. The 2nd time around I ony got 424 miles (approx 32mpg). I purchased this car solely for the higher fuel economy, and I am obviously failing to anything close to what I expected.

My first and only question would be, "Is there something seriously wrong with this car?". This car should be going close to 600 miles on a full tank, or maybe even better depending on driving conditions. Should I take the car to the Honda dealership and have it checked out? I am beginning to have some regrets about my decision to purchase this car.

Before anyone asks, I am NOT driving this car hard; no speeding, no quick starts, no hard breaking, etc. My driving is about 50-50 between hwy and city. The terrain here in north Texas is very flat; no mountains or hills to affect the fuel efficiency.

Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Air conditioning might be doing some damage. Maybe try a run without it and see what the trip FE is? The other usual mechanical advice applies: make sure your tires are inflated to the recommended specs or preferably higher, ensure that you don't have any alignment issues, etc.

My other recommendation is that you do a little reading here on driving technique. (There are a few good threads already). There are some cases where driving gently doesn't necessarily mean driving efficiently.

What are the highway speed limits out there? Anything over 65mph and aerodynamic drag starts to hit you pretty hard. Personally, I prefer 55-60mph for maxum economy.

 

The Honda pilots can give you more help but I'm somewhat curious:

1. Miles on car?
2. CVT or manual?
3. Recent service: oil, filters, tires?
4. Tire status and pressure?

In the documents area is a nice write-up on how Honda drivers achieve improved performance. I don't have the link handy but I suspect some of the Honda pilots can help.

GOOD LUCK!

Bob Wilson

 

Any thoughts HCH owners?

 

Brick: Highway speed limits are 60 on most freeways in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The rest are lower. Get outside of the metroplex and the limit increases to 70. I have been trying to stay within 60 to 65, which is very difficult because drivers here will run you over if you aren't at least going with the flow of traffic. As for the air conditioning, I understand it can reduce your gas mileage, but to the the tune of 200 miles? That sounds a bit far fetched to me. But air conditioning is a must here, especially in the summer. Its simply too hot to go without it except at night and in the early morning.

Bob: Miles are at 45k. The car is an automatic, but the difference should be minimal, right? What is CVT anyway? I decided to take the car in to have it looked at. I will ask them to service the vehicle while its there.

Thanks to both of you for the input.

 

This article helped me more than anything when I first got my hybrid.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/learn/ar...fficiency.html

I average almost 48MPG now, but my first tank was just over 40MPG and I was not happy when I first purchased my HCH. The techniques that you'll pick up from this article and browsing past threads will take practice and patience, but you'll eventually get it.

Two very simple suggestions: drive according to the fuel consumption display (or instantaneous mileage meter) rather than the speedometer and accelerate moderately (this means, no more than 5 bars of assist during acceleration).

 

CVT is Continuously Variable Transmission. It's like an automatic, but there are no gears, or maybe I should say there is just one gear; it just adjusts rpm automatically instead of shifting between gears automatically. The HCH only comes in CVT or manual, so yours is a CVT. Someone really ought to add that to the Glossary. Manuals are a little more fuel efficient than CVTs- see the database.

If you're running the AC all the time on high, that can be a huge hit to FE. There are a couple of things you can do about this that help a bit.

One, don't put the AC or the other accessories, radio, whatever, on full blast when you first start up the car, because it puts a strain on the engine. Give it a minute or two, let the engine warm up. The engine does everything better after it warms up. Turn it off before you turn off the car, so it doesn't slam back on the second you start it back up.

Two, turn on the Econ mode. If you don't, you won't AS, which means you're wasting fuel idling at stops. I know Texas is hot, but having the fan off for a few seconds at stops won't change the temperature all that much. Really.

Three, use a low setting or Auto instead of leaving the fan on 'High.' Once it gets cool enough in the car, Auto will turn the fan down a bit for you, maintaining the right temperature but not wasting more energy than you need by making it colder than you've set it to be.

My car sometimes had tanks that were that low a while back, in the winter, on long highway trips at high speeds. Now I'm avoiding the highway, the weather is temperate and I've been working hard on my driving techniques. The way you drive makes a BIG difference, and it's not just about stomping on the brakes. You have to get a feel for it, and it takes practice. I hope you have enough patience to make it, but if you don't, then good for you for making the attempt! Try not to get frustrated, and I wish you the best of luck.

 

Well there is a chance that there is something wrong with the car. There is probly nothing wrong because the fuel economy that is posted on the car is labritory specs and they are miss leading also the more you drive on the high way the less mpg you get because hybrids get better in town driving. so unless its getting less then an average of 30 mph then there is probly nothing wrong. what i can tale you is fill the car up and drive highway for a few miles then refill it and see what you mph is.

 

I had an '04 HCH and it just takes a little bit to get used to the car. I got 48.8 lmpg but it took a little time to figure it out.

 

My wife and I bought a Prius about a month ago. I bought the HCH2 for myself about a week ago. Both cars are capable of high mileage, as is yours, but if you drive them like most people drive a regular car, you get good, but not great mileage.

I had look at an '03 Civic Hybrid before going for the new one. It had 8000+ miles on one of the trip odometers and an average of 47mpg. You just need to learn how to drive it like a hypermiler.

You will find many tips at this site that will help you significantly increase your fuel economy.

Try this link:
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...tips.7702.html

One of the best tips I read in a thread (it may not listed in the above link but works great on both of my cars and should on yours) was to accelerate to a few mph above the desired speed, then release the gas pedal until the MPG readings goes to 100, and then slightly depress the gas pedal until you have 2-3 bars of 'boost'. The car 'coasts' for a good distance, slowing down very, very slowly. I usually do this well before I reach a traffic light or stop sign. It really helps keep the MPG up.

Hope this helps. The tips in the above link have really helped me a lot. I am half way through my first tank and averaging 46, which includes about 50 miles of 'test driven' low FE miles prior to my purchase.

Good luck!