I just wanna throw out there that there are some cities (I'm just begging for a crucifixion from Hot_Georgia) - Atlanta is one of them - where it actually is hazardous to drive the speed limit or anywhere near. Atlanta in particular I drive about 4 times a year, including this past week. The I-75 / I-85 merger through downtown is awful; it's 6 lanes one way and each time you want to continue either straight north or straight south, you're forced into the 3 leftmost lanes. It's a 55 MPH limit and doing 60, I got passed by EVERY last car I saw, most of which were so hyperaggressive that they'd fly wildly by on my right and then pop back into the northbound/southbound lane just in time not to turn off to Alabama or SC. I'd do 80 if that was my everyday commute, too.

 

I drive 80+ mph whenever possible with my new 2006 Civic Hybrid, though usually I've been maintaining 80 mph exactly, not using cruise control. I drive with the windows up and have rarely been using A/C though... and right now I seem to be getting 41 mpg on the highway. Since the gas engine alone is used on the highway 90% of the time with the HCH, a diesel will obviously get better mileage, even though the '06 HCH is much more aerodynamic than any Volkswagen.

And I'm sure your diesel suffers less from having bikes on the roof than the hybrids will.

The TDIs definitely have their benefits, but they have their drawbacks too -- namely, they're VWs, so their reliability is poor. Also I like the new Civics better than Jettas, and I've owned (and liked) both.

 

Well, I'm definitely going to come off as a "Johnny Law" type but here goes. As a former 80+ plus mph driver I can sure agree with a lot of previous posts. It's easy to rationalize speeding because everyone else is doing it. I sure did. But a funny thing happened when I bought my 05 Prius. I decided it was not in my best interest to spend money for a fuel conserving auto and then continue my deliberate fuel wasting driving habits. The disadvantage is I have to leave a few minutes (3-5) earlier to get where I'm going. But now I am calm when I arrive at my destination and don't need to spend 10 minutes relaxing . I still look out my rear view mirror and now its to look out for the "old" me instead of trying to see if there is a cop entering the roadway behind me. Looking forward to your replies.

 

I don't do it because everyone else is doing it. I do it because I enjoy speeding. I like driving fast. I don't race cars, but I like to race motorcycles. But even so, I like going fast in cars, as well. By buying the hybrid, I help conserve a bit more fuel than if I were driving a non hybrid. So, no disadvantage. Even after buying the HAH, I still speed. But! Now I have a few more dollars left in my wallet at the end of the week.

 

My sentiments exactly. I was averaging 21 mpg with my previous car; now, on my latest tank, I'm getting 40.5. So my money was well spent even though I still speed. (Plus I just like the car alot, too.)

 

Oh, and that is in addition to all the other benefits of driving a hybrid:
-environmental
-socioeconomical
-less middle east oil dependency
-(albeit, small) tax breaks

 

I used to drive 75-85 MPH,but then I only got 40-41 MPG. I get 44-46 doing 65 MPH.

Also, I'm giving the engine a break since I am curious to see if I can get 200,000 miles out of this car. I've got 90k now.

 

200K?? Sheesh, with it's eyes closed AND one arm tied behind it's back.

 

I'm pretty much coming from a similar background. I had had a rash of tickets in the late 90s. Need to repeat one point of a Defensive Driving class:
In other words, cutting off, speeding, weaving, "racing", etc. tends to be done by a lot of drivers that would not otherwise do it, except it was initiated by a few. I have noticed when I was driving faster that I'd go slower when traffic was light.

In other words, speeding is not only a traffic violation and wasting fuel, it seduces others to do the same.

While some speeding is stress-related, it's apparanent a lot of it is one-upsmanship and the like. I frequently see some one blast by that I pass later on. The urban speeding is partially a result of congestion, not necessiarily stress.

 

That's pretty interesting. I bet that is because a lot of people rationalize they're less liekly to be ticketed if so many other people are doing it. That was usually my approach when I used to speed more -- watch how fast the fastest guys are going, and stay a few MPH below that, staying clear of the far left lane except for passing.

For the last few months, with an attempt to improve mileage, I've normally been driving around ~60-65. However, now I'm dong an experiment to see what I can average driving 70-75mph, yet still using other mileage saving techniques (DWL etc) for my regular drive. I actually find this somewhat less stressful than driving at or below the speed limit. As a result, this is probably what I will settle for in the long run. When driving in the rightmost lanes, I have to constantly be alert for slow trucks getting on the road (forcing me to decelerate than re-accelerate), and faster-than-average drivers trying to get over to exit (making changing to avoid slower drivers etc. very difficult). In the middle to left lanes, I can simply go with the flow and arrive a couple minutes sooner as well.

Also, based on average FCD readings, I calculated that the price of the time saved by driving 75 instead of 60 in the Civic Hybrid is only about $3.75/hour. (This figure would be much higher in a car with lower MPGs). I suspect that because fuel is so cheap as is, we will only see the general public slowing down if fuel goes over $5. The relatively small cost difference also explains why truckers like to drive so fast as well, if it means fitting in an extra shipment, I bet that more than pays for the extra fuel cost.