My 08 FEH is currenty averaging 30.4 MPG mixed driving. On long drives I drive at about 70-75 and shorter drives I keep it at 65. Seems good and that is what I was going to be happy if I saw. I have not done out the milage at fill up to see if the computer is accurate or not but will do so at my next fill up. What I have noticed as odd is as fallows. I picked up the car from the dealer on Friday evening. On the ride home I reset the computer and averaged 28 MPG all the way home. My wife then drove it that night and at the end of the night we had it at almost 29 MPG. On my trip up to Maine this weekend she said that the average started at 20MPG. So it lost MPG over night just sitting there. I thought that she was crazy and just miss read the thing. She got up to Maine and average was at 25 MPG. I keep getting it up over 30 but then on restart it will be back down to 30. Any idea why this happens?

The other thing that I am wondering about is running on the batteries. I can barely accelerate at all on battery. Any hill at all and the engine kicks in. I can only coast up hills and of course loose a lot of speed. I am not going to punish all the people behind me trying to get the best milage and make them hate the idea of hybrids so I run it on the engine most of the time. It also seems like I can only go on short distances with the battery only even if I do drive slow and what not (maybe a mile). Is this normal?

So far I am happy with the car. I do have the sqeeking breaks that everyone is complaining about but that is a small price to pay IMO. I hope that once I understand it a little better things will improve.

 

Welcome, Jon.

How many miles are on your 08? The owners guide and others here, including myself, will tell you that the FEH needs time to "break in" and "learn itself" for the first 2000 miles.

As for the MPG meter changing overnight, I've never seen that. It does go down if you spend any time idling/warming up without moving. The FEH (as all other ICE vehicles) waste gas and get 0MPG when idling. Even worse, the idle start-up mixture is usually a rich one so even more gas is being used. I highly recommend that you only turn the switch on when you've got you seat-belt on and are ready to go. Just fire it up and go. You'll find that the ICE heats up very quick, quicker than most, and you'll have cabin heat rather quickly. If you have heated seats, use them to bridge the gap between start-up and ICE heat for the cabin.

In my normal driving scenario, I find that the MPG computer is consistently around 2MPG higher than the tank/fill-up hand calculation. It's a good idea to keep a fuel log and post your tanks on the "Real Hybrid Mileage Database" on this site.

25MPG in cold weather at 70-75MPH is about right. Remember that the FEH is essentially a brick shaped SUV with loads of wind resistance at those speeds. You can relieve some of this resistance by following other cars instead of being in a lane by yourself or the pack leader (don't "draft" as that is dangerous but following other vehicles at a safe distance will help some). Also putting more air in your tires can help reduce rolling resistance (once again, be safe and practical when setting your tire pressure). In general, I find that highway speeds will add more heat/pressure to your tires than in-town driving.

You're doing a good job to pull that 25MPG average back up to 30MPG so don't beat yourself (or the FEH) up just yet. Remember that 25MPG is still better that the 23-24MPG EPA-mixed for all the competition (Rav-4,CRV,Vue-XE,Forester) so 30MPG is an outstanding start. Once you learn the FEH you should have no problem getting to the EPA-mixed 32 and hopefully beyond it.

EV-only driving in the 08 FEH is only about 1-1.5miles, if your battery pack is full (as full as it normally gets, see post on how the battery actually uses only a portion of charge) and you run it until the pack is empty (as empty as it gets). This distance is dependant on road conditions, acceleration, speed, temperature of the pack, outside temperature, accessories usage and other factors. You'll learn over time how to best use the EV portion of the FEH. There are many post here about how the EV works and what it takes to use it and what will keep you from being able to use it.

Don't forget that you bought a wonderful vehicle and that sometimes it nice to just drive, see those wonderful Maine views and not worry about FE.

 

We've noticed the FEH computer will drop the MPG average by 2 or 3 in cold weather just from starting the engine and backing out of the driveway. I'd turn the key just far enough to see the computer come on and see then if you've "lost" any MPG or not.

As for going up hill, yeah, the ICE is going to kick in if there is any significant grade. Just the nature of the beast. The upside is that it also shuts off frequently in downhill driving.

Last fall the wife and I went on a drive where most of the morning was uphill. We filled up after lunch and then turned around and ended up going north of 40mpg as we essentially coasted back.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. Mypart, I did not mean to make it sound like I do not like the car. So far I love it. 30 MPG was my goal and it looks like I will make that no problem. Anything more is a pure bonus. It is hard for me to accept that I like this car since I grew up driving european cars all my life. My Truck (F-350 Dually Deisle) was a nightmare at first and I swore I would never buy another Ford. Luckily I now have a great mechanic and the truck has been more reliable with 200,000 miles on it then it was with 20,000. Dealers seem to not have the best mechanics and all they seem to want to do is plug into the computer and see what it tells them. If it does not tell them anything then they say can not duplicate. Probably the issue with all the sqeeking breaks that we are reading about . Anyhow so far so good. It is with out a doubt a TOTALY different beaste then any other car that I have driven. I am actually having fun driving again trying to beat the "system"

 

I notice very different MPGs at 65 MPH vs 75 MPH. Enough difference that I've changed my driving habits from 70-75 to 65.

 

In the short time that I have owned the car I have also noticed that. For me I will drive it 75 on the long drives as it is kind of a time vs. money deal. I can shave off 25 min from my drive up to Maine by going with the flow of trafic at 75 and cost myself an additional less then a gallon of fuel. Since I make more then 4 dollars in 25 min then the extra speed is cost effective. When I am doing short trips durring the week the extra speed only saves me maybe a min. or two so it does not make any sence at that point. I know kind of odd duck logic but it is working for me.

Jon