Found this article linked to from a left leaning "drudge report" style website I frequent (www.buzzflash.com).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/kcra/2006050...HNlYwNtZW5ld3M-

In it was this little gem:

"Honda claims its hybrid Civic sedan gets 48 mpg in the city. Consumer Reports found it only gets 26 mpg -- a 46 percent difference."

Now I agree with the general direction of the article, but real world data shows that CR's results are just as faulty as the EPA numbers. Look at our mileage database. The average for all of the Civic's here is about 46-48MPG. Now consider this is an enthusiast site, so our cross section of data might be skewed toward higher MPG. But even if you say that the average person would get 5-10 MPG less, that still isn't the ridiculous 26MPG number. You would have to try...REALLY HARD to get that low of a mileage.

Unfortunatly our intrepid reporter in this case decided to do a quick soundbite piece & do very little acutal journalism. A google search of "civic hybrid mileage", has the greenhybrid mileage DB as the #2 link. It's a shame that people who call themselves journalists today can't bother to do a simple google search on the topic they are reporting on. Then again that wouldn't make for a nice & tidy fluff piece & would take actual work.

 

The reporter is outright lying.Honda never-never said "our civic gets 48 mpg city" What Honda might have said is that "The EPA rates the Civic at 48 mpg city" which is true, and not even misleading. Every ad I have ever seen that touts EPA mpg also has an * with "your own mpg will vary...... the EPA # is just for purposes of comparison". I never seen an ad touting EPA results that didn't qualify it.
Typical CS reporting-outright lie. Thanks,Charlie

 

Why are people always looking to find fault with hybrids? I hear it and see it all the time. It is nutty. That article is pure crap. My regular, non hybrid civic gets better mileage than their so called civic hybrid! sheesh.

 

I subcribe to Consumer Reports magazine. I trusted for their "objective" testings. I based on their reports for many of the items that I'd purchased. They are like a bible for me to decide whether to buy or to avoid certain products. Well, now I realize that they could be wrong!

 

In their February magazine they said they got 18 mpg in the city in a 2006 Civic EX. Eighteen! Can you imagine how you would have to drive to get that kind of mileage in a Civic? My wife gets better than that in her Mercury Sable with a big V6, and she doesn't use any techniques, all short trips in the city.

 

The folk at Consumer Reports just don't knowhow to drive cars! That's okay, though, since they get crappy mileage out of regular cars too. It's important to Know, however, that CR gave the Civic Hybrid a rating of " Highly Recommended".

Once you get past the Subjective editorializing, that "circled, red checkmark" that indicates "HighlyRecommended" is what you really need to know about.

 

I consult CR for cars,and tires; I don't need them for TVs, toasters etc(just buy the cheapest one). I don't see anything wrong with their city loop testing other than their not being able to control for weather-temp, wind, hot or cold asphalt etc.
I have mentioned the 18 mpg 2006 Civic auto several times here. It is an odd result for Honda. The previous Civic auto got 22/40mpg in CRs city/hy testing. The 18 mpg city-a drop of 4 mpg-just isn't Honda-like, especially since the EPA city-30mpg- remained the same. Forced to guess, I would say that the testing was done in the fall of 2005. CRs test facility is in the north east- NH or somewhere in New England. This would certainly hurt any city loop, since I'm sure their profile starts with a cold engine. Maybe the earlier Civic was done in warmer weather?? Just a guess, of course. Do we have any repeat Honda Civic auto owners here??
Speaking of CRs city profile; I know I have read it in the past, but I spent about 30 minutes hunting for it a day or so ago, and I couldn't find it. Anyone have an easy link to it.
CR suggests you use their test just like you are supposed to use the EPAs. It relates one cars FE to another. My wife and son are casual drivers with no particular interest in FE; in our city driving they get 13 mpg with the 2003 Pilot, and mid to high 30's with the Prius, and 22-25 with the 2001 Prizm(corolla). These numbers are dead on CRs numbers. CRs hy numbers are roughly what we get during long trips with the Pilot-22-24 mpg.
If you are a casual driver, doing a lot of city/short trip driving, then CR is very close. The "short trip" is critical; we do lots of 1-5 mile trips. This kills FE. If you drive in the city, but it is a 12 mile commute, you will do much better , despite the stop and go.
Enough defense(you can spell it both ways) of CR-they don't pay me.
Anyone have their profile? Thanks,Charlie

 

Given that most people really don't know how to drive their cars, at least for good fuel economy, I think the CR numbers make far more sense than the CR or even the hybrid database here. At least for comparison purposes.

CR indicates that I should expect 22mg for my Highlander Hybrid. I could easily see someone who doesn't pay any attention to the feedback mechanisms provided by the hybrid vehicle instruments doing exactly that. What I think is wrong is expecting that someone who drives the car for any length of time being stuck at 22mpg. You learn and improve.

I do a lot of short 2 mile trips with a huge 205lb electric scooter and a 100 lbs scooter lift on the back of my vehicle and i'm getting 25.4 mpg with 26.2mpg on my last tank. At the same time I'm not doing anything extreme although I'm picking up the tips from all of you.

The only bit of bad journalism that I saw was the notion that Honda reported, given that the EPA limits what a auto company can say about fuel economy. That was truly a case of bad journalism.



Norris

 

I had a 2000 Civic 4 door, and I now own, in addition to my insight, a 2004 Civic 2 door. I consistantly get close to 25-30mpg city driving. AND we have driven up to Boston, 350 miles, on one tank of gas, which is 10 gals, not including the 2 gal reserve tank, every once in a while the gas light will go on at the end of the trip. This data is ALL before my Insight purchase, when I first got the Insight I was averaging 35-40mpg, now after a few months, I am averaging 50mpg, just by adjusting the way I drive. There is an art to it for sure! I also live in a pretty hilly area, on flat terrain my mileage is significantly better.

 

Merigayle, we need you to buy a 2006 Civic-preferably an auto trans, so you can let us know if it actually does get poorer city mpg than the 2004. In the winter months we got 25-26 mpg with the Prizm; it drops to 22-23 in the heat of summer when the AC is blasting conctantly.Thanks,Charlie