I average 47mpg if I work a little with my TCH and sometimes I can get far better. On a recent trip I achieved over 58mpg over a 22.3 mile stretch through the mountains (ending up at the same altitude but with slightly less charge).
Thankfully I took the temporary time of cheaper gas to replace my cars with hybrids. I own a 2009 TCH since last fall and I have spent some time optimizing my driving technique. I am hoping that I can boost fuel efficiency during the warm summer months some more, but so far I am fairly happy.
I wrote a blog post about this and I credited this forum, since I learned a lot from you guys. Here is the posting:
Improving Hybrid Car Gas Mileage
I welcome any feedback. Keep in mind, I am still learning. I am hoping to continuously improve my mileage. Its sort of a game for me, trying to beat my old records. I don't drive very slow and I don't do anything dangerous (anymore). I am not a nuisance to other drivers. I am sure with more aggressive techniques I could achieve greater savings.

 

I have had good results while driving in the nearby mountains. This was during the summer and I found dry air or the very low humidity in the mountains helps improve the mpg.

Another thing I have noticed with my '07 TCH, is the mpg is best when the air intake temperature reads 75 to 85 degrees. (I use a scan-gauge)

I would think the warmer the better and with the dryer air, but without the AC.

 

Thanks Jimmy,
I am waiting for the higher temps, but I think I can already tell the difference between 40 and 60 and its quite significant.
Thankfully the air is usually dry here.

 

It is possible. I got over 53MPG last week over 58 miles. This is over completely flat land with no traffic and hardly any stop lights at speeds below 58 MPH. I had to really work at it to achieve those numbers and I will probably never do it again. It is nice to know that "you can" get incredible numbers if you need to.

So far I am learning to enjoy the car more. I have yet to have a tank average below 38 MPG and I am still finding .4 to .7 error on the computer when comparing to numbers off the pump.

More than anything, I am finding that winds really affect this car and the MPG's. It is really noticeable on the interstate. Maybe more down here because it is so flat. A decent tail wind will give me over 40 MPG all day long while a good head or cross wind will dip it into the lower 30's.

 

Thanks for the feedback AJ. Did you do anything special to achieve your mileage?
I noticed the wind sensitivity too and it makes sense. The more efficient a car gets, the more factors such as wind will matter. I am always tempted to draft a big rig under these conditions, but then I remind myself that it is not worth it.

 

I gave up on drafting for several reasons. I find myself getting nervous when I get too close. Then there is the risk of rocks and crud flying up and hitting the car and not being able to dodge it. Even worse is if someone runs over something huge (like a re-tread), a piece of wood or anything and not being able to get out of the way in time. I know it is "morbid". But, I can just picture a tire iron or some debris flying up, coming through the windshield and killing me, or even worse, one of the passengers in the car.


I don't know if it is my imagination or what... But, I have noticed that when I "pulse" the car up to either 60 or 55 and feather the throttle back to either 55-56MPH or 51-52MPH, the MG makes an obvious whinning sound. When this happens I can keep the MPG gauge pegged for longer than I can at other speeds. I'm not really sure why? When I have stretches of road available to do this, I take advantage of it. Then any speed zones that are less than 40MPH, I try to force it to stay in E Mode.

 

I found driving my TCH now for near 4 years, that wind, humidity and the temperature really affect the mpg. The other factor is how you drive your TCH.

I started working with improved gas mileage back in the mid 60's by airing up the tires and advancing the timing way up only for trips. I could take my normal 18 mpg car and up to 23 or 24 mpg highway.

In the late 80's and early 90's I tried more for long coast to red lights and easy takeoffs and driving at slower speeds when possible. These were chevy cavaliers and my first toyota, a '94 Corolla automatic. The Corolla gave me 36 to 39 combined mpg driving on the freeways in Dallas.

I could not wait to try all this that I had learned with the new 2007 TCH. My first tank was 48 mpg. I set my goal for 50 which came many tanks later. I found out the toyota dealer used Conoco gas in their new vehicles.

For a few years I used Chevron, but then switched back to Phillips 66 due to it being a quality gas at a lower price. I found out later that phillips and conoco are the same people.

I have used 56 tanks with a average of 52.3 mpg to date. My driving habits are 40 to 41 mph for EV to come on by itself. I drive 46 miles per hour on straight runs. I also do this on our 4-lane highway to town using the right land. That's 8 miles of smooth level highway with little traffic. I do know they are many Interstates where you would have to drive 65 or 70 mph. Heavy city traffic when taking off at red lights were you could have to hurry or get run over. It's laid back out here and most others drive rather casual in town.

I try to use all the good stuff. Mobil 1, 0W-20 oil, top tier gas (regular), michelin energy saver a/s tires, inflated to 40 psi when cold. My record mpg is 63.6 using the readout at 832 miles when I filled the tank. This was Sept 29, 2009 about 400 miles after I installed the new saver tires. They increase my mph about 10% at the time. I don't think their doing that good as the next year I could only get 53.6. No AC and driving as I said earlier. I do use the cruise control all the time, even at speeds of 25 mph on the 2 miles over to the highway from out house.

Almost forgot, I do use the block heater during the cold winter before leaving from home.

I have pictures of my speedometer and mpg readings but are in a computer that's not connected up. Here is where I keep my tank records. Click where it says White Lightning under Cars, for the list. place your mouse over More to read my details on each tank.

They don't use this one below anymore. They now use a new site, maybe I was somehow grandfathered in.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/...mryhybrid.html

One more, I live near Alamogordo, NM which is in the high desert at 4100 feet. This altitude gives me a advantage with many days of 5% to 15% humidity. The engine loves that and many sunny days here with no wind at all. I found the traction batteries live the warmer temperatures. The highways around White Sands National Monument and the highway south to El Paso are rather level. So it's not all just me, it's area where I live that gives me lots of extra mpg.

note: I prefer the mfd readout for comparing my mpg. It's off some, but lots more accurate per tank when testing, as it reads only the gallons from the pump in the tank. I had to much trouble filling at various stations in the past on unlevel driveways. Some variances at the same pump on a level driveway. I tracked that to the maintenance gas man varying the pump pressure, which varies the fill level to my gas tank. He was trying to keep the pumps at a constant determined pressure is my guess.

Hope all this helps.

Jimmy

 

Andre,
I think that efficient driving should be commended. It's a building block to a larger goal.
But playing devil's advocate, there are so many factors which can contribute to a single trip such as traffic conditions, wind direction and speed, humidity, possibly even atmospheric air pressure to name a few.

The real test is at the end of the tank.
Keep up doing the good things which contribute to your MPG and I'd like to see your sucessful tank.

 

I looked at the image shack site where I thought I had pictures of my best mpg. I only found this one at 57 mpg.

I never did well on just highway driving. The best ever I got was 48 mpg driving at 60 mph using the cruise. I may had the AC on at the time, but can't remember. We don't travel even though were retired. I used to drive 80 miles to my doctor. Now we use a doctor locally here in town. As I said earlier, I get my high mpg numbers by driving 40 EV and 46 mph with the engine running. I always set the cruise on any speeds 25 mph on up.

I do want to say, it's very dangerous to drive slow on any busy streets or highways. Their is just not that much traffic out here in and around Alamogordo, New Mexico, and that does give me some advantage.