Hello everyone!

I have recently purchased a Honda Certified - 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. The car had about 19,000 miles on it when I purchased the vehicle.

My daily commute is about 16 miles total (to and from work). The highest MPG I have been able to obtain so far is 37 MPG. I live in GA so I do use the A/C on a regular basis and drive in a mixed city / expressway environment.

Is the MPG I am getting typical for my trip?


Otherwise, I am thrilled with vehicle... I haven't been to the gas station in almost 3 weeks now!!


Thanks for your help!

 

It sounds 5-10 mpg below "norm" for this time of year, but (assuming you're not getting any warning lights) it's almost certainly a matter of driving style, and it's hard to say what "normal" is for this car because it so dramatically rewards efficient driving but pretty much acts like any other econo-car if you drive it hard.

Tell us a bit about how you're driving -- what speeds you hold, how quickly you accelerate, what your driving style is (on a continuum between hypermiler -- that is, about 15 mph slower than little-old-lady -- and speedfreak). How high do you hold the engine revs on acceleration? Do you "feather" the gas pedal once you reach a speed you want to hold (let it almost all the way off then gently reapply it to hold the speed)? Do you coast into stops or do you wait 'til you're there and brake hard? Does the car autostop okay? (In Atlanta at this time of year, I would guess it should be auto-stopping by, at most, a couple miles into your drive, or your 4th or 5th stop.) Where does your instant MPG gauge spend most of its time?

I'm no hypermiler, but even with A/C on and a mostly interstate commute holding 70-72 mph, I get in the mid-high 40s. My spouse typically gets 5-8 mpg less than I do (high 30s/low 40s) -- it's totally a driving style thing. She accelerates it at 3000 - 3500 rpm and rarely feathers the gas (though I taught her that one and sometimes she thinks to, and it helps) and doesn't coast much.

It's not a miracle machine: people getting over 50 mpg with them simply find ways to never press the gas pedal very hard or for very long, and they drive slow. They're not doing 70 on the interstate. (Well, at least, I think most aren't.) But with simply some thoughtful driving, you should be comfortably in the 40s if everything on the car is functioning right.

Cheers --
Doug

 

First off... congratulations on your new car!!!

Now for the details:

Set your tires to a pressure of no less than 38psi and at most 44psi. Many folks choose to set them at 42 psi in the front wheels and 40 psi in the rear. I run them at 48 in the front and 46 in the rear.

Then, get acquinted with the car's instrumentation and features. I mean "really get acquainted with them". Perhaps the best way to start is to look at Tarabell's article.

Then about the AC: Try to open the doors and keep them open for a couple of minutes if the car's been in the hot summer sun. Then set the climate control to auto. Set the temp to something like 80. Then in regular intervals lower the temp in small increments as the car slowly but surely begins to cool down... until you get to a temperature you are comfortable with (don;t be too agressive with the intervals - You'll notice the fan speed slowing down when it is time to set the new lower temperature. Please remember that the battery pack as the rest of the IPU unit derives its cooling from the passenger cabin so a comfortable driver is a healthy and long lived IPU.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

Hi!

Thanks for your response... as to my driving style. Hhmmm...let me think about that one for a second.

1st of all I do not race out of a dead stop... I try to accelerate slowly, but not as slow as someones grandma. My RPM's have gone has high as 3000 at times, but usually more along the 2100 to 2500 range.

I drive about 10 mph above the posted speed limit which is usually around 60 to 65 mph. I have to...otherwise, traffic would bump me off of the road. I definitely would not describe myself as a speedfreak - heck, I am driving a Civic! I know better...

I have not tried the feathering technique yet to hold my speed... I do use the cruise control on the interstate and when I do, I have noticed I get better MPG. I try to keep the FE gauge in the 50 MPG + range

When coming to a stop... I will remove my foot from the gas and let the car slow down on its own. It goes into REGEN for a while and then I start applying the brakes as I come closer to the stopping point. The AutoStop feature comes on, on a regular basis.

I will continue to hone my driving skills so that I can reach 40+ MPG one day!

I heard that the distance one drives can also have an impact on MPG???

 

You should be able to break 40mpg. I'm in TX where the weather is really similar to GA, my daily commute is 14 miles to/from, the only difference is I'm all surface roads with a top speed of 40mph. If time is not a big deal you might want to try a surface route, one where the lights are timed good and there isn't too much traffic. The car really likes 40mph fuel efficiency wise. In fact on my trip to my parents where it rained all they way there I was getting really bad mpg but then I hit moderate traffic on the interstate that slowed me down to around 30-40mph and the average mpg started to move up some even after 200+ miles of bad mpg!

 

Yeah, distance is important. I am currently getting an avg of 42.5 but thats because I've been driving in the city and short distances. On the HWY, driving bout 30+ miles I can get about 47-48 mpg. Anything below 15 miles and my FE is around 42.

 

I'll chime in, too.
First, congrats on the new car. It's a pretty cool machine, overall.
Shorter trips certainly take their toll on MPG, unless you are absolutely bonkers about getting the highest MPG (AND know how). I would think that you could get 40+, though, on your short commute. Try slowing down from 65 to 60. You will see an improvement. Reset one of your trip-meters before heading out each time. Try different little techniques, vary speeds, roads, etc, and note how it affects your resulting MPG. It is a great learning tool all by itself.
It sounds like you are doing reasonably well, actually. Consider how far away (percentage-wise) you were from the EPA estimate on whatever you drove before. Your commute often has plenty to do with that, not so much the vehicle. Some are better than others in difficult (difficult for good MPG) situations, but almost all vehicles have the same issues - very poor MPG until warmed-up. And short commutes mean a larger percentage of your drive is done before the engine is fully warmed up.
By comparison, my commute is 37 miles one way, and I drive 60+ MPH much of the way. I average over 48 MPG on my commutes. Short errand trips around town are another matter. Sometimes I see 30 MPG, sometimes 45 - mostly depending on the length of the errand or the level of congestion.
And congrats and welcome to GreenHybrid!

 

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions! I am certainly going to give them a try and see what my results are.

One thing I did do today was to reset the trip meter before I went on an errand around town. The trip meter showed that I was getting 45 MPG.

Now, here is my question... which trip meter is used to calculate my correct MPG?

I reset both trip meters about 3 weeks ago when I filled up my car for the first time (one trip meter is used for the lifetime MPG usage). So, which reading is accurate? Is it the one that I reset before I start my journey or the lifetime one?

I'm confused! Please help...

 

The trip meter you use to calculate your tank is the one you reset each time you fill up. For isntance, every time I buy gas, I fill the whole tank and then reset Trip A. When I buy gas the next time, I write down the number of miles I've driven on that tank on the reciept and then reset it.

I reset Trip B every time I get behind the wheel. This has had a HUGE impact on my fuel economy because I can see what effect route choice and driving style has on my commute.

It doesn't make sense to have one of the Trips be a "lifetime" for the car because it will reset every 10,000miles. You are going to be much better off keeping records in the database here after every fill up (or cleanmpg.com has a database, or you could use Excel).

In general, the readings I get from hand calculating Trip A miles / Trip A gallons is 1-3mpg HIGHER than the computer calculated for that tank so your 37mpg could be as high as 40 already if you are just getting it off the computer.

BTW, if you don't mind asking, how much did you pay for your HCH? I'm always wondering how the resale market is doing

 

Again...thanks for the info! I am such a newb... I am learning though...

I paid $17,984 (before tax) for the car.