Good stuff and appreciate the posts. I tried something a little different yesterday, I turned off the ECON button to see how much it would change my mileage. I figured I'd see it drop at least 5 mpg, but was pleasantly surpirsed it really didn't alter it that much.

I drive 48 miles each way to work with about 7 stop lights along the way. Mostly country road with 55 as the limit. I do believe the sliders may be a bit off, but the lowest my MPG went was 47.5 with AC in manual mode at 73. I think it all boils down to driving styles. My neighbor is the king of "Jack Rabbit" starts and swares she drives conservative all the time... Subject to interpretation I guess. The car is not for everyone, and you have to learn how to drive it properly to reap the benefits. I know if I lighten up a bit myself I'd probably get into the low 50s, but that would be my limit. The commute is over an hour as it is and I want to get home, so driving slower is not very desireable.

 

Your in-town driving sounds just like city driving. Yep, city driving is inherently more inefficient. Curious, how long are you drives in miles and time?

Your 37 mpg is almost on the dot w/what Consumer Reports pegged the Insight for overall mileage per http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...-206/index.htm and yet Insight fans here and elsewhere bash CR's figures as being bogus.

 

We drive in town and continue to average 49-50 MPH. I think Chicago qualifies as a town, doesn't it?
It looks like it will drop slightly now that we are dealing with temps below freezing and slippery roads.
We use the econ button full time. We also accelerate and decellerate slowly, anticipate red lights, and use cruise control whenever possible.

 

Yes, in town driving=city driving, just my South Dakota vernacular. My drive times are 4-5 miles, about 10-15 minutes in length. I do use the ECON assist button full time, accelerate and decelerate slowly and anticipate all lights as well.

My biggest disappointment, like I stated earlier is that my 11 year old Civic consistently averaged 28 mpg in this same drive time-trip length above while my brand new Hybrid Insight achieves only 9 more mpg.

By the way, here is the eye candy I have been referring to. The mpg visual graph leads you me believe that I average 39.7 from full tank to empty tank. Once you manually calculate 9.342 gallons used for 340.8 miles traveled you get 36.48 mpg, not 39.7. The horizontal bars show average of 100 mpg at one point and 75 mpg shortly after...

 

Your short drive and low speeds is what's hurting your mileage. Do you have a lot of stop lights and stop signs too?

I'm guessing that given your drive, you'd achieve significantly better mileage if you'd bought a 2010 Prius.

FWIW, per http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm, a 98 Civic automatic after conversion is EPA rated at 28 mpg combined. The Insight is rated at 41 combined. I don't know what trim of Civic you had, but also FWIW, per http://www.internetautoguide.com/car...602/index.html the 98 Civic weighed about 400 lbs. less than your Insight. Cars have become bloated in size and weight over time.

 

From looking at the 2 pictures, it looks like the other thing that could cause Randy's lower mpgs is the low temperature. (6-7 degrees F?; that's cold!)

 

Gairwyn please see my 12-09-2009, 10:15 AM and 12-09-2009, 08:09 PM posts on page 2 of this thread. I have had this Insight since April 2009 and it has the mileage I have been consistently receiving the same mileage through nearly 3 seasons on the way to the 4th season.

Yes, cwerdna, I have 7 stop lights and 2 stop signs for my 4-5 mile one way commute to work. I would like to reiterate that I have had the same job, requiring the same commute for the last 12 years.

My 1998 Civic EX always averaged 28 mpg for this commute, when the EPA estimates were 28 mpg for city driving. (Even though new EPA estimates put it at 24 mpg according to fueleconomy.gov) 28=28

My 2010 Insight EX has averaged less than 37 mpg, even though the EPA estimates are 40 mpg for city driving. 37<40

I would send the following challenge to people who city drive only with their 2010 Insight. Next time you fill your tank full, reset the trip meter, run it down to the amber fuel warning stating you have an estimate of 30 miles, fill up your tank again, divide the trip miles by the number of gallons put in the tank and then compare that number to what your visual display shows. Repeat this process for a few more trips to see if there are changes.

My visual gauge display has always shown in the 39 range, however, manual calculations (trip/gallons) averaged around the 37 range. I know this may seem very trivial but the numbers do not correlate between what the car is telling me and what I get.

 

FWIW, all/virtually hybrids have tended to have much higher EPA figures than what's easily achievable at least via the old EPA test. The disparity is a lot smaller now (with the MY 08+ method) but hybrids still tend to get better city readings than what many can achieve in the city.

If you're curious about the EPA tests, see http://priuschat.com/forums/other-ca...estimates.html.

If you're curious about the unfudged raw EPA dyno numbers, download the data files at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/download.shtml. In the 1998 file, the ucty, uhwy, and ucmb look like the raw numbers before the 10% adjustment downwards for city and 22% for highway.

 

I just thought I'd chime in as another Insight owner. I want to point out that I'm a fan of the Prius, but I could not afford a Prius. People can compare sticker prices all day long but when reality sets in and you compare what it actually costs to get into a Prius vs. an Insight you will find the gap much wider. These mythical low-end Priuses don't seem to exist on any dealer lot and dealers tend to not negotiate too much on the price of a Prius. So I found that I could get an Insight for around $4,000 less money than the Prius and I get about the same fuel economy. I know the Prius has a higher EPA rating, but everyone I know with an Insight beats that rating by a few mpg and everybody I know with a Prius never achieves that rating. So when looking at real-world driving the Insight performs about as well as the Prius in fuel economy.

Plus, like many others have stated, I prefer the instruments in front of me!

 

From http://priuschat.com/forums/dealers-...selection.html, they don't look so mythical to me. Prius II is the lowest one can go.