Well, his average fuel consumption gauge reported the fuel economy the OP expected – it was the HAND-calculated figure that he says was just 19 MPG. Maybe he read the odometer (150 miles) wrong?

I did my first tank fill on my '09 Civic Hybrid last week, and it was something like 48.5 MPG via gauge and hand-calculation. Don't ask me to trade cars with you – and good luck!

 

Bought an '07 HCH with HOV stickers here in Cal, 1st tank achieved +450miles and 45mpg, combo freeway and rural route. Interesting that the slower/steady route (with more hills and stops) achieved 47 while freeway and faster (70mph) achieved 42ish. This was with 31psi tires. I've reset to 44/40 now, be interesting to see if any difference with higher PSI.
I'm pleased with the MPG needless to say.

 

Congrats!

Your freeway MPGs might increase significantly, as well, just by reducing your speed by a few MPH, which would negligibly affect your total travel time. I drive at 62 MPH on SoCal freeways, and use cruise control not for any possible efficiency but only to avoid the temptation to drive faster! With the higher tire pressures, I've easily been getting upper-50s on longer freeway commutes.

 

No FE difference reported in going from 31 to 44/40psi. 2nd tank of gas is getting 42MPG, down a bit in similar, yet cooler, driving conditions. Freeway speed FE is lower so far. Hmm.

 

Glad you're experimenting. I'd give it some time in warmer weather, as cooler weather is a major known enemy of hybrids, causing significant mileage mood swings even with seemingly-minor temperature changes.

 

That's interesting...I had it backwards then as I was thinking the week we had high 95 degree LA temps and A/C running in HCH that it meant lower FE. But this week with 65 degree weather, no A/C and higher PSI tires, I am doing ~2.5-3MPG worse.

I am likely to try 44/44 next vs current 44/40. I dont see the offset benefit, and ride is fine so far.
Best - D

 

Considering the 59/41 (front/rear) weight distribution of the HCHII, the car has an inherent tendency to understeer. You will likely notice better handling characteristics with 44/40 than you would with 44/44. Just something to consider.

 

Turns out I achieved 1MPG better FE this week. Perhaps PSI related, going to experiment more.

 

Imagine if you could add just ONE MPG per week... in a year, you'd nearly double your mileage!

 

Also keep in mind that the display is a bit pessimistic, at least on the 2006 model it use to show about 4% worse FE than actual. So 37 mpg displayed is close to 39 mpg in reality.

And to comment on the tire pressure, getting several percent better FE by adding 5% tire pressure seems great to me. 5%, that's like increasing from 2.2 to 2.3 bar?