MPG is Climbing

[bish79]

So I have had the pleasure of filling up my new Insight for the third time today and the trend is good. Here are the numbers:

1st fill-up:

Miles: 310.6
Gallons: 7.343
Calculated MPG: 42.3
Computer Estimated MPG: 45.6
about 50/50 City/Hwy miles, alot of idling while showing car off to people
ECON Mode ON
Temperatures were between 28F and 60F

2nd fill-up:

Miles: 362.7
Gallons: 8.622
Calculated MPG: 42.0
Computer Estimated MPG: 44.1
about 50/50 City/Hwy miles
ECON Mode ON
Temperatures were between 40F and 70F

3rd fill-up:

Miles: 414.2
Gallons: 8.702
Calculated MPG: 47.6
Computer Estimated MPG: 49.5
about 70/30 City/Hwy miles, alot of shorter in-town trips
ECON Mode ON
Temperatures were between 50F and 85F

Observations:

Something has changed and it seems to be much easier now to achieve up to about 60 MPG per trip with the exception of high speed trips (Interstate) and very short commutes to and from work when the engine is not warmed up properly. Could be temperatures, could be better driving techniques, could be due to engine breaking in.

My commute to work is keeping my MPG from being "stellar" as it is often difficult to obtain much better than 40 MPG on this 1 mile trip. Typically these are the only trips during which I get less than 50 MPG.

It seems to help alot to coast as much as possible when approaching a red light, although this is a basic hypermiling technique it seems to have great benefit in this car due to the fuel cut.

EV mode is possibly useful in parking lots and the car kicks you out of EV mode below 10 MPH.

Cruise control is horrible at obtaining good MPG figures, I try to avoid it unless on long trips.

It is very easy to completely charge the battery in this car on the highway and difficult to do in the city.

My city MPG is better than my highway MPG. I find it easy to get over 60 MPG in city driving and impossible to get much better than 50 to 55 MPG while on the highway (note: to me highway means 55 MPH or greater, no stops).

I drive in a manner such that I try not to annoy people behind me. For some people behind me there is no hope, but I do accelerate modestly up to 45 MPH and then start a slow acceleration if I need to go faster than that.

So there it is so far...

We will be taking a 5000+ mile round trip to Oregon in mid-May so there will be much more to report after that.

Comments/Questions?

[Max_Leaves]

Thanks for the good summary. This morning I just filled the tank on mine for the first time.

Miles: 425.5
Gallons: 8.917
Calculated MPG: 47.7
Computer Estimated MPG: 50.5
about 50/50 City/Hwy miles
ECON Mode ON
Temperatures were between 50F and 80F
Only two leaves per plant. The bar is 1/3 into the first block.

Most of the Hwy miles were rural roads at speeds of 45 to 55 mph.

I used the CC as much as possible. CC is awful on hills. It lets the car slow way down at the bottom and then stomps it into the blue to try to catch up to the set speed. Other times it is fine for me. I have been using it less and less though because it is so hilly here.

[numbness4sound]

Without using cruise control, I got 60 mpg (computer calculated) on a 45 minute drive down the highway going about 75 mph. I was pretty shocked! Coming back I got the same.

[bish79]

Originally Posted by numbness4sound

Without using cruise control, I got 60 mpg (computer calculated) on a 45 minute drive down the highway going about 75 mph. I was pretty shocked! Coming back I got the same.

That's incredible!! Did you have a tailwind? Did you adjust tire pressures? Was ECON on or off?

I'm lucky to get 50 MPG going that fast.

[numbness4sound]

Originally Posted by bish79

That's incredible!! Did you have a tailwind? Did you adjust tire pressures? Was ECON on or off?

I'm lucky to get 50 MPG going that fast.

The only thing I did was have ECON on. Not sure about the tailwind. I was making a point to stay in the "green" too, so not a lot of fast accelerating. Just getting up to speed and staying there.