A Couple of Newbie Questions.......

[archieg]

The lease on my Accord finishes up in 3 months, so I started doing some research and realized that the Prius is the wisest choice for me.

But then I saw that the Prius shortage is going to make it impossible for me to actually get one at a reasonable price. So I started looking at alternatives, and as an Accord driver, I naturally checked out Honda's hybrids and am seriously considering the Civic Hybrid and the Insight.

I live in Los Angeles; in the Valley (Tujunga, if anybody knows where that is, lol. Sandwiched between La Canada and Sunland haha) and I go to school at USC; its 20 miles each way, and my Accord only gives me 20 mpg. I fill up about $70 a week.

THIS HAS TO STOP.

So I started doing research and, naturally, ended up here. Very informative posts. I have my own questions, so I thought I'd join. (Great to be here, btw lol)

1. My commute is mostly freeway, but on the way home (especially during traffic) I pretty much go down Figueroa, go through a few small streets, then get on the freeway. Will I be able to achieve the 50 (or even 45) MPG people are getting?

2. How many gallons does the tank take? I've heard 9, I've heard 11, so I'm just curious.

3. I usually do 70-80 on the freeway; will I have to change my habits to get maximum mileage? I'm willing to change if I have to! lol

Thanks!

[Zwolfe]

My wife drives about 100 miles a day and a lot of it is between 70-80.

You'll probably get about 40MPG cruising 75-80 on the highway / interstate, I'd approximate.

We actually gain MPG cruising through towns to around 45MPG.

[Purplegate]

1-Probably not. 50mpg is attainable with some hypermiling techniques, or lower speed on highway (~60mph). IMO on the answer above, at 70-80, you will probably by around 38-40. By the way, I think pretty much the same with a Prius...

2- 10.5gal per use manual. However, whenever you fuel up for 10gal, it means the fuel light was on for quite a bit, and the distance left was at zero for several miles... I fueled 9.8gal once and I was about 30 miles passed the 0 miles remaining... So expect 9.3-9.4gal every fuel up, if you go to a very low tank

3- Yes. Even though the Insight will probably be one of the most (if not the most) fuel efficient car at those speed, you will have to change your habits to beat EPA. There is several post on the forum giving tips how to drive efficiently.

[BrianZ54]

If you're considering another lease, why not look at the Civic Hybrid. It's certainly a lot more car than your other two choices. Judging by the numbers people post here and a couple other forums it seems to do about as well as the 2nd Gen Insight. At higher speeds like 80 MPH it might actually do better.

I know myself that when you exceed 70 MPH it becomes very difficult to achieve the EPA estimate. When you compare whatever you get to your Accord you will see a marked improvement. My son-in-law traded in a 10 yr old Accord for an Insight about a year ago. They live in the Boston area, all of his commuting is stop and go. They doubled their mileage with Insight, but they were averaging high teens during the week. He did mention that he gets well over 40 mpg on the weekends, last time we talked.

Lease that Civic for about 3 years if you can find one, there will probably be more choices and better supplies by the time that lease is up.

Good Luck,
Brian

[atvkrazy]

Do some research, a REAL world peek is at fuelly.com

below is a link to civic hybrids and real world averages from real people. Remember the civic hybrid is about 3 to 5k higher right off the bat.
Honda Civic MPG Reports | Fuelly

below is a link to prius in the real world averages, all years.
Toyota Prius MPG Reports | Fuelly

and finally below we have the insight all years..
Honda Insight MPG Reports | Fuelly


as you can see not a lot of difference for mpg, depending on miles per year your cost for the difference of mpg is minor.

Now the cost of these three vehicles is significant. This was my deciding factor when I purchased. My criteria was... 40mpg AVERAGE... all the time, 50% city, 50% highway.... only 4 cars in the US will do this, period....
So with 40mpg or better and the lowest cost of ownership the answer was pretty simple to me (but I bought it outright, NO lease) and a guy I work with, I track his mileage on my fuelly.com account also.

Good luck in your search!! I agree with Brian, surely in 3 or 4 years we will have more choices for high mpg vehicles!!!