Annoyed at city mileage

[circa1986]

Is it just me or is it hard to match the 40 mpg EPA rating in the city? It seems like if I have the A/C on and am driving on the slower edge of "normally"--meaning, other cars beat me off the stop lights, etc., and I'm braking somewhat carefully--I can barely reach the 40 mpg estimate. In fact, it seems like most of the time, it's closer to 30-35 mpg.

This is kind of disappointing to me, because the Insight really only makes sense as a car if it can at reach, at a minimum, the EPA ratings.

Highway, I don't really have a big problem reaching 45mpg or more, but it seems to be so variable depending on whether you have your headlights on, wipers on, and which way the wind blows, which is very annoying.

[Eli]

Welcome to the world of ultra efficient vehicles, where every environmental nuance makes itself known.

You can't expect EPA ratings with accessories like the A/C running.

Us gen1 Insight owners have been worrying about which way the wind is blowing since 2000.

[circa1986]

Originally Posted by Eli

Welcome to the world of ultra efficient vehicles, where every environmental nuance makes itself known.

You can't expect EPA ratings with accessories like the A/C running.

Why not? They test it with the AC running!

[Eli]

They do? I guess I wasn't aware of that. Must be the new fancy ratings. My bad.

[Cobb]

Depending on your cars setup and driving arrangement it can be way lower than epa. After all epa is tested on a closed loop track. I recall from another post you may drive through the DC area. I was on the beltway once, I traveled 5 miles in an hour. I would be tickled pink to average 30mpg with the ac on.

[mrkcohen]

Welcome to the world of ultra efficient vehicles, where every environmental nuance makes itself known.

Amen to that.

Keep in mind that all of the variables that contribute to lowered MPG's apply to non-hybrids as well. You just notice them now because you're actually paying attention to fuel consumption. Mileage will decrease in city driving with A/C on in a non-hybrid too. At the end of the day you are still ahead of the game compared to most non-hybrids.

As for city driving; try to time the lights so you don't have to stop at all. Most places will have a "sweet spot" speed where you can make most of the lights without stopping at all. Of course that doesn't work everywhere or everyday...

Regarding EPA estimates; IIRC the Insight is rated at about 41MPG overall, so if you get 45MPG highway and 35MPG city that seems fairly close too me.

[circa1986]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Depending on your cars setup and driving arrangement it can be way lower than epa. After all epa is tested on a closed loop track. I recall from another post you may drive through the DC area. I was on the beltway once, I traveled 5 miles in an hour. I would be tickled pink to average 30mpg with the ac on.

Haha, this is true, but my average speed this tank is 29 mph and I am averaging about 41-42 mpg on this tank. That is with about 70% of my commute being unrestricted highway driving at 60 mph, and 30% being "city" driving, with crawling along the highway at 10-15 mph with lots of stopping and going, traffic lights, etc.

I don't have any trouble reaching the EPA city mileage estimates with the A/C on and driving with my other cars.

[hessebauer]

AC is a fuel burner especially on small engines it eats much power and increasing fuel consumption is more noticable than on bigger engines; i have a 3cyl./47kW but 1100kg car and in sommer i really get hot fingernails of switching AC on/off every time when push on.....I´ve put a sticker over the AC button "Turbo"

Honda should offer a Solarroofpanel perhaps in replacement for the useless flat rearscreen; could be a nice idea for modification makers

[insight78]

Originally Posted by circa1986

Is it just me or is it hard to match the 40 mpg EPA rating in the city? It seems like if I have the A/C on and am driving on the slower edge of "normally"--meaning, other cars beat me off the stop lights, etc., and I'm braking somewhat carefully--I can barely reach the 40 mpg estimate. In fact, it seems like most of the time, it's closer to 30-35 mpg.

This is kind of disappointing to me, because the Insight really only makes sense as a car if it can at reach, at a minimum, the EPA ratings.

Highway, I don't really have a big problem reaching 45mpg or more, but it seems to be so variable depending on whether you have your headlights on, wipers on, and which way the wind blows, which is very annoying.

How long is your drive (in miles, one-way)? And do you start out in city driving for the first mile or more of your route? Many hills on the way? Many stops on hills? Many long stops (over 2 minutes at a time?)

Do you find that your car does not go into auto-stop much, or if it does it doesn't stay auto-stopped for long?

How many miles do you have on the car? Is it still breaking in?

[gilbertguy]

Circa,

Do you have a MT or a CVT? I've got a manual and because the gears are so tall I've often thought that a CVT might have an advantage over the MT if running the AC because it has endless gear ratios. I'm constantly watching my ASSIST gauge when driving with AC because it drags down the engine so much that I'll be using assist and won't even realize it and then my battery runs low which forces regen and even more drag on the engine.

With Phoenix starting to hit over 100 degrees every day now I've just come to the stark reality that for the next 4-5 months my MPG are going to suck. But like someone said earlier it is still better then pretty much everything else out there.

Edit: Ah, saw this post from Active topics so didn't realize it was from G2 land, so you must have a CVT, still think CVT would have an advantage over tall gears in G1 manual transmission when running AC.