I've had my Insight for a little over a week. On the way home, I was able to get 80+ MPG on the way home, after I got the hang of it and figured out how to reset the gauge (I was already on the highway).
Over the last 350 miles (my first fill up) I'm at about 75MPG. Today, I made over 82MPG on my way to and home from work (25 mile trip, 2/3 highway).
I'm still experimenting and getting the hang of things, but I feel like I'm doing pretty well for a beginner. What's the best I can do without MIMA?
You've got it pretty good with those MPGs, better than quite a few people here, including me. You might be driving on the highway a little slower than I am, I also have a few fairly large hills that I encounter about the time that the engine gets warm enough for lean burn so I get killed a little in that area. I have 15 miles each way. I think I may have done about the same as your 82.2mpg at 55mph on a straight with no hills, traffic, stop signs, lights, or issues with lean burn but that's about it. I'm averaging 63.9MPG on the current tank that I'm 200 miles into but if I do any in town driving where I stop for lights and signs it will drop quite a bit with the accelerations. I think with MIMA I could get maybe 5 MPG better. With a grid-charged parallel pack that I charge every night I'd likely be at least 85+ I figure. With an expensive 40Ah lithium pack like Peter I'm sure I'd get 125-150MPG on my 30 mile round trip but I don't know if I could justify the cost financially over doing a cheaper NiMh parallel pack with MIMA, I would probably break even after enough miles have gone by.
You've got it pretty good with those MPGs, better than quite a few people here, including me. You might be driving on the highway a little slower than I am, I also have a few fairly large hills that I encounter about the time that the engine gets warm enough for lean burn so I get killed a little in that area. I have 15 miles each way. I think I may have done about the same as your 82.2mpg at 55mph on a straight with no hills, traffic, stop signs, lights, or issues with lean burn but that's about it. I'm averaging 63.9MPG on the current tank that I'm 200 miles into but if I do any in town driving where I stop for lights and signs it will drop quite a bit with the accelerations. I think with MIMA I could get maybe 5 MPG better. With a grid-charged parallel pack that I charge every night I'd likely be at least 85+ I figure. With an expensive 40Ah lithium pack like Peter I'm sure I'd get 125-150MPG on my 30 mile round trip but I don't know if I could justify the cost financially over doing a cheaper NiMh parallel pack with MIMA, I would probably break even after enough miles have gone by.
Short answer: Great mileage, Awesome job!
On the highway, I'm going as high as 60 and as low as 50. I'm in FL, but being on the highway going through a highly populated area, there are a surprising amount of hills (going over major roads). I'm definitely gaining the entire trip (while I'm warming up, until I hit the highway, it's pretty low). If I were only going 15 miles, it'd probably be a bit harder.
Only in town can be a killer. I end up driving as low as 30MPH to keep a respectable number. I do my best to not have to do any braking (timing lights, etc). Across town about 5 miles, I'm getting a bit under 70. I suppose a block heater would help, but I don't think I'm going to bother with it.
I think I could do significantly better with a grid charger, because I avoid using my battery pack significantly, because I don't end up doing enough regenerative braking to charge it back up. It really sucks cruising along and trying to make up for the forced charge - it's like running the A/C.
Anyway can't wait until my flat-land trip to South FL this weekend! I'm hoping to crush 90... but we'll see! My eventual goal is to get 1,000 out of a single tank - hopefully pre-MIMA.
I'd kill to figure out how much better I can do with MIMA. I want to know about how many miles it'll take to pay itself off. I think it's about 100k, but I'll drive that before too long.
That's pretty good mileage there. You should be "giving" tips.
What speed are you going on the highway portion of the trip?
Does your Insight have the OEM Bridgestones on it? What psi?
I should probably write down my "tips" so others can critique and tell me how I can improve... good idea.
Highway - 50-60, trying hard to stay at 95+ instant MPG in Lean Burn.
I have the OEM Bridgestones, and I recently put them up to 50MPG. I haven't had the car long enough to know for sure if that made a significant difference... probably only a few MPG.
The car had a really tight clutch and a primo condition battery. I can only get about 85 in mine on the same test loop. I've managed 63 in a 2003 MT Civic Hybrid for the same loop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artric
Wow, under what conditions? Obviously you know what you're doing!
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2000 MT #4227 175K miles - Citrus Yellow, BetterBattery
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How am I doing? New owner trying to hypermile!
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