So in my first 300 miles of driving the new Civic I drove it pretty nicely and have averaged right near 50mpg which is the EPA's average mileage. Well yesterday I was running a bit late to go pick someone up at the airport so faster driving was needed. I was barreling down the freeway at 70mph holding ~75mpg instantaneous lean burn ! I got off at the exit ramp to the airport which slows down to a 30mph zone pretty quickly and suddenly I'm driving about half of it in the electric only mode! The car was indicating 52mpg when I got off the freeway.
It's a long story, but I ended up driving through each of the three parking garages. Up one story drive around and go to the next. Up 6 stories, drive around and back down, last one, up 4 stories around park and then back down. Drive through the airport, get lost again and finally figure out the correct exit. All this extremely inefficient driving with lots of stops only lowered the mpg to 48! I then got back on the freeway and proceeded to drive back hom in some traffic in a similar fashion, the mpg went back up to 49 with little to no reguard for mileage.
Needless to say, freakin impressive!
__________________
Later, Ricky
02 Red Insight - Sold
06 Silver Civic Hybrid
92 Saturn SC2 Electric, Arizona Alt fuel plate "ZEROGAS"
Ended up getting out the door for $7 over window sticker, but that was because we knew people at the dealership. Right now in my area anyways, there's a waiting list and people are paying ~$1500 over for them. I can't even imagine how california is.
__________________
Later, Ricky
02 Red Insight - Sold
06 Silver Civic Hybrid
92 Saturn SC2 Electric, Arizona Alt fuel plate "ZEROGAS"
Well, this shouldn't really count because it was mostly downhill, but I did manage to get just a tick over 70mpg last night over ~20 miles. A good bit of it was flat freeway at 55mph though.
I suspect 70 or maybe 75mpg would be the realistic higher limit for a hyper miler.
__________________
Later, Ricky
02 Red Insight - Sold
06 Silver Civic Hybrid
92 Saturn SC2 Electric, Arizona Alt fuel plate "ZEROGAS"
___I think your might be right about the peak capability of the HCH-II year round. I test drove one the other day and although it was not setup properly, an 80% city/20% highway in 39 - 40 degree temps netted just 64.2 mpg. I felt it was a bit heavy for some reason? I have driven a friend of mines 03 w/ a CVT for well over 50 miles inner city and 100 miles highway. ~ 40 miles of testing in a pure P&G scenario as well She will easily nail 100 + mpg in warmer temps in a P&G and inner city depending on traffic, 80 out on the highway, and felt like there was some room for improvement over and above those numbers. The 06 felt out of sorts for those kind of numbers even though I did not really get the chance to ring it out for all it was worth let alone it being brand new, not setup, and in non hypermiling conducive temps. Just a feeling is all. I am still in the camp that believes the HCH-I w/ a stick will eat the HCH-II alive in a head to head.
I have driven my (we, increasingly my wife and I) 2006 HCH a total of 896.6 miles after taking delivery. I have put 21.0 gallons of 87 octane non-ethanol fuel in the vehicle, for a 42.6 mpg over the entire mileage accumulated in the undulating road of central Nebraska. I estimate that 60% of that total mileage is open road versus city driving. Lexington, Nebraska has only about 13,000 people so "city" may not be the correct word (there are 2 stop signs between home and office).
Am I disappointed in the mpg? Not yet, because I am hoping for better as other forum participants have indicated this too will pass with "breaking in" and the car is convenient is so many other aspects, e.g. gauges, controls, interior light dimming, solid sounding doors when closed, a driver's seat that I can raise sufficiently so that my knees actually can bend, etc, etc.
I am so impressed after less than 1000 miles that I am trying to figure a way to convince my wife that we would be better off in the long run if we traded in our 2001 Honda Accord (2 dr, 6 cyl, 44,000 miles and sitting in the garage) for a second HCH.
Doug Lynn
(the guy who originally wanted an Insight)
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It really does get close to EPA estimates
! I got off at the exit ramp to the airport which slows down to a 30mph zone pretty quickly and suddenly I'm driving about half of it in the electric only mode! The car was indicating 52mpg when I got off the freeway.
She will easily nail 100 + mpg in warmer temps in a P&G and inner city depending on traffic, 80 out on the highway, and felt like there was some room for improvement over and above those numbers. The 06 felt out of sorts for those kind of numbers even though I did not really get the chance to ring it out for all it was worth let alone it being brand new, not setup, and in non hypermiling conducive temps. Just a feeling is all. I am still in the camp that believes the HCH-I w/ a stick will eat the HCH-II alive in a head to head.
