Hybrid - 43/48 MPG

[underpants]

Back from Roanoke (VA) - New car report on the Honda Insight - I put 403 miles on it in 3 days burning (approx.) 9 gallons of gas. There are 65 miles left in the 10.6 gallon tank. Averaged about 43 MPG for the whole trip including THE HILLS and City driving in Roanoke. The trip calculator, with 3 stops and stoplights, said that it averaged 48 MPG for the trip home today. Not bad. Just learned how to work the battery/gas element and the car supposedly will learn how I drive.

Oh and I wasn't slowpoking it - we got home in the normal 3 hours for a normal trip to Roanoke. We cut through Appomattox so we do take the "low road".

[Savannahmann]

1. If you lived in Europe you could have gotten a VW Blue Motion

That series of cars gets up to 74 miles per gallon of Diesel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueMotion

The cars combine a fuel efficient engine with state-of-the-art fuel efficient design and technological strategies that include a highly aerodynamic body, a low ride height, auto stop-start, programmed battery charging system (so the alternator only runs when necessary), longer gearing and low rolling resistance tires. It has a fuel capacity of 77.25 litres (16.99 imp gal; 20.41 US gal). It was with such a production model that in the fall of 2010 a BlueMotion Passat set a world mileage record in Europe, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records, achieving 1,526.63 miles (2,456.87 km) on a single tank of fuel, which equates to 74.8 miles per US gallon (3.14 L/100 km; 89.8 mpg-imp). This is equivalent to travelling from New York to Los Angeles on two tanks of diesel.[6] BlueMotion vehicles are not available in North America.

[solarhydrocan]

5. Clean Diesels are incredible!

"BlueMotion vehicles are not available in North America."

And why is that?

Here's a guy that drives on hydrogen extracted from water (H20) powered by solar energy. IOW: Free. Range: ~400 miles.

Anyone can split water in their garage and produce hydrogen.

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. Plug In Prius Over 60 MPG In Town. 47MPG Highway.

Except for limited range on battery power, the Prius plug in we bought last year has been a rally good car. This summer was getting up to 75MPG by watching distance of trips. If the plug in had enough batter power to get 25 miles on a charge most likely could increase mileage to 100MPG in town where 90% of driving is. Right now 20% of driving is on electric. Winter time get less mileage because engine has to run more for heat.

Otherwise am very satisfied with present car and understood the limitations with only 11.5 miles range once charged. Our other hybrid Prius got about what poster gets on their car.

Hybrid are a good alternative right now and offer the best increase in mileage. Right now the limit on highway for hybrids seems to be 50MPG he only other car really competitive in town is the Chevy VOLT. I understand that if you really watch your trips you can do over 100 MPG in town easily.

[AngryAmish]

17. They won't sell plug in Prius in Illinois

Otherwise I would have bought one. As it was we got the regular hybrid, 45 mpg. My wife drives it, she has a stout commute while I putter around town.

What I wanted to get was a Nissan Leaf. With discounts, recent upgrades and federal and state incentives it would be paying for itself in 5 years. But there are battery issues and my wife was anxious about range - she has a plug at work but the round trip range was going to be iffy. Also, Nissan doesn't really sell the Leaf, or train their salesmen about it. That car would be perfect for me, we have a garage with electricity in the city. Alas, I refuse to have three cars and we need the wagon with the kids. Wagon only has 95k on it so I think I'll replace that one in a decade or so.

[madokie]

3. Is this actually dividing the miles driven by the gallons used?

In my experience when I do that I find the computer on the vehicle to be more than generous, in some cases.
We have a 2014 ford focus and have about 4500 miles on it right now and the computer tells me we are getting 32.6 to 32.8 mpg over all. When I divide the miles we drive by the gallons we use it comes to 32.01, this last tank, it'll range from 31 to this last figure of 32. This cars computer is the closest to telling us the actual mileage of any I've been around.
My neighbor has a 2008 Prius and the computer tells him he is getting from 48 to 52 mpg but when challenged by me to check the actual mileage he gets it came back as 42 mpg.
My brother and his wife have a 2012 Ford crown vic that the computer tells them they're getting 25 to 26, sometimes 27 mpg on long drives but when he checks the actual miles driven by the gallons used it comes back as 21 to 22 mpg.
As I said our focus has the most honest read out of all the vehicles I've been around where the owners actually check the mpg the old way by dividing miles driven by gallons used.

what I'm getting at I guess is I think in order to meet the CAFE standards mandated by the government the auto manufacturers have started putting these computer readouts in most all cars and as I said the ones I know for a fact the readings are skewed towards the high end.

Just curious

[csziggy]

6. I don't about the Honda, but our 2006 Prius seems accurate

We bought it in September and took it from Tallahassee, FL, to Louisville, KY, in October. Started with a full tank (10 gallons according to the book, but we've never gotten more than 9 in it), filled up three times on the trip (about 7 gallons or less per fill up), and we had half a tank when we got home.

I estimate we used ~25 gallons of gas for a trip that was over 1350 miles (667 miles form Tallahassee to Louisville + several side trips) which works out to over 50 miles per gallon. The car's computer said we averaged 43.6 miles per gallon.

Going through the mountains increased our miles per gallon - we didn't push the speed uphill and coasting down every incline. We drove to the top of Oak Mountain south of Birmingham - ran the battery all the way down on the way up but recharged it fully less than halfway down and coasted the rest of the way. I wanted more battery capacity so we could have accumulated more energy with that downhill coasting!

I originally estimated we'd save $1000 a year on gas with the Prius if we averaged 35-40 mpg. I'm thinking we'll save even more since we're doing better than that.

[madokie]

8. Thats good thanks

One of our friends bought a honda insight just for the gas mileage because he took a job that was 120 miles round trip and he was pissed from day one because he didn't get anywhere near the supposed mpg's he was told it got.

I guess everyones mileage varies

[csziggy]

11. We keep the "Consumption" page up on the dash screen

That tells us when we're using gas or electricity and when we're charging the batteries. If we keep our eyes on that, we reduce our energy usage. Now it's become more of a habit to drive in a way to keep the usage down, though there are times when we ignore it, if we're late to an appointment for instance.

My husband's previous vehicle, a GMC Envoy, had a similar feature and it really changed his driving habits a lot even though the car was not very efficient and did not keep a running average of mpg. When he first got it, he would accelerate right up to a stop, do jack rabbit starts, and was not an efficient driver at all. When he started watching the indicator of how many mpg he was getting, he learned to coast to stops, start up slower and to coast more overall. We didn't keep a record of mpg on that car, but I know he seemed to have improved a lot by the time he totaled it in August.

Maybe your friend needs to put up an indicator of that sort - I can't imagine that Honda doesn't have something similar.

[madokie]

12. It has but I don't think he pays any attention to it

he is a heavy footed driver and I keep suggesting to him if he'd pay attention to how he drives the mpg would get better. He says the dealer told him that no matter how he drove he'd break 50 mpg's.

I learned to drive easy back in '73 when gas doubled in price over night.

[csziggy]

14. The car can't do it all

If you don't coast to let the battery recharge, you won't get maximum efficiency.

I have no suggestions for how to get your friend to change his habits. I had tried for years to get my husband to change his and it wasn't until he began watching his car's consumption that he did it on his own. I think it's like trying to get a smoker to stop - they have to make the choice themselves.

[Schema Thing]

7. I find I'm about 3 mpg lower when I do the math, in my Prius

But it's hard to say which is more accurate - the Prius is very hard to be consistent with in terms of how much you top-off-the-tank. Also, it has a flexible fuel tank, and that is affected by temperature in terms of how much it will expand.

In any case, I get somewhere between 47 and 50 mpgs consistently. Gas can go to 7.50 and I'm still saving money

[madokie]

9. Neighbor had to fill up several times and use the combined miles + gallons to get his 42 mpg figure

because of the bladder in the tank. Not sure what the bladder is for as in most cars the tank is a closed system so why the bladder if not to confuse or make it near impossible to actually check the mpg's

[underpants]

18. The over all 43 is yes

403 miles / 9 gallons used

[madokie]

19. Thanks

[Electric Monk]

4. Remember when guys used to brag if they had 300+ hp instead?

Mine gets 40ish mpg and has enough oomph to merge in the onramp. That'll do me just fine.

[Skink]

10. what year make and model?

[underpants]

21. 2010 Honda Insight LX

I got it at CarMax- 32K miles on it. $250 over Blue Book. It was a fleet car so there are no bells and whistles but that it why it had such low mileage.

[PasadenaTrudy]

13. I wish Mazda offered hybrids

They are my favorite brand. I have a 2013 Mazda 3 with SkyActiv. Gets good mileage, but not great. Is fun to drive, though and I'm a driving enthusiast.

[B Calm]

15. I got 23.5 mpg with my 4wd, 350 Hybrid V8 Crew Cab Chevrolet

pickup on a recent trip. I would love to get what your getting, maybe someday in the future.

[Orsino]

16. Congratulations...and watch out for Appomattox.

My one and only speeding ticket was issued there.

[bigdarryl]

20. The new 2014 Accord Hybrid gets 50 city and 48 highway

But the damn car is 36,000 dollars if you get everything in the Touring http://www.hondasacuras.com/2013/10/trick-or-treat-accord-hybrid-on-sale.html