On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 03:10:07 GMT, Gary Gorbet <ggorbet@houston.rr.com>
wrote:

>I have a 2003 Civic Hybrid. It's got about 3500 miles on it now. I have
>*loved* driving this car - quiet, smooth and peppy. But I must say that
>I'm somewhat disappointed in the mileage I'm getting. It's averaging a
>little better than 39 MPG. The EPA estimate is just under 50 MPG. I
>know EPA is always high, but I would have thought I'd have gotten
>closer than 10 MPG under.
>
>It is true that most of my driving is the 20 minute trip to and from
>work in stop and go traffic. I think I've done a pretty good job of
>modifying my driving habits to the hybrid. I'm not sure what I could do
>to maximize mileage, any more that what I've been doing.
>

The key words in economy driving are smoothness. planning, and gentle.
If you accelerate slowly, you will get better figures, brake lowly,
and smoothly, removing only the speed you need. plan ahead. if you see
someone's going to turn, and they're in the same lane, see if you can
change lanes to go around, or just take yuor foot from the
accelerator, and let you car slowly drift back, to build up a buffer.

Simple thing to remember is "Brakes = wasted fuel" If you use the
brakes, you're transfering all that lovely kinetic energy your engines
worked hard to get you, and just dumped itinto the brakes as heat.
Think smooth, plan ahead. CVTs are great for economy - cars always
kept at peak torque, which is where its operating most effectivly. If
you plan ahead, your economy goes way up. I ca still get 40+mpg out of
my very battered old 88 civicDX (and it can drop to 15-20mpg when I
really push it up aroudn 90+)

Also, don't worry about the batteries. Theres plenty of places to take
old batteries now, and they CAN be recycled. not all that hard, least
its not NiMH - they're expensive to recycle (although they do get
great capacity)



>What I'd like to hear is the experience of other Hybrid owners. Is my
>mileage reasonable for the kind of driving I do? Does it get better
>after the break-in period?