Honda Car Forum

When my Civic hybrid had run 5 or 6 tanks of gas and was only getting
33 mpg, I took it back to the dealer for an explanation. They told me
that I couldn't gauge proper gas mileage until the car had at least
5000 miles on it. Yesterday, after passing the 5000 mile mark and
still getting about 33 mpg, I took it back again. They ran it on their
computer and couldn't find any problem. They asked me just what
mileage I thought I should get, and I said at least 40. You wouldn't
believe what they next told me - you have to have at least 10,000
miles on it before you can know what it will permanently get. Now, I
know that I'm not going to get the advertised 48 city/ 47 highway on
the mileage, as they run the cars at about 40 mph to test that,
however, 33 mpg is patently ridiculous don't you agree?

What is the gas mileage for a EX or HX model?

"muzz" <jmuzz@charter.net> wrote in message
news:10rqt0dnpjqbpnk4739ccev9o7s6m25glo@4ax.com...
> When my Civic hybrid had run 5 or 6 tanks of gas and was only getting
> 33 mpg, I took it back to the dealer for an explanation. They told me
> that I couldn't gauge proper gas mileage until the car had at least
> 5000 miles on it. Yesterday, after passing the 5000 mile mark and
> still getting about 33 mpg, I took it back again. They ran it on their
> computer and couldn't find any problem. They asked me just what
> mileage I thought I should get, and I said at least 40. You wouldn't
> believe what they next told me - you have to have at least 10,000
> miles on it before you can know what it will permanently get. Now, I
> know that I'm not going to get the advertised 48 city/ 47 highway on
> the mileage, as they run the cars at about 40 mph to test that,
> however, 33 mpg is patently ridiculous don't you agree?
>
>

What type of driving mix do you have? (City/Hwy) From what I understand,
if you do alot of highway, your mileage actually goes down, as the big
increase comes from the electric motor from a dead stop... No real idea
though, if I were you i'd be pissed too.

t

Not just the electric motor from a stop, but the reclaiming of the energy
when stopping.

Steve


"disallow" <loewen_t at yahoo.ca @> wrote in message
news:d86e9070ee25a97b6684a4801920e630@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com...
> What type of driving mix do you have? (City/Hwy) From what I understand,
> if you do alot of highway, your mileage actually goes down, as the big
> increase comes from the electric motor from a dead stop... No real idea
> though, if I were you i'd be pissed too.
>
> t
>

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 10:54:06 -0600, muzz <jmuzz@charter.net> wrote:

>When my Civic hybrid had run 5 or 6 tanks of gas and was only getting
>33 mpg, I took it back to the dealer for an explanation. They told me
>that I couldn't gauge proper gas mileage until the car had at least
>5000 miles on it. Yesterday, after passing the 5000 mile mark and
>still getting about 33 mpg, I took it back again. They ran it on their
>computer and couldn't find any problem. They asked me just what
>mileage I thought I should get, and I said at least 40. You wouldn't
>believe what they next told me - you have to have at least 10,000
>miles on it before you can know what it will permanently get. Now, I
>know that I'm not going to get the advertised 48 city/ 47 highway on
>the mileage, as they run the cars at about 40 mph to test that,
>however, 33 mpg is patently ridiculous don't you agree?
>
Oh hell yes. My aging 88 civic manages more than that with a full car,
and its got over 200,000 on it 9as WELL as being a stupid bloody
automatic)

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 10:54:06 -0600, muzz <jmuzz@charter.net> wrote:

I live in the Ft Worth Tx. area. My wife drives the car mostly. She
drives about 75% town and maybe 25% freeway in her normal
driving. Trying to get more mileage on it, I drove it on a 1500 mile
interstate highway trip last summer and averaged 40 mpg. Not
bad, but the city driving experience is not good. I would have
bought a regular Civic last time if I knew the mileage figures were
so fabricated. Had a 97 Civic for 6.7 years and had not a lick
of trouble with it.

I think it largely depends on how you drive the car. Maybe there is
also something wrong with the vehicle. I have a 2005 Hybrid Civic and I
get roughly 47mpg commuting in heavy traffic 70 miles every day.
Inflating the tires to 35PSI improved mileage by about 10% for me. Also
I rarely ever exceed 70mph, and I don't floor the accellerator when I
accellerate...... If you drive appropriately you should be able to get
40+ if not sth is probably wrong with the car....

muzz wrote:
> On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 10:54:06 -0600, muzz <jmuzz@charter.net> wrote:
>
> I live in the Ft Worth Tx. area. My wife drives the car mostly. She
> drives about 75% town and maybe 25% freeway in her normal
> driving. Trying to get more mileage on it, I drove it on a 1500 mile
> interstate highway trip last summer and averaged 40 mpg. Not
> bad, but the city driving experience is not good. I would have
> bought a regular Civic last time if I knew the mileage figures were
> so fabricated. Had a 97 Civic for 6.7 years and had not a lick
> of trouble with it.
>
>
>
>

It seems to me that it's fairly well known that the mileage claims of
the hybrids are grossly overstated.

Peter H

Indeed. Pumping those tires up helps a lot.

Cat Slave wrote:
> I think it largely depends on how you drive the car. Maybe there is
> also something wrong with the vehicle. I have a 2005 Hybrid Civic and I
> get roughly 47mpg commuting in heavy traffic 70 miles every day.
> Inflating the tires to 35PSI improved mileage by about 10% for me. Also
> I rarely ever exceed 70mph, and I don't floor the accellerator when I
> accellerate...... If you drive appropriately you should be able to get
> 40+ if not sth is probably wrong with the car....
>

"muzz" <jmuzz@charter.net> wrote in message
news:10rqt0dnpjqbpnk4739ccev9o7s6m25glo@4ax.com...
> When my Civic hybrid had run 5 or 6 tanks of gas and was only getting
> 33 mpg, <snip>
> 33 mpg is patently ridiculous don't you agree?
>
>

There are many stories out there like this. I think that Honda and others
have gamed their hybrid systems somewhat so as to optimize the results on
the EPA tests, even if those gamed results are unlikely to be duplicated in
normal driving.

This sort of thing is commonplace in the work of computer system design
where all kinds of tricks are used to maximize performance on benchmark
tests, even when that performance is unlikely to translate into similar
results for real users.

The existing EPA test cycles were a response to rampant creative advertising
during th 70s where the car makers would make all sorts of fuel economy
claims based on things like only driving downhill. The EPA test cycles
were designed to attempt to represent typical driving conditions and they
have served well with the technologies for which they were designed.

However, hybrids are as much computer software as they are a hardware set
and provide many more opportunities to tweak for the test, sort of like
craming for SATs. Do you think that a student who raises their SAT score
100 points by taking an SAT prep class has actually gotten any smarter or
any more likely to do well in college? Absolutely not.

The hybrid fuel economy testing situation is in my view much the same.

John