Honda Car Forum

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.

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?

On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 16:40:44 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.
>
>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?

I don't have a hybrid, but you might approach it proportionately --
i.e., what was the EPA rating for city driving on your former car
compared to it's actual mileage on your commute? If that ratio is the
same as the hybrid's it would sort of show that the difference is
solely due to the type of driving you're doing. I don't think that
the EPA would calculate their city estimates based only on stop-and-go
driving.
Ron

I'm driving a hybrid, and it's at around 28k miles now. On Highways, driving
near speed limit (65ish) I get a good 49 mpg. In city driving (around
Atlanta now in the winter, it gets better during summer) I'm getting around
40 mpg. Now that it's cold, the engine doesn't seem to want to autostop
unless it's warmed up. Hope this helps!

>I'm driving a hybrid, and it's at around 28k miles now. On Highways, driving
>near speed limit (65ish) I get a good 49 mpg. In city driving (around
>Atlanta now in the winter, it gets better during summer) I'm getting around
>40 mpg

On a 1200 miles trip in CA, towns, freeways (75-80 -- simply keeping up with
traffic) mountains (5000') desert areas (Palm Springs). 1990 Honda CRX. 55K
miles. 39.8 mpg. Go figure.

Quent

> On a 1200 miles trip in CA, towns, freeways (75-80 -- simply keeping up
with
> traffic) mountains (5000') desert areas (Palm Springs). 1990 Honda CRX.
55K
> miles. 39.8 mpg. Go figure.
>
> Quent

Yeah, CRX's were nice little cars. Honda should bring them back.

In article <TKYLb.9188$K6.3578@bignews6.bellsouth.net>, tomamaron
<ed@aol.net> wrote:

> I'm driving a hybrid, and it's at around 28k miles now. On Highways, driving
> near speed limit (65ish) I get a good 49 mpg. In city driving (around
> Atlanta now in the winter, it gets better during summer) I'm getting around
> 40 mpg. Now that it's cold, the engine doesn't seem to want to autostop
> unless it's warmed up. Hope this helps!
>
Yes, it does help. "Around 40" is what I am getting in town in the
winter (less severe here in Houston than Atlanta, but still requiring
the engine to warm up).

"QDurham" <qdurham@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040110155004.13711.00002461@mb-m10.aol.com...
> >I'm driving a hybrid, and it's at around 28k miles now. On Highways,
driving
> >near speed limit (65ish) I get a good 49 mpg. In city driving (around
> >Atlanta now in the winter, it gets better during summer) I'm getting
around
> >40 mpg
>
> On a 1200 miles trip in CA, towns, freeways (75-80 -- simply keeping up
with
> traffic) mountains (5000') desert areas (Palm Springs). 1990 Honda CRX.
55K
> miles. 39.8 mpg. Go figure.
>
> Quent

On a recent trip -- running 80 or so in a 01 Prelude -- 32. Not bad for 2.2
ltr 200 hp. Routinely get 27-28 in mixed highway/urban driving.

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 can get over 50MPG on the highway, but that's not what you are driving.
I get about 53MPG on a 50 mile stretch at 65-70mph.
Once, when traffic was heavy, I averaged 40mph on a 20 mile stretch,
my mileage was 64.8mpg.

Overall, I am at about 43mpg. I get less than 40 around my house, which
always seems to be uphill both ways ;-) Too much acceleration, not enough
coasting.

I have about 17,000 miles on it now. I need to update my chart.
http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/Honda_Mileage.htm

---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

QDurham <qdurham@aol.com> wrote:

> >I'm driving a hybrid, and it's at around 28k miles now. On Highways, driving
> >near speed limit (65ish) I get a good 49 mpg. In city driving (around
> >Atlanta now in the winter, it gets better during summer) I'm getting around
> >40 mpg
>
> On a 1200 miles trip in CA, towns, freeways (75-80 -- simply keeping up with
> traffic) mountains (5000') desert areas (Palm Springs). 1990 Honda CRX. 55K
> miles. 39.8 mpg. Go figure.
>
> Quent

That is light car and the HP can't be more than 100. I don't remembered
the size of the engine.

I just got a 04 Civic and getting 35MPG+ in this cold winter so far.

>That is light car and the HP can't be more than 100. I don't remembered
>the size of the engine.

True. But touched 90 once or twice on I-5. Good enough for me.

Quent