Hybrid Gas Mileage Falls Short

[dArKeR]

Pete Blackshaw was so excited about owning a hybrid car that he made a movie of his trip to the Honda dealer in Cincinnati.

He filmed the dealer sticker for his new Civic hybrid, advertising 47 miles per gallon, and put a special plate on his new car that read "Mo Miles."

But, as CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason reports, instead of "Mo Miles" he got lower miles: about 32 miles per gallon.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/28/eveningnews/consumer/main620265.shtml

[dflprincess]

1. I get 33 mpg from my 7 year old Civic!

and that's city driving - I get about 37 on a road trip.

However, I work with a guy who has a Honda hybrid and he says he usually gets about 50 mpg.

[toddzilla]

2. people need to understand MPG better.

i get close to 30 in my V8 4 door crown victoria. don't accelerate like ther'es no tomorrow. buy a k&n air filter, and slow down approaching red lights, they may turn green before you get there, avoiding the stop-start.

driving a hybrid like a racecar will give you poor milage no matter what the sticker says on the window.

[AndyTiedye]

4. So if I Usually Get Close to EPA Mileage in a Gas Car...

...will I also get close to EPA Mileage on a hybrid?

[dArKeR]

3. I had a Buick Regal 4Dr 350cu inch V8, 1976 and it got in the 20s

(as I remember). My roommate has a mid-size truck, 2000, V8 and he gets 12mpg.

[unblock]

5. "the epa tests on a machine that measures the exhaust"??

they infer the fuel consumption by measuring the exhaust????

do they determine the weight of the car by shaking the tailpipe?

[toddzilla]

6. carmakers have been known to increase "fuel mileage"..

by reducing the size of the gas tank, and reducing the weight to a lower "bracket"

the epa doesn't drive the cars, it uses mathematical formulas, or at least they used to.

[Frodo]

7. I have a Civic Hybrid

And I regularly got in the high 40's for mpg. With the right conditions (tire pressure, temperature, type of commute) I could easily get into the low 50's/

These days I have a much shorter commute that is not as "hybrid friendly" and I'm lucky to get above 45mpg.

Learning HOW to drive the hybrids makes a BIG difference in results. If you drive it wrong you get virtually zero benefit from the IMA and you're basically just driving on a tiny engine that can't really handle the weight of the car.

But I will say that 32 seems like a bit of a stretch.

[uberotto]

8. Story was incredibly biased...

It presented a single point of view, with no evidence to show that view was correct. There was no investigation into why some people were getting such low MPG numbers. There was no opposing opinion from people like me who drive a Civic Hybrid and get excellent gas mileage.

I live in a mid-size city with a population of approximately 100,000 people. I use my car every day to drive to and from work, which is just under 20 miles round trip with 14 traffic lights along the way. I also average about 200 miles a month of Interstate driving. For the past few months, traveling just over 4000 miles, I've averaged 45 miles per gallon. On the current tank of gas, I've gone 395 miles and have averaged 48.4 MPG.

There is nothing dishonest about the fuel mileage reported by the Hybrid sellers. It will do everything that it claims as long as the driver knows how to drive. If you spend all of your time accelerating and decelerating then you will not get any advantages of the cars design and you will not get good gas mileage. The trick is to learn when and how to accelerate.

I have always been, and always will be an aggressive driver. Even now that my primary goal is to get the best gas mileage possible, I still pass far more drivers than pass me. So, if I can get 48 MPG driving this car, anyone should be able to do it.

[modrepub]

9. Toyota Prius

One of the guys I ride the bus to work with has a 2003 Prius; he bought one after his daughter recommended it. He says he gets in the mid 40s. He also noticed his gas milage decreased in the winter and he wasn't sure why. He is happy with the car and his timing was great since he purchased the car before this latest gas price surge. He told me the other day there are 3-6 month waiting lists for the Prius.

[Twitch14]

10. Only been driving my Prius for a few days....

...but if I had to guess, I'd say the car keeps the gasoline engine running more often in winter to power the cabin heater. So far, getting 35+ MPG, but also don't have the hybrid-friendly commute.

On edit: Heater, not Heather.

[uberotto]

11. During the first three months of driving my Civic Hybrid...

I averaged between 38 and 42 mpg. After that I started consistently averaging between 42 and 44 mpg. After the first year, I was consistently averaging 45 to 46 mpg. Recently, I managed to get as high as 49 mpg average on a tank when conditions are just right.

I typically get better gas milage in the winter, because I don't have to run the A.C. (I live in Florida). When I run the A.C. or the Heater, my average mpg goes down slightly. Also, I've read from others that in cold weather the Electric Engine isn't as efficient.

Congratulations on your new Prius, as you get used to driving a Hybrid, your milage will increase. It takes a while to learn when to accelerate, when to brake and when it just isn't worth it to try to make the yellow light. Also, try to avoid crowded Drive-Thru windows.

[Twitch14]

12. Thanks....

...though I feel somewhat guilty listening to all these people talk about their 3 month waits. I walked onto a dealership to look at a Matrix, and they'd just received 5 used 2004 Priuses (Priusii?) under 20K mileage, so I pounced. (They'd sold two more by the time I brought my trade-in's title the next day.)

[Maurkov]

13. Worse winter milage

At lower temperatures, air is denser and lubricants are more viscous. Winter gas may be a lighter and less energy dense. At the same time, the engine is probably running a richer fuel mix. The headlights stay on longer.