nht48823

my new tank stats

318.3/10.156 = 31.34
Lexus shows average 34.1

nht48823

new tanks stats are very disappointing. its cold but I am barely doing 30 mpg past two tanks my average has sunk significantly. I drive in default mode. I did have ECO mode for a while it didnt make significant difference on gas so now I only drive normal or (default) mode.

Miles: 350.5 / 11.613 Gallons = 30.18

1neeto

So far after about 5 tank fills I've come to the conclusion that the trip computer is designed to create a placebo effect for the owner, let's face it, the average owner is not going to divide the miles driven to the gallons pumped. The computer is consistently 2.5-3 mpg off and there's simply no excuse for that. My old infiniti was 1 mpg off at worst, and most of the time it was either dead on or .2-.5 off. It's nothing more than blatant false advertising when my trip computer shows 35.5 mpg's but when I do a manual calculation, it shows 33 mpg's. It's simply inexcusable.

Oh well, I'm still happy with the overall fuel economy and luxury this car offers. I just wish the trip computer was just a bit more accurate.

TheAirman

It must vary car to car.

Mine only seems to be off by +/- 1mpg. Usually the error is to the conservative side.

I know the HS can do way better that what being posted here. It all depends on your driving conditions and driving style.

I was averaging around 41, calculated on paper, in the warmer weather and now I'm pissed because in the cooler weather I was only making about 38. So I started my cold weather grill blocking and it brought it up to around 39 mpg.

Not bad considering an Accord or similar, might only make about 21 in the cooler weather. And your average Ram doesn't even make double digit mileage in the winter.

But gas is "cheap" now, so I guess it's all relative.

nht48823

i am not sure how you can achieve these numbers - its hard to believe.

I am struggling with getting 33 city, highway mix. I am not driving like old lady but I am paying attention to my RPM. I usually make sure I am not in power area (white) try to keep the rpm gauge in blue and green. I think if I had this type of information in my old Acura I feel it defiantly would have achieve at least 29 to maybe in low 30s.

oh well I still think this is a great car and I wish I didnt have to work so hard to achieve the millage it claims....

Magellan55

I agree with Dave it's so much more about how you drive than anything else. Just driving 10 mph faster than someone else on the highway will make a big difference. Or how gentle/smooth you are accelerating/decelerating. Do you stay in your lane and go with the flow of traffic, or do you constantly change lanes? Do you start braking gently long before that redlight, to maximize regen, or brake at the last second and burn all that kinetic energy up in heat? I think over time you'll get used to driving a bit differently, and that will help your mpg creep up a bit.

your environment has an effect too. high altitude, really cold or really hot climate can reduce mpg. And of course traffic, though that affects a hybrid less than a conventional car. Even gasoline mix can vary by area - ethanol can reduce your mpg as it packs less energy per liter.

But in terms of the car itself, tires can make a difference, especially how they are inflated. I run my tires at 38 psi, some push it to 44. Don't forget to add air now that it's cooler outside. Differing brands can differ by 2-3 mpg. Keep the car clean, no roof rack or sunroof visor or nose bra.

Good luck!

1neeto

I agree that your driving style has a lot to do with your mileage. That much is obvious. My issue is that you shouldn't have to drive any different than how you would normally drive just to get close to the claimed 34/35 mpg rating. I get real world mpg of 33.5 at best and that's with my tires at 40 psi, also trying to run on the battery as much as possible.

If I drive this car like I drive my civic, I'd be lucky to get 30 mpg's. I average 32-34 mpg in that car.

Magellan55

Not sure what year your Civic is, but the EPA rating might be as good/better on it than the HS, so that's not surprising. I had a civic in the 90's, and got mid-30's mpg even back then. If you bought the HS to get better mpg than your Civic, then you would be disappointed, as they aren't in the same class at all. Maybe a Prius would be a better fit for your needs. Going from a Civic to an HS is about getting a much more refined and tech-laden car, without sacrificing mpg.

I can only speak for my own experience, but I do average 35-36 mpg paper-calculated (36.5-37 indicated) driving my HS fairly "normal". Mix of back roads, in town, highway, temperate climate in NC. While I do drive a bit less aggressively than with previous cars in terms of acceleration and braking, I make no other accommodations for the hybrid setup. I don't obsess over the power gauge, or worry about whether I'm on battery or not, or monkey with the AC or anything else to conserve energy. And I'm usually found in the fast lane, 10-15 mpg over the limit (75-80 mph highway on our roads). So my driving profile is probably more aggressive than the EPA's.

I can certainly imagine that if I drove the speed limit, that alone would push me up near 40 mpg. But I value saving a few minutes each morning on my commute more than a few dollars a month in gas Driving the HS allows me to drive pretty much the way I did in my Saab, Passat, etc in the past, and get better mpg while doing it.

It could also just be the car, or some weird mismatch between how you drive and how your car was designed to be driven. I typically get better than EPA on my cars, but only EPA on this one, and we've never gotten EPA on our Odyssey. Really, that thing is rated 20/28, but no matter what I do, I've never gotten over 25 mpg on long trips, and average about 18 around town.

Not sure what else to offer. You appear to be getting close to EPA mpg, so it could be almost anything that's giving you less mpg than I and others are getting. Maybe just enjoy the positives of the car? The difference between 33 and 36 mpg is ~$10 per month. Doesn't seem worth sweating over.

nht48823

my new tank stats

339.1 / 11.396 = 29.75

it keeps getting worse then before....

i owned this car for about 3 months now I have not been able to achieve the numbers it claims...i have the auto climate off...i been driving pretty conservative i still cant achieve these numbers. again I should not have to try this hard to to get to what the lexus advertise

i dont care about the actual millage but i feel its the principle of it. I remember i read this article this lady sued Honda and won because her civic hybrid did not achieve what advertised - i understand the lady's frustrations now...again I did not by this car for gas millage it sure would be nice to get 35 though.

TheAirman

Unless I wa sitting right next to you to see how you were driving it, it's hard to tell you how to adjust your driving style to get better numbers.

You have to understand that it's a hybrid, and even the Prius will not get the numbers that everyone talks about unless it is driven like a hybrid. And I see you are a new owner, with only 3 months in, so I know you are new at the game, unless you came from another hybrid.

You have to learn to drive all over again. The HS is like two cars. A normal Japanese sedan. And a high mileage luxury Pruis. It allows you to pick which car to drive. You just have to learn to do it. The HS, even with it's outdated software, is a very capable hybrid. You just have to make it do what you want it to.

Put it this way. Say you sold your Plymouth Duster, and bought a 2014 BMW M3. The first thing you would notice is how fast it is, and how good it corners. But unless you took the time to learn things like corner apex, and understeer, oversteer you would never tap the true potential of what the car could do. Just like the HS.

But now you have to learn hypermile, and things like pulse and glide and EV mode. Plus you have to take your daily drive apart in sections and learn where to get the numbers, and where to drive it like a Civic. There's a whole lot of info in this forum and others.

TheAirman

I see you are fairly close to PA geographically, so other than the temperature being a little colder where you are, you should be able to do better on your numbers once you learn the tricks.

My work drive is 17 miles one way, half highway and half back roads with light traffic and speeds from 25 to 45 mph. On the highway, if I drive normally, I'l usually average about 37 on a trip. That's cause the engine runs all the time. And 37 is fantastic for a sedan this size. Most Accords or Camry's only make around 30 on a trip.

It's on the back roads where I start to add up the mileage. And I run my traction battery to the purple zone at least once a trip. That is if no one is on my bumper, because on Battery only, the most you can do is 41 mph. And I can hold it there for miles when I'm in ECO mode.

After learning the sections of my drive home, I do the last 2 miles on Battery only and the last 1/2 mile is uphill, so I recharge before I pull into the garage.

I took the picture last night, and as you can see the numbers are going down because of the cooler weather. I hit the 43.9 this summer and that was after 1 week. If I lived in flat Phoenix, I know I could do better than that, as long as the traffic is light, because the last thing a M3 driver wants is a hybrid in front of him.

nht48823

wow those numbers are great, just curious - are you using premium gas? I think I might try the premium on next tank and see if I see any difference....stay tune

TheAirman

Nope. The cheapest 87 I can find. Premium made no difference for me when I tried. It just cost more.

I don't think it makes a difference on an Atkinson cycle engine. But I did once have a car with a high compresson ratio and if you DIDN'T run premium, it made a huge difference.

I think you said you don't use ECO mode. That makes a difference too. The power is still there in ECO, you just have to push the pedal further. Plus in ECO, the engine will auto shut down at around 138 deg F, where as in NORMAL, it will not shut down until around 150 deg F. It's also much easier to drive on battery (first green band) on ECO mode.

Running the heat in AUTO mode makes a diffence too. You'll notice if you take it out of AUTO, the engine will start up and the heat will blow hotter.

Like I said, the HS can be configured many ways. You just have to make it do want you want it to do.

nht48823

I tried ECO mode for the 1st month and then switched to regular mode, haven't looked back - I saw very little difference in MPG. I really didnt like it very much either in ECo mode.

are you saying to keep the heat in auto mode?

my old acura tsx required premium, it made a huge difference when I use premium vs regular - I saw better millage as well quicker pickup on premium.

Magellan55

Cars that require premium are tuned for it, so if you use regular in them, the ECU has to detune the car to prevent knock. But your HS is tuned for regular gas, so adding higher octane does nothing other than lighten your wallet like Dave said.

I did some non-scientific tests and found that ECO mode adds about 1 mpg, at least the way I drive. So I just leave it in that mode unless I know in advance I need to accelerate fast (like needing to pass), then I put it in power temporarily. Won't make a noticeable difference, but helps a little.

It's puzzling why your mpg is dropping into the 20's, but without knowing how you drive / traffic conditions / etc, there's not much we can help you with. Maybe you have a mechanical problem / dirty air filter / bad (or wrong) plugs / etc. Buying a used car can be "interesting", even a late model one, as you never know for sure how it was maintained. I bought a used Civic for my son a few years ago, and we discovered it had the wrong temp plugs installed. Ran much better after replacing those, and a few other things.

Dave and others have lots of tricks to get the mpg up over 40 (some extreme hypermilers posted over 60 mpg!). But you really don't need to do those things to get the EPA rating. Drive the speed limit, don't be aggressive, (in other words, drive like the EPA testers do) and assuming you don't have odd traffic conditions, you should be getting near EPA rating. If not, it might be the car.