Balien

I just got a new Nx300h I have never had a hybrid. Any tips for driving a hybrid? Do the heated seats kill MPG?

TechNut

No, in general, the heated seats don't hurt your mileage. The car will typically generate more electricity than it needs when the temps are cool enough to use the seat heaters. With that said, using the seats or air conditioner shouldn't hurt your mileage too much. There are definitely some sweet spots depending on temperatures so your "mileage" may vary. Those temps where you can make maximum use of the battery, are unlikely to be the same temps where you will need the heated seats.

The thing we have found to help on mileage, is just accelerate normally up to posted speed (up to about 40 mph) and then on flat roads or slight declines, back off momentarily and see if you can get it to go to EV on the dash. The gas engine has to be warm first or it will never go to battery. Play with this on an empty road and you will see what I mean.

Please remember to be courteous to surrounding drivers. Nothing will aggravate surrounding traffic more than somebody that isn't driving with purpose because they are trying to milk a few extra MPGs out of their hybrid. This gave the Prius a bad reputation because so many owners were getting goofy trying to squeeze their mileage.

There are a number of discussions about maximizing your mileage over on the current ES forum.

Balien

So far I have noticed much improvement after engine warm up and have shut off the auto AC feature which makes a difference right away. Eco mode helps a bit. Nothing helps more than keeping in in EV mode by pulling off the gas a bit and keeping the hybrid gauge just below the economy dashed arc in straight aways. I have got as low as 6.1ltrs per 100k and as high as 10ltrs per 100k.

My low fuel light came on today but the fuel gauge seemed no where near the bottom. I drove it until it had 20km range left. It only took 45 liters (11.8 gal). Seems like they are warning us a few gallons early since the tank holds 14.8 gal.