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Honda Accord Hybrid MPG-Real World Numbers

138 messages,  Last post on Jul 27, 2008 at 11:19 AM

You are in the Honda Accord Hybrid Forum.

What is this discussion about? Honda Accord, Hybrid Cars, Fuel Efficiency (MPG)

Messages Page 8 of 14

#71 of 138 Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner by stlmo57

Dec 22, 2005 (11:06 am)

I have had my 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid for 3 months and have put 4,200 miles on it. When I purchased the car, it had slightly less than 500 miles on it. I tracked the mpg at every fill-up. I was initially getting right at about 31 mpg (90% highway 10% city). During the first two months the actual mpg declined to 25 to 27 mpg with no change in driving habits. The only real change in conditions has been the temperature. Also from a weight perspective, I do not tend to have other passengers at all.
 
The other thing I noticed was that the car's mpg indicator tends to be overstated and prior to the colder weather setting in, it would read higher immediately after filling the gas tank (33 to 36 mpg range). In the last month,the best reading I can get is between 27 and 28. I drive on the highway most of the time at 60 to 65 mph with the green "Econ" light illuminated. My actual mpg was 26.6 for both of the last fill-ups.
 
I am getting ready to go to the dealer for an oil change and was wondering if something needs to be checked. I am very disappointed with my mpg results so far. I have a 1992 240 GL "Tank" that gets 23 mpg. The mpg I am getting does not justify the premium price I paid.

#72 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [stlmo57] by cba82

Dec 22, 2005 (2:55 pm)

Replying to: stlmo57 (Dec 22, 2005 11:06 am)
My experience has been much the same as that of stlmo57. I bought my 2005 HAH like-new (129 miles) last month, and I have yet to get as much as 30 mpg on any tank of gas. I drive 90 miles a day, virtually all of it highway, and now have about 2,500 miles on the car. The 1997 Civic I traded in routinely got 38 mpg on the highway.
 
Might I be doing something wrong? I've noticed that the blue 'assist' bar seldom comes on; should I be actively trying to get that to engage? If so, I don't know how to do that.
 
Any tips? Thanks.

#73 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [cba82] by stlmo57

Dec 22, 2005 (3:19 pm)

Replying to: cba82 (Dec 22, 2005 2:55 pm)
cba82,
 
Hi, I am stlmo57. When I 1st started driving my 05 HAH in mid-September, it was almost fun to see how high I could get the displayed mpg to read. Although I could sometimes get it to read as high as 36 mpg, the actual measured amount was much less and never more than 30(when I fill-up my car I literally fill it until the pump will no longer dispense and do the math myself).
 
Some things I noticed early on were:
 
1) I got a much higher reading on the dash displayed mpg immediately after filling up the tank.
2) The only time I had 3 passengers in the car, the dash displayed mpg dropped sharply 4 to 5 mpg.
3) In St. Louis, Mo, when the weather turned cold, I never saw 30 mpg displayed on the dash for over 30 days, even after a fill-up.
4)Today, Thursday December 22, in St Louis, Mo the temperature topped 57 degrees and magically, I was getting a dash reading of 31 mpg.
 
Have you noticed any of these items?

#74 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [stlmo57] by cba82

Dec 23, 2005 (10:53 am)

Replying to: stlmo57 (Dec 22, 2005 3:19 pm)
Thanks for your reply, stlmo57.
 
I've not manually computed my mpg, relying instead on the dash display; next time I fill up I will do the math myself as a check on the car's computation. Also, I live in New Hampshire, and we've had a very cold December, so I've not been able to compare results in cold weather vs. warm; at this point, it likely won't be until April that I'll be able to get a sense of the results in warmer weather. The only passengers I've carried in the car are my young children, so I've not detected any difference with passengers and without.
 
Reading the posts on this forum has given me some ideas of how to improve mileage -- including letting the car engine do the braking, increasing speed only gradually, and lowering my overall speed on the highway -- that I am going to try out and see if that helps at all. When I see some of the numbers people are quoting on this board, and other people remarking that "you must be an experienced hybrid driver," that suggests to me that there are specific techniques you can teach yourself to improve mileage.

#75 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [stlmo57] by ryan1550

Dec 28, 2005 (9:45 pm)

Replying to: stlmo57 (Dec 22, 2005 3:19 pm)
stlmo57,
I live in Kansas City and got my HAH in late May. I've made numerous long trips. During the warm weather, I would average about 36 mpg driving to Davenport, IA at over 70 mph. However, when I made the same trip in 14-degree weather at the beginning of December, the mileage was down around 29-30 mpg. Since the weather has warmed up during the last week, the mileage has again improved. I can only speculate that the density of the cold air affects the gas mileage, but I would never have guessed the effect would be that large. Perhaps there is an engineer or other science-brained person following the thread who can tell us if the air density of the cold air can acutally make that much difference.

#76 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [stlmo57] by ryan1550

Dec 28, 2005 (9:58 pm)

Replying to: stlmo57 (Dec 22, 2005 3:19 pm)
stlmo57,
Regarding the self-measured gas mileage vs the computer, I am also very interested in this. I've read material from the "auto advice" types which says that you can't get an accurate calculation of gas mileage by doing the calculation on 1 tank of gas...the calculation can be off because the car is at a slightly different angle than the last time you filled up (so you actually put in a different amount of gas), or various other variables. They suggest you calculate an average mpg over several tanks of gas. For instance, keep a record of how many miles you drive over several fill ups and compute the mileage from that. I did it it this summer (over 5 fill ups) and came up with an average of 33.6 mpg vs 35.0 that the computer told me. I think that is a big variance. I am going to do the test again, but would be interested to know what you, or others who read this, experience.

#77 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [ryan1550] by viet

Dec 28, 2005 (11:15 pm)

Replying to: ryan1550 (Dec 28, 2005 9:58 pm)
I have compared many digital MPGs and my own manually calculated MPGs. The differences are very small and insignificant. Honda does an excellent job to calculate the HAH's MPG.

#78 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [ryan1550] by stlmo57

Dec 29, 2005 (10:50 am)

Replying to: ryan1550 (Dec 28, 2005 9:58 pm)
ryan1550,
 
I am a creature of habit. With the exception of being out- of-town, I have filled-up my car at the same Quick Trip near my home for over 10 years. So this variable is fairly constant. After I purchased my 05 HAH, I set-up an Excel spread sheet that I tracked my mpg on. The spread sheet was also cumulative (divided total miles by total gallons out to two decimal places). The problem with doing it over multiple fill-ups, as in my case, was over the first five fill-ups I averaged 28.5 mpg. In reality, my mpg has walked down, ie., 31 mpg, 30 mpg, 29 mpg, 28 mpg, 27 mpg and 26 mpg. Thus an average of 28.5. These are not the actual numbers, I am just simplifying my example. But, I did experience this type of trend. Cold weather definitely does comes into play (2-4 mpg). I am taking my car in for an oil change tomorrow and I will ask the dealer to tell me what they think. Given that this is a Hybrid, and it commanded a $3,000 premium, anything under 30 mpg, is a disappointment.
 
As I stated in my initial post, I do approximately 90% highway and 10% city. On the highway I maintain a speed of approximately 62 mph with the "Eco" light illuminated.

#79 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [ryan1550] by thegraduate

Dec 29, 2005 (2:18 pm)

Replying to: ryan1550 (Dec 28, 2005 9:45 pm)
I live in Kansas City and got my HAH in late May. I've made numerous long trips. During the warm weather, I would average about 36 mpg driving to Davenport, IA at over 70 mph. However, when I made the same trip in 14-degree weather at the beginning of December, the mileage was down around 29-30 mpg. Since the weather has warmed up during the last week, the mileage has again improved. I can only speculate that the density of the cold air affects the gas mileage, but I would never have guessed the effect would be that large. Perhaps there is an engineer or other science-brained person following the thread who can tell us if the air density of the cold air can acutally make that much difference.
 
Don't forget that gasoline formulas change with the seasons, and winter formulas generally achieve less mileage. This is true in my Accord EX 4-cyl. When I got the car in October, I was getting 30mpg regularly. Now I am down to an average of 26.6mpg (according to my log). It makes a difference depending on where you live, i.e. the Northeast uses a different fuel formula than does the Southeast. Hope y'all have a happy holiday!
 
thegrad

#80 of 138 Re: Honda Accord Hybrid Dissappointed 3 Month Owner [thegraduate] by s2khah

Dec 31, 2005 (8:35 pm)

Replying to: thegraduate (Dec 29, 2005 2:18 pm)
I tend to agree with the graduate. I live in New Jersey and they used to use an additive during the winter (I believe it was an oxygenating additive) MTBE? That reduced mpg by 5-10% but I am not sure it is still added.
 
Also my local station has recently posted a sticker on the pumps that the fuel may be up to 10% renewable energy which, I suspect, means alcohol based. Alcohol has about quite a bit less BTU content than gasoline so that would also reduce MPGs. Check with the local gas station about any of this.
 
When the use of renewable fuel sources becomes prevelant, then all vehicles will get less mpg's but I feel a tradeoff that will make us give less $$ to OPEC is worth it.

Messages Page 8 of 14

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