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I am new to Honda as well as to Hybrid technology and have a question? I purchased a new Civic Hybrid recently strictly due to the mileage ratings. On the drive home from purchase I got a respectable 50 mpg (approximately 350 miles of driving). Since that time I have driven approximately 150 miles, all in town driving, and have been averaging only 30 mpg. Should I be concerned at this point?
Thanks JLP

 
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when you drive in the city, the stop and go, or whatever, doesn't allow you to achieve your 50MPG, which is why you get only 30-40. When you did achieve 50MPG, you were most likely driving on the highway?

 
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but for a hybrid.. still. theres people out there making 30 mpg average on non-hybrid, non-vtec motors d17s.

 
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The Hybrid is rated at 51 Highway and 48 City. The great selling point of the Civic Hybrid is the high City rating. Other Hybrids while rated at 50+ Highway drop to the mid to high 30's City. The Low end of the scale for the Civic Hybrid is a rating of 41mpg and the high end of over 50mpg City. Thus my concern. JLP

 
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since u just bought the car ... take it to the dealer where u purches the car and told them "what the **** is wrong with this piece of **** ! it doesnt even reach 41mpg, and i drive like a old lady!"

 
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^^^ might be quite the task seeing as he drove 350 miles to get the car, so the story leads me to assume.

 
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^^^ yea i say do the same thing. That really blows about the 30mpg... i get around 31 with my 01 ex auto. :/

 
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i get about 30 in my 03 EX in the city. but definitely go to the deal and get it checked out.

 
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Yeah I was gonna say I get 30 easy in the city in my 02 LX auto...beleive it or not...highway gets up to 40ish if i drive it like a civilized person. Thats why I havn't jumped on the hybrid bandwagon

 
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ya hybrids should be 40-50 in the city, thats the whole point of buying it. maybe bad gas? hard driving? see if it goes back up, sometimes the motor needs to break in. i didnt get the best mileage until the engine fully broken in which is around 20k miles.

 
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Maybe the car needed some breaking in before you did a straight 350 mile drive on the freeway? That's what I think the problem might have been.

 
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my cousin has a civic hybrid he says he averages about 40...of course, he's had his for almost a year, but still...30 doesn't sound right. maybe if you were driving a camry hybrid...

 
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I get about 45mpg with my 97 DX on freeway, 28 minimum in city driving, though I usually get about 30-32 in city. 40psi on all tires, and this was before I installed the new timing belt. (et cetera) Then again, when I measured this, I didn't have me rear bumper on, which acts like a paracout. I had an accident and had to remove it. With the bumper, I get more like 41mpg.

 
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Check your tire pressure and report back. I personally like 38-44 (44 being max pressure) for safety and economy. They tell you not to inflate past 35psi because the inside of your tire will wear out faster than the side, but that is bullshit. You can run them at 44 without a problem. Many police departments, after discovering the benefits of max pressure, switch to max pressure on their cars. I used to have an article on that, but I can't find it.

Also, how are you measuring your gas mileage? The easiest way to do it is to fill up your tank to max, and reset your trip meter to 0, then drive until 3/4ths empty (longer is a more accurate reading). Refill, but do not top off, and note how many gallons were pumped into the car after the nozzle auto-stops. Take that number, and divide it by the number of miles on your trip meter.

Example:
97 DX has 11.9 gallon tank.
Trip meter: 375 miles
Gallons pumped: 9.50
375 divided by 9.50 = 39.473mpg

 
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The car still has less than 600 miles but I am sure that there has to be a problem. If it were close I would consider that it might be a tire pressure or a break in problem. But this is approximately 40% off!

 
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well just keep in mind, the breakin oil is still in there, so wait til 3k at least when you do oil change and see what happens. its too new to tell.

 
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Here's the article on police departments being recommended to use max sidewall spec pressure:

http://www.officer.com/article/artic...on=19&id=27281

Ya gotta see the pic of the pickup two-wheeling on stock Crown Vic tires at 100 psi...

 
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Are you maybe doing only short trips? If so you're spending lots of time and gas getting it warmed up.

I'm sure you know -
The hybrid system lets you get by with a smaller engine - because the electric motor kicks in to help out. It also captures some of the energy you would kill off when braking.

But it doesn't overcome soft tires or short trips. I track my mpg seriously. If I drive 10-15 miles and park for several hours and then go home, that way my mpg is at least 30-35% less than my usual long highway runs.

 
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Break the motor in first. Nothing is gonna make max MPG when its brand new. Most cars take 5000 miles or so to start showing their maximum miles per gallon, but I still wouldnt expect it to show the EPA rating unless you drive it like a granny all the time. Acceleration will blow gas milage faster than anything else.

 
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are you watching your fuel economy guage? If you drive it like you stole it you will kill the milage especially around town. If you take it easy and be smooth with the acceleration your milage will be much better.

 
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Thank you so much for the link! I couldn't find this article anywhere.