MikeP

I returned home from an overnight trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast this morning. The trip was on flat roads along the Beach Blvd., then on I-10 to my home in New Orleans. The weather was great; 65 deg.avg., light wind and minor traffic. Beach Blvd. has speed limits of 45mph with several traffic lights along the 32 mile distance. Then I-10, with its 70 mile speed limit was another 55 miles home. My speed averaged about 5mph above the limits, both on the Beach Blvd and Interstate. When I arrived home, my ESh had 203 miles on the ODO. and and avg. mpg of 53.7 mpg. for these 87 miles. Guess I should have taken a picture so even I could prove to myself it happened.

ionian

That is great to hear. I am curious as to what is your "after refuel " screen say about the mpg.

Wait4Vtec

Dang that's pretty crazy. I live in city with mostly stop and go traffic and traffic jams on the highway and getting around 38mpg. Hopefully mine improves or I learn how to not activate the engine as much. Regardless, still much better than the 22mpg I got in my previous A4

TechNut

I frequently get a reading in the high 40's by the end of my tank. Keep in mind, there is sort of a sweet spot in terms of temperature for hybrids and they tend to produce their best mileage in that 55-70 degree weather. easy speeds (say 70 or below) are also a big factor. Also, you will want to calculate actual mileage at the time you refuel as the dash gauge consistently reads between 1.5 and 2 mpg higher than actual mileage. These are really amazing cars, to achieve that kind of mileage in such a large vehicle. Enjoy!

MikeP

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm wondering if the Li batteries contribute to the increased fuel economy for the 2021 model year. I routinely drove this same route in my previous car, a 2019 Accord Hybrid Touring and was lucky to get an avg. of 42-44 mpg's. The EPA fuel economy figures for the Accord is 48/48/48. The Accord did as well driving the portion with the 45 mph speed limit, but was about 10 mpg worse than the ESh on the Interstate. I agree the fuel economy and drivability of the ESh is amazing.

TechNut

Interesting thought. If most of your route was stop and go where the hybrid drivetrain would be more of a factor, I would agree that the change in battery chemistry is responsible for the mileage. In your instance, where it was mixed driving it is harder to confirm. The Beach Blvd stretch is the type of driving where the hybrid really excels - straight and easy, with just a few lights.

MikeP

Alex from "Alex on Autos" has a video the explains the difference in hybrid systems and why one type gives better fuel economy in certain conditions. The explanation gets more technical than some of us want to hear, but it is pretty thorough.

E46CT

That's pretty good. 52-53 is also what I get with my CT200h F Sport on a long highway stretch doing about 70. I can get about 55-57 if i go a bit slower and really try. 50 with ac on. ESh is much heavier though so that's pretty good.

MikeP

Same route and environmental conditions this morning and the result was 51.8 mpg. The LKA does its job well even when shadows cross the road, wind slightly moves car and around curves. I have only kept my car in Normal mode. I've tried Eco and turned it off pretty quick because the engine feels much too sluggish.

TechNut

You may actually be surprised by the benefits of Eco mode, particularly if you are trying to see how far you can push the mileage. I would encourage you to try the trip once under similar temperature conditions and see what kind of mileage you get. I got used to Eco mode with a Prius, then when we graduated to our first ESh it seemed just fine - relative to what I had become accustomed to. When I need more power now, I just press the accelerator down harder. The climate fans push more air in normal mode so if we have passengers in bad weather we tend to put it back to normal. I put it in power mode when I want to have a little fun in stop & go traffic. Unfortunately, that "power" mode doesn't provide much assistance on those steep mountain roads, which in my mind is the biggest advantage the V6 would provide - at least for the kind of driving I do.