hyperme

Magellan's correct. The mileage you get will depend primarily on your driving habits and your driving environment (traffic, weather, distance travelled, etc). And, as I've noticed, it can vary greatly.

hyperme

Moolman, if you're getting 31-33mpg with a lot of traffic, and without doing any kind of eco-driving, then you're doing pretty well. I doubt that many other cars would get 31-33 in your situation.

Scaritto

Wow, reading this thread makes me impressed. I think anything over 30 mpg is good for city and a little bit of highway. I will double up on it's all how you drive. For example, my mom gets about 15 mpg in her 09 RL. This is all city. She is hard on the throttle and brake and aggressive. When i drive it, I'll get 24-25 MPG city, but i'm so delicate on the throttle. I try to never come to a complete stop. If the light is red, i just coast for as long as I can. I somehow manage about 21-22 MPG in my 95 ls400. Not bad for the EPA 15 or so

hyperme

Not bad???? If you consistently get 50% over EPA, then you're doing great.

JamesDemo

Remember besides great miles - the price of regular gas is a nice bonus. In a years time it will add up!

thilmony

I just picked up my HS250 last night, came from 2007 civic hybrid. that was rated 40 and I got 38, so 33 would make me happy to be so close to rated. I know I don't drive that great. i was **** and tracked every tank of gas on a spreadsheet for 3 years on the Civic and determined it saved me $2500 in gas over a 20 mpg car in the 3 years. I'm going to relax on the lexus and just drive it.

Magellan55

Cooler weather and adding some air to my tires (back up to 35psi from 30ish), and my HS is now averaging 38 indicated over last 400 miles since my 10k service. Maybe it was the fresh oil too. My 15 year old son is even getting into it, driving like an old lady on the road so he can "beat me" on gas mileage (though it's a bit distracting for someone learning how to drive).

On a fun note, traffic was unusually fast the other day going to work, and I was doing 95 for a stretch - and the eco light was still on! HS was nice and stable - very settled and easy to drive at that speed.

acheparev

I'm only averaging 29 in city and 34 on highway. NYC is not suited for hybrids.

IS-Fly168

iTrader: (1)

hahaha,, guess what?? im pretty sure if you were in another car, it would probably get you 19 in city and 24 on highway... especially the way traffic crawls in nyc... I use to live there,, I know,, especially the bqe or uptown driving..

DJTIMMYD

Me and the wife just went a 5600 mile trip back east to see our parents. The HS did great. We averaged 70-75 mph and got a consistant 35-37 mpg on every tank. We even topped out at 39.4 mpg on whole tank.

Pat8635

12K miles in with my HS worst tank of Gas was 36mpg I get frustrated when I drop below 39mpg. I do all sorts of driving, some sort a few day long trips and I love the game of how to get my mileage up. I'm a REALTOR, so frequently have people in the car and have RE/MAX plates so don't ever purposefully irritate other drivers. Being ADD, I can do that without trying!

Here are my top tops to great gas Mileage!

1. The tires on my hs are rated up to 51psi. Many drivers have gone up to the max, but that is just a bit too much for me. I slowly raised my pressure and have settled on 45psi. If you don't do anything else, try this trick.
2. This car has been great for my Blood Pressure, type A driving does not create great MPG results. Learn to get the car to "glide" Get the ICE to shut down when ever you can. When the engine is warmed up that is easier. But learning to get to a speed that allows you to coast down a hill or more on level ground, makes a huge impact. Use your uphill times to get battery charged and everything warmed up.
3. In traffic watch your charge level. Keep your distance to try to avoid hard stops. If you are going to be in traffic during the day, think about turning your Daytime Running Lights off. Also if you don't need the AC, turn it off too. By defauld the AC is on most of the time. I constantly am turning it off to save gas. I also wait to turn on my heat until I am sure that the engine is warmed up by driving, otherwise it will keep the ICE on until it is warm enough to heat the car. On a cold morning while stopped, just turn off your heat and you will see the ICE shut down.
4. I have found slightly slower routes that in many cases are more direct that allow me to drive the car more efficiently w/o bothering other drivers. I have found that it really doesn't take me any longer to get places (short trips) and I run it to less traffic and accidents.

Just being aware of what you are doing is key and more importantly, pump up your tires. My Tech finally agrees after talking to the tire rep. I have a friend the worked for Gates for years and he has had me filling my tires to max sidewall pressure for years. I just don't like how hard the ride is if I do that on the HS.

If you really want to see the geeks side of this issue, there are plenty of sites. Check out cleanmpg.com, there is some nice balance there.

JT29

Personally, I've found the terrain and temperature doesn't seem to matter on my HS. I routinely make various 80-90mile trips on the Highway and consistently get about 32.5 mpg driving at around 70-73mph. I could be -5 F or 60 F and I'm still getting the same numbers (I calculate it myself because the Trip computer on the car always overestimates). I've had winter tires and now back to the OEMs and still, nothing has really changed. However, I have noticed short trips in urban driving (~3-8miles or so) tends to get 26-27mpg (ICE is always on).

JT29

Pat: I used to do that. However, what I found out was that my tires were shot at a little more than half the mileage they are rated at and only about half compared to other people with same cars and tires. So for whatever amount I saved on gas, I paid way more by having to replace my tires early.

DDS62

I am averaging 32.3 mpg for the last 2000 miles. That is a mixture of about 65% highway and 35% city driving. I constantly read the energy expenditure/charge level gauge and attempt to keep the needle as close to "0 charge" as possible. I especially try and maximize the "braking time/charge level" during stops and decelerations. This takes practice. I live on a steep hill and I am able to bury the charge level needle on “Max” and make that occur for a duration of well over a full minute every morning. My neighbors know the deal so they will not leave until I am gone – but I don’t drive like a Prius extremist in normal traffic. I would say I drive slightly more conservative than normal. For me, I have been surprised at how close I can get to the EPA ratings. Never before has that been a possibility for me.

The best I have ever done is 34.7 mpg over about a 30 mile range. I cannot understand how anybody could reach numbers well over 35 mpg, but evidently it can be done. All of my numbers have been determined in Winter and Spring like weather (w/o AC - heat is free with hybrid technology - not so with the new EV's) and by actual miles driven divided by gallons used. Surprisingly, my Odometer trip function values are "spot on" compared with my actual calculated values. Most everybody else has reported those values are inflated, but not in my case. There is some scatter in values, some under, some over, but all within a % or two of my calculated values. I have the premium HS with the 18” Toyo 45 series tires. I keep them at 34psi front, 32 psi rear (cold).

Magellan55

I've seen my mpg rise slowly over the year+ I've owned my HS (now ~16k). My guess is it's a combination of 1) learning curve for me driving hybrids, 2) engine breaking in, and 3) tires wearing down, so a mile on the odometer isn't really a mile any more. I'm now seeing 38.4 indicated / 37 actual in mostly highway/rural road commuting.

As posted in other threads, it bears repeating that over inflating your tires beyond what's recommended for the car (not what's on the sidewall) has detrimental effects to your handling and braking, in addition to increased tire wear as noted above. Those engineers that designed the car spent many hours developing and testing the suspension and selecting the tire pressure that gives the best balance of many handling variables. The typical mechanic in a shop has no clue what goes into suspension design, so their opinion isn't worth 2 cents in this case.

The minimal amount of actual gas saved isn't worth it for the increased risk to your safety as well as the hit to your wallet.