Hybrid MPG

This picture was taken from my Treo 700P. Yes, I was driving while I took this picture so this picture is a little blurry.

What is this? It is the dashboard of my Honda Civic Hybrid. I am not an "Eco" kind of person, but I do believe in doing what I can to reduce the consumption of foreign oil. Many cars claim to give you "great" gas mileage. As we all know, the listed mpg for vehicles is not what you are going to get in everyday "normal" use.

However, as you can see here, I am getting approximately 52.9 mpg. The bar below this shows that, at the time of driving, I was getting about 60 mpg. The bar increments at 20 mpg, so this is my approximate mpg guess. The Honda Civic Hybrid was advertised at 46-48 mpg. My Honda is a 2004 model so newer models may have a higher mpg rating.

The 52.9 mpg is what I usually get from driving from Home to Work and back. The speed limit is 50 mph on this stretch of road which is the ideal speed for the best gas mileage. Obviously, my mpg drops when I use my car for other than my work commute. Depending on my speed, my mpg drops to approximately 39-40 mpg. To me that is a significant drop but a necessary one if I wish to travel on the highway.

My average miles per tank is 567.46 and the most miles per tank is 680 miles. Yes, I nursed the pedal to see how many miles I could get. Once again, these are not typical averages for most people driving these vehicles, but then again I am not typical. My average days between fill ups is 14 days. Remember, I mainly use my car for work commutes which is 27 miles one way.

I know many "experts" have stated that you will have to own your Hybrid for about 10 years before you make up the difference in cost from a non-Hybrid vehicle. With averages like this, my checkbook tells me otherwise.

I will continue to use my Fry's card in order to save $.10 per gallon, but that will be for another blog.

How does your vehicle do compared to my Hybrid?