Hybrid Cars

mikegranger

mikegranger

Well-known member
This has absolutely nothing to do with hunting but thought some of you may find it informative and interesting.

I'm sure most have heard about how the hybrid vehicles aren't getting the mileage they taughted. My work has a hybrid Honda Civic with a standard transmission. I drove it to Albuquerque on Sunday. If you look closely at the picture you can see a few things. I'm going 80 mph, the cruise is set, Trip A is 948 miles, and for the trip I am getting 47.3 mpg. RPM's are 3000. Below the trip MPG, you can see a little bar that shows over 40 mpg. This is the "instant" mpg meter. The gauge to the right if for fuel, charge/assist meter, and charge remaining in the battery.

I almost forgot, "Don't try this at home"! (taking flash picture at night while going down the road) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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We've put over 62,000 miles on this vehicle in 2 years and it consistantly gets over 46 mpg.

Just a note, I did have a strong tail wind most of the trip. If I would have throttled it back to 65, could have easily gotten over 50 mpg! Not bad. I went from Casper, WY to Raton, NM (505 miles) on a tank of gas (11 gallons).
 
Hey Mike, interesting info. I'm getting ready to replace the wife's jeep and wonder how the vehicle handles on the highway at those speeds and in the mountains??
Bill T
 
OldTurtle.

I would buy one in a minute if I had the money. As for comfort, I drove it 1140 miles yesterday and can't say I really got uncomfortable. No back aches, numb legs or anything. Honda knows how to make a good comfortable vehicle.
 
We have our second new Civic. We get 32-35 combined hwy/city & 40 hwy. I just couldn't justify the hybrids extra initial cost vs mileage and the battery replacement down the road. It is my understanding that the battery cost is high enough that the dealers offer financing(around $4000). These are nice little cars and I think the hybrid tech is getting better. Hybrids actually get better mileage around town. They also have less horsepower than standard Civic.
 
I wish Chevy would come out with a rail version of the diesel like Jeep did with the Liberty. Now that would be nice in the old Tahoe.
 
I have been around a few of theese hybrid cars. They are nice. When driving they respond and feel just like any other car, except I always freak out when at a stop and can't here or feel the engine. We took one over the passes (Esinhauer and Vail) it went 75 the whole way and got 48.2 MPG. Intown the dang thing was getting near the 70mpg mark. Our next car is going to be a hybrid. They are great vehicles and the aditional cost is not that much more by the time you add in the tax breaks etc.

Do you know what the battery life is???? A few years? 10 years?

They will definitely save money in the long run when gas is $2.40/gallon.
 
We've had ours two years with no degredation of the battery yet. Whenever you take it to the shop, they run an analysis on the battery, it was 98% last month.

Your correct on the tax break, but they do cost a little more. We paid 18,200. I don't know what a standard Civic costs. The hybrids have all the bells and whistles as standard options.

I haven't driven any of the new models, they supposedly have more hp and get better mileage. I will say though, the other work Civic Hybrid is an automatic. It doesn't get as good a mileage. So far, best highway mileage has be 40 mpg.
 
My 1994 Metro gets 55 mpg with a 3 cylinder gas engine. It has 188,000 miles on it. If GM/Suzuki could do it then with just gas why can't they make a hybrid now that does better?
 
Granger, put down the camera and drive! Cell phones and driving are bad enough, but flash photography on the road?

News flash: wildlife biologist killed taking flash photos while driving to a "how to prevent internet wildfire" conference".
 
Here in our area the 2006 Hybrid Civic which comes with the CVT auto is priced around $24,000 with invoice at $20,516 and the Civic LX is priced around $17,060 with invoice at $15,645. With the Civic being car of the year and gas prices up they are getting a high price for them. Honda lists the battery with an 8 yr/80,000 mile warranty and has hinted it will take care of original purchasers longer. They want this program to continue, but there have been rumors of battery shortages. I also wonder who is going to take the hit on trade ins that need a new battery. The battery cost comes up at new car purchase, replacement, trade in, accident, and insurance. It just didn't pencil out for me though it should improve with more being made. Some new diesel engines have shown great economy but are not steering away from fossil fuel.
 
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