I drive a Honda Civic Hybrid, and have kept track of my mileage for the year and several months that I've owned it.
Overall, I've gotten an average of just over 50 miles per gallon over the last 16,000 miles. In the summertime, I get about 53-55 mpg, and in the winter it's just under 50.
I definitely changed how I drove to maximize my fuel efficiency. If you don't leave the car in gear as you're braking to stop at a light or stop sign, the engine won't charge and you're mileage goes way down. If you accelerate like a bat outta hell after stopping, you lose mileage big time - instead you have to just accept that you're gonna accelerate slower than other cars.
Others have asked the question, and I'd be curious to know the answer: do non-hybrid cars live up to the EPA mileage reports? One would imagine that the EPA would have some consistency in their testing, so it'd be okay to compare numbers.
Interestingly, on my Civic hybrid, the dashboard display of the average mileage for this trip seems to exaggerate the mileage consistently by about 4-5 miles per gallon. I reset one of the trip odometers each time I fill up the tank, and use the odometer reading (number of miles travelled) along with the number of gallons I put in to make my own calculation of mileage. It's always at least 3 or 4 miles per gallon lower than what the display reports. My Honda dealer is clueless about the hybrid, and couldn't even understand the question when I asked them about this difference.
I very happily own a hybrid vehicle - a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid - and would recommend it highly to the right kind of person.
First, the good news: I drive my car about 40 miles a day (driving commutes suck!) and get around 55 miles per gallon. My commute is about 70%/30% highway to city driving. When I drive it around the city (which I generally try _not_ to do - Boston is bike-friendly enough, plus I live near the T), I get mileage closer to 50 mpg, and when I've gone on longer roadtrips it's up near 60 mpg.
More good news: It's a real car. It seats five. It has a reasonable sized trunk (not huge, though). With a few exceptions, it's very similar to the non-hybrid Civic, so my car is comfortable, well equipped (CD player, power everything, ABS, etc.) and pretty well designed. I wasn't interested in the Insight 'cause it's small and somewhat awkward and not what I call a "real" car.
The not-so-good news: The one large complaint I have about the car is that the back seat does not fold down (that's where they stashed the batteries).
Some economics: I spent a little less than $20K on my car. The hybrid is about three or four thousand more than the regular Civic. I'll get a $2000 deduction on my 2003 income tax (giving me about $600), and I'll save some (but not tons) on gas vs. the regular Civic that probably adds up to over about $1500 over 100,000 miles. So basically, I break even. If I had bought a used car, I would've spent far less money, even in the long run.
I think I made the right decision when I bought my car because:
I wanted a car
I wanted to pollute less and use less gasoline than the average car
I wanted to support hybrid technology and send the message to auto makers that people were interested in these cars
I happened to have enough money to do the above
So, the bad news is that supporting hybrid technology and being good to the environment (while still owning a car) is an expensive proposition right now. The good news is that the more and more people are buying the cars and that if you can afford them, they're quality automobiles.
I'd be happy to answer questions about the Civic or my decision-making process. I also collected some links and made some notes about the car - you can see those here.
Hmm. If that's not a big hunk of evidence in an anti-trust case against Microsoft, I'm not sure what would be.
But seriously - here's a perfect example of the software-side of Microsoft preventing other companies from competing with the OS-side. How is it possible that they're still pulling this crap after years and years?
There's a well-written book called T. rex and the Crater of Doom by the man who was part of the team that figured out how, when and where the asteroid hit, Walter Alvarez.
It's a very accessible read, and explains their thought processes quite clearly.
As I recall, the discovery of iridium, an element only found extraterrestrially (i.e. on asteroids), in the strata of rock that corresponds to the date of the extinction of the dinosaurs tipped them off.
Not only have lots of/. users violated the Apogee agreement by posting things about their trademarks in a "negative context" (gasp!), but CmdrTaco himself has violated the agreement by linking to the license agreement, which specifically states:
As well as notifying Apogee of your intended use, you must also receive permission from Apogee for the following uses of the Materials and Marks:
...
6.Linking the Site to any other third party web site through a hypertext, text, banner, logo or contextual link ("Graphical Image") which permits a user to go from one party's web site to another by clicking on the Graphical Image.
Slashdot Mirror
Overall, I've gotten an average of just over 50 miles per gallon over the last 16,000 miles. In the summertime, I get about 53-55 mpg, and in the winter it's just under 50.
I definitely changed how I drove to maximize my fuel efficiency. If you don't leave the car in gear as you're braking to stop at a light or stop sign, the engine won't charge and you're mileage goes way down. If you accelerate like a bat outta hell after stopping, you lose mileage big time - instead you have to just accept that you're gonna accelerate slower than other cars.
Others have asked the question, and I'd be curious to know the answer: do non-hybrid cars live up to the EPA mileage reports? One would imagine that the EPA would have some consistency in their testing, so it'd be okay to compare numbers.
Interestingly, on my Civic hybrid, the dashboard display of the average mileage for this trip seems to exaggerate the mileage consistently by about 4-5 miles per gallon. I reset one of the trip odometers each time I fill up the tank, and use the odometer reading (number of miles travelled) along with the number of gallons I put in to make my own calculation of mileage. It's always at least 3 or 4 miles per gallon lower than what the display reports. My Honda dealer is clueless about the hybrid, and couldn't even understand the question when I asked them about this difference.
They've sold on the order of 100,000 Civic Hybrids. If they lost $10,000 per car, they'd have lost $1,000,000,000.
I'm pretty sure Honda doesn't have a billion dollars to burn just to up their mileage rating and let them sell more SUV's.
First, the good news: I drive my car about 40 miles a day (driving commutes suck!) and get around 55 miles per gallon. My commute is about 70%/30% highway to city driving. When I drive it around the city (which I generally try _not_ to do - Boston is bike-friendly enough, plus I live near the T), I get mileage closer to 50 mpg, and when I've gone on longer roadtrips it's up near 60 mpg.
More good news: It's a real car. It seats five. It has a reasonable sized trunk (not huge, though). With a few exceptions, it's very similar to the non-hybrid Civic, so my car is comfortable, well equipped (CD player, power everything, ABS, etc.) and pretty well designed. I wasn't interested in the Insight 'cause it's small and somewhat awkward and not what I call a "real" car.
The not-so-good news: The one large complaint I have about the car is that the back seat does not fold down (that's where they stashed the batteries).
Some economics: I spent a little less than $20K on my car. The hybrid is about three or four thousand more than the regular Civic. I'll get a $2000 deduction on my 2003 income tax (giving me about $600), and I'll save some (but not tons) on gas vs. the regular Civic that probably adds up to over about $1500 over 100,000 miles. So basically, I break even. If I had bought a used car, I would've spent far less money, even in the long run.
I think I made the right decision when I bought my car because:
So, the bad news is that supporting hybrid technology and being good to the environment (while still owning a car) is an expensive proposition right now. The good news is that the more and more people are buying the cars and that if you can afford them, they're quality automobiles.
I'd be happy to answer questions about the Civic or my decision-making process. I also collected some links and made some notes about the car - you can see those here.
According to the author's site, there's also a newer app that's been more thoroughly reviewed, though I've never used it. Check out CryptoPad.
But seriously - here's a perfect example of the software-side of Microsoft preventing other companies from competing with the OS-side. How is it possible that they're still pulling this crap after years and years?
Bah! Is it even worth getting riled up anymore?
It's a very accessible read, and explains their thought processes quite clearly.
As I recall, the discovery of iridium, an element only found extraterrestrially (i.e. on asteroids), in the strata of rock that corresponds to the date of the extinction of the dinosaurs tipped them off.
-DZ