My hybrid car: impressions

[Brian]

First draft of my initial impressions here! Will be finalised within a week or so.

Edit: link corrected

[Darin]

I'm shooting for less than 3l/100km on my MK1 Golf, but that may take a while. Can't say it's as nice as a new car, but for the price it can't be beat! 

[Brian]

I updated the link today with a few additions and some small modifications.

[Brian]

I've updated it with an initial experience without air conditioning and have added a new paragraph with a link.

[Brian]

A new update today with information about consumption and safety (crash testing: the other guy fared worse!)

[Darin]

I recently discovered the website of Greenhybrid. It bugs me a little as it uses imperial measures and I have mental problems converting mpg to l/100 km! It is quite interesting although I doubt the veracity of some contributors. For example, there is one guy who claims to obtain an average of 99 mpg over several thousand miles, with a Civic Hybrid. Now, this translates to about 2.4 l/100 km

You wouldn't happen to have a link for this would you? I've heard of Insights getting 90+mpg consistently, but never a Civic Hybrid. I hope the body company does a good job fixing your car.

[Brian]

The link is here.

The guy claiming 99 mpg is no longer cited (he may still be there but has revised his entry!)

I looked at some of the current entries. The top one claims 66.8 mpg (~3.56 l/100 km) over 30,000+ miles 100% city driving, with one tankful going up to 74.6 mpg (3.18 l/100 km). Quite frankly, I find this incredible in a car not really suited for town work.

Another guy did almost as well but with 75% highway. He inflated his tyres to some phenomenal pressure.

At the other end of the scale, the guy with a 11,000 miles+ averages 35.6 mpg (6.67 l/100 km) lives in the Rockies in BC and I can understand that his problem is, as I observed, hill climbing really does push the consumption up.

[Darin]

Coulda been a troll? I know the Insights are capable of pulling some pretty stellar numbers, and could definitely see even a Civic hybrid getting up into the 60-80mpg range if driven judiciously. Shoot, I had a couple ~60mpg@45mph (average door to door speed) tanks in my quarter century old VW before it started marking everyplace it went with diesel fuel. If I was in city traffic over a known route and could time the lights I'm sure I could get into the 80mpg range, maybe even brush up near 100mpg if conditions are really nice. A new hybrid, even though it's heavier, should be able to do just as well if the driver is of similar temperament. Not to say that most are, since people tend to drive in clumps IME, but some can.