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Hi, my name is Jude and I'm a recovering gas-addict...

I was getting a mere 25MPG in my aging Chevy Malibu... mostly while sitting in traffic, swearing angrily, and driving like a mad-man as soon as I broke free. I live in northern Virginia where there lurk some of the worst commutes in the US. I don't work at a 9 to 5 job, but driving into DC or Baltimore for meetings was enough to convince me that my '01 Malibu LS (3.1L, V6) wasn't going to last, especially with these fuel prices. Oh, and I hate I-66 so badly it makes me want to scrape out my eyes with my car-keys.

Today I finally pulled the trigger on a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. Silver was what they had on the lot, so it's what I now own. Next week I bring it in to get tint, fog-lights, paint/fabric treatment, and the "appearance package". I spent several months poring over the reviews, sites, test drives, asking a Honda mechanic friend... no one could talk me out of it. Not even my wife put a stop to it; she now has hybrid envy.

CleanMPG was one of the most useful sites in deciding whether I could rationalize the purchase, so I decided to cease my lurking and say hello. In particular, I wanted to thank special thanks to Tarabell, MSantos, and the rest of the HCH crew. I think with some reforms to my driving, I ought to be able to double my old FE and get >50mpg on a
regular basis without resorting to anything too drastic. Someone tell me I'm not crazy?

I am already on the hunt for simple mods to get better FE out of my HCH. Tire PSI is an obvious one. Is there anything else I can do easily and safely for a bit extra? I briefly considered adding a solar panel to the roof, but I can't seem to find anyone to sell/install it and I'm concerned about it voiding my warranty. Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated.



Happy hypermiling,

Judas

Glad you are here. Now there will finally be a Hybrid in the Balto-DC metroplex that won't tailgate me!

50MPG? no sweat! welcome.

Hi Jude, welcome and congratulations on your brand new HCH-II.

Now, to make sure things remain balanced you'll likely be springing for yet another HCH-II for your wife. Right? ;)

50 MPG? No problem, and you are definitely not crazy.

Cheers;

MSantos

Welcome, Jude, from about 100 miles to your south!

I second what JimboK said.

Hey, St Jude! Living in Virginia you shouldn't have too much trouble getting that magic 50 mpg number. My struggles have to do with the cold NY winters and the impact they have on my mpg numbers. Once we get up into the 50 degree+ zone, my mpgs begin to climb. You might have the opposite difficulty in that you will be using the A/C more than I do. I try my best not to use it at all, but on those really hot days simply using it while going downhill, or on flat terrain, is what I end up doing.
I end up with some commutes with very high mpg numbers, some with disappointingly low. In the end, the average has worked out very well. 55mpg during the warm weather, 46 mpg during the cold.
Remember, your best friend is the foot you have on the accelerator pedal. Even lightening the pressure a little bit can bring big rewards. Just keep an eye on the instantaneous mpg display and you will see what happens.
Best of luck to you, and to all of the new hypermilers coming to the CleanMPG site! :)

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! I'm still getting used to being the one in the slow lane, but I am addicted to FE. Seeing a Prius or HCH fly past me going 80 makes my blood boil! So far my average FE is only 45.5mpg, but that includes a tank of trips in heavy downtown DC traffic. ( http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/car/6872.html )
Hopefully I'll start getting past the break-in period soon and begin attaining my goal regularly. My biggest problem so far is having to get up to a reasonable speed to not have other drivers get too angry. Getting 50 mpg on a trip is pretty easy, but it's harder to maintain when I have to sit in traffic.

@msantos: We may end up getting my wife a SMARTcar, since it can attain great MPG at a really low initial cost. I'm not sure she'd be satisfied now that she's driven my HCHII, though. There's also less urgency for her, because she already gets 32-35mpg in her '02 Cavalier. We're still weighing our options. Heck, our first anniversary is in a month, maybe the paper gift I get her will be the title to a new car. ;)