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I've tried creeping out of stop lights and slowly making my way up to 35 or 45 mph depending on the zone I'm in. And I've also tried accelerating to the speed limit as quickly as possible and then backing off.

It seems like I get horrible gas mileage either way during the acceleration whether it's slow or fast, so why not do it fast and get it over with so I can start cruising with good mileage?

Tarabell mentioned that she tries to keep the tach under 2000, which is what I tried when accelerating slowly, but I was still getting sub 20mpg numbers during the acceleration portion. When I zoom to speed as quickly as possible, I get the tach over 3000 but it's not for very long before I back off and set cruise at the speed limit.

It's the town driving that seems to take the most skill, and I lack the skills at the moment. :) But I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of those who've driven the HCH-II for awhile.

Do you accelerate slowly or quickly off a stop light?

I go 70-80% throttle, shifting to the next gear as I approach 2000rpm on flat ground, going up as high as 3000rpm when getting up to speed on a hill.

Hi Dlister:

In the HCH-II, I bring them up under a no-assist or minimal assist regimen which allows the best FE for the initial miles traveled. As you know, minimal to no assist is about as light a touch on the pedal as possible allowing for the magic 70 + aFCD to be attained as early as 3-miles out.

In the HI-I, the same solution would sometimes allow a 100 + to be reached within 2-miles just as I would hit the Interstate.

Once underway and if in a MS/HS Competitive P&G scenario with the HCH-II, drop the SoC to Forced Charging and run 75 to 80% LOD. If in a less aggressive more normal state, stay above 45 mph, run the edge of assist up to 60, drop her out and repeat...

Overall however, running SAHM is by far more relaxing, far easier on the car and once your in, the only thing you can do is smile :)

Good Luck

Wayne

Tarabell mentioned that she tries to keep the tach under 2000, which is what I tried when accelerating slowly, but I was still getting sub 20mpg numbers during the acceleration portion. When I zoom to speed as quickly as possible, I get the tach over 3000 but it's not for very long before I back off and set cruise at the speed limit.
...
Do you accelerate slowly or quickly off a stop light?


What Wayne said plus the following:


When accelerating from a stop, we should avoid looking at the instant MPG and instead focus on the engine RPM+electric assist gauge and use these as a means of modulating our foot pressure on the accelerator.
More often than not, the MPG readings at very slow speeds are not very accurate anyway so even though they do not look very attractive you should always seek to accelerate slowly while using the least amount of electric assist possible. However illogical this may appear at first, it is very important that we do it... especially if the desired result is excellent FE!!.
If you can accelerate with no assist at all then that is even better. Placing the CVT into S may help cancel the assist bars and even if the RPMs also becomes higher it is often preferable over using some electric assist under the D setting. Just remember to switch back to D as soon as you reach 25 MPH !!!! ;)
Lastly we will note that on the HCH-II we make the big numbers by avoiding conditions that force us to slow down then accelerate again, so picking a route that allows steady speeds up to (at most) 60 MPH is the kind of stuff that makes the HCH-II happy.


On the HCH-II, we are always better off to accelerate slowly. As a good rule of thumb, I do so in the right most lane and switch my focus to the RPM gauge and the avoidance of electric assist at least until we reach that 25MPH threshold. After that, the FE game is much easier and my focus reverts back to watching my iFCD and speedometer. :D


Cheers;


MSantos

If you can accelerate with no assist at all then that is even better. Placing the CVT into S may help cancel the assist bars and even if the RPMs also becomes higher it is often preferable over using some electric assist under the D setting. Just remember to switch back to D as soon as you reach 25 MPH !!!! ;)


I have yet to find a mode where our 2003 HCHI with CVT accelerates without assist bars, other than down a steep hill of course. My commute is slightly uphill all the way to work. If in the morning I accelerate with low RPM (<2000) the SOC is down to half or less when I park at work, ditto if I just drive it like a normal car (which would use much higher RPMs, often over 3000), but if all acceleration is done at just over 2000 RPM (usually around 2200-2300) up to the target speed, then back off the accelerator until the instantaneous MPG gauge goes as far right as possible without the regen bars coming on,
and pulse/glide like that near cruising speed, the SOC will still be >75% at the end of the trip. On the way home, slightly downhill al the way, it doesn't make much difference how the car accelerates, it still spends most of its time gliding along, and the SOC is always high at the end.

The other point is that I can only rarely accelerate at <2000 RPM even if I wanted to, because it is too slow and the car behind me will crawl up my butt. Even 2200 RPM is a pretty sedate pace of acceleration.

I have yet to find a mode where our 2003 HCHI with CVT accelerates without assist bars, other than down a steep hill of course. My commute is slightly uphill all the way to work. If in the morning I accelerate with low RPM (<2000) the SOC is down to half or less when I park at work, ditto if I just drive it like a normal car (which would use much higher RPMs, often over 3000), but if all acceleration is done at just over 2000 RPM (usually around 2200-2300) up to the target speed, then back off the accelerator until the instantaneous MPG gauge goes as far right as possible without the regen bars coming on,
and pulse/glide like that near cruising speed, the SOC will still be >75% at the end of the trip. On the way home, slightly downhill al the way, it doesn't make much difference how the car accelerates, it still spends most of its time gliding along, and the SOC is always high at the end.

The other point is that I can only rarely accelerate at <2000 RPM even if I wanted to, because it is too slow and the car behind me will crawl up my butt. Even 2200 RPM is a pretty sedate pace of acceleration.

That describes my work commute and car's behavior exactly!
I haven't tried using S mode up the hill yet; if I remember I will have to try it today to see how that works. The bad thing about my uphill drive to work is that it's in a busy area so often I have to slow or stop for another car turning or pedestrians going across the road.

As for the original question, lately I've been trying to watch the IFC display, assist gauge, and rpms where possible, accelerating so that the assist gets me up to near the speed I need while showing about 1/4 to 1/2 on that assist side of the gauge, and when the IFC indicator gets to about 40 mpg I back off the accelerator, canceling the assist. It seems that at that point I'm at about the right speed and the IFC gauge can then be nudged higher, particularly on flatter roads. Sometimes I find it difficult to keep an eye on all 3 things at once, while still paying attention to what's going on around me.

But while going up that hill...I still haven't found any way around using assist. So I will try the S mode to check that out. The good thing is that I know on the way home from work, the car will be able to coast and regen to recharge itself sufficiently for the next day's drive.

I followed some of what Wayne and MSantos said today on my commute to and from work, and WOW! I gained about 8 MPG. Trying to skip assist whenever possible is really a HUGE help in my 2007 HCHII.

Usually I'm around 55mpg on work commutes, in the two weeks I've owned this car. Today on the way into work, i was just over 62mpg, and on the way home 64.9 MPG, granted it's not the longest work commute, but its still 26 miles round trip. In my old 2001 Civic (auto) if I could get 40mpg to and from work I was extremely happy.

This car does seem to have a much larger reward when using hyper miler techniques.

OK, I've rambled enough!

Chris!

Hi Chris;

And if you keep at it it only gets better.

For instance, my commutes are relatively short never exceeding 12 miles each way, but despite this, I can easily surpass 3.3 L/100km (70+ MPG US) in the mornings and 3.6-3.9 L/100km (60-65 MPG) at the end of the day.

In the mornings I get much better mileage because I have the car plugged in for 2 hours before driving off. This is all 100% city driving while never exceeding 45 MPH and just by "driving the car by the instruments". For me, the key is to choose the routes carefully, time the most critical lights and just driving defensibly. That is all that it takes. ;)

And if that is not enough, wait until you calculate your MPG at the pump. It is just one more little reward to see your actual MPG slightly better than displayed.

Cheers;

MSantos

Hi MSantos,
what did you mean by having the car plugged in- block heater or battery charger?



In the mornings I get much better mileage because I have the car plugged in for 2 hours before driving off. This is all 100% city driving while never exceeding 45 MPH and just by "driving the car by the instruments". For me, the key is to choose the routes carefully, time the most critical lights and just driving defensibly. That is all that it takes. ;)

MSantos

That would be the block heater.