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Hey all,
My name is Wes and I drive a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. It was purchased in May 2008 and has a hair under 17k miles on it.
For the first year of ownership, my commute to and from work was approximately 20 miles, 13 on surface streets and 7 on freeways. I was averaging 42-43 miles per gallon and was quite happy with this number.
Last year, we moved closer to my work, about a 11 mile commute, usually all on surface streets. However, my MPG has dropped dramatically to around 35-38 on a tank. The number (obviously) tends to increase if I do any freeway driving, but it's still nowhere near the 40's I was getting.

Any tips to maximize my MPG with my driving would be great. The city I live in is filled with stop lights, though I can generally avoid traffic on my commutes.

Thanks!

Hi LCDB27:

___Welcome to CleanMPG!

___Where I would recommend that you start your journey by reading Tarabell’s excellent HCH-II treatise:

Adapting Basic Hypermiling_Techniques to the HCH-II (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1306). After a few reads and months of practice, you will find a lot more than 35 + mpg from your HCH-II and it will not matter if its city streets or highway ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Welcome, Wes. Another good read is Beating the EPA - The Why’s and How to Hypermile. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510) The tips there should help you greatly, as your mpg barely met EPA before your move. Meeting EPA should be a given.

Are you in northern or southern CA?

So Cal. I am in Burbank.

Thank you both for the links! I read the hypermiling guide and was able to practice the techniques on my commute. It took a little getting used to, but I was successful in getting the car to execute the Glide and the EV Assist during stretches of the drive. Sure, enough, I saw a small uptick in my MPG.

I will read Beating The EPA link now.

Thanks again! I was getting very frustrated with the dropping MPG in my car and didn't know how to fix it.

Hi LCDB27:

___The really neat things is this will become second nature within a few months and you will never have to think about it again.

___Enjoy your HCH-II because there is not a more fuel efficient automobile for highway travel available in North America today!

___Good Luck

___Wayne