[BabyBleu]

Hello! I've been a Honda girl since my 89 Prelude. I buy new and keep them forever. I've had the Insight for 12 days and I love her! I hope to find some guidance here regarding how to get the most out of my mileage. I live in a hilly area. So far I have driven mostly in econ, but I occasionally hit sport mode to climb a steep hill. I have about a 5 mile commute so I haven't logged too many miles yet. Road trip to NC for labor day so I'll see how she does then.

 

[Mr. Natural]

Welcome to the forum! A lot, if not most of us here are first time hybrid owners too. So we’re all learning together.

 

[Aware]

Congrats on the new hybrid and welcome to the community! Be sure to let us know how it does on the longer trip.

 

[J0j0yum]

Jealous. I wanted that color. Enjoy your new ride. 😁

 

[highmiler]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[kayvee]

Welcome. I've had my Insight 16 days. I love this car, great gas mileage, good looks, comfortable drive.

 

[hobokencentral]

BabyBleu,


Please note the following paragraph/ excerpt taken from a guy who has run his 2005 Honda Insight to an average of 88.8 mpg over many thousands of miles using hypermiling techniques. His website is: How to Get 88.8 MPG : EVWORLD.COM



I found this particular excerpt most interesting:



"Kinney explained the importance of getting the car into its lean burn mode as quickly as possible, which it enters once the mpg display goes over 100. He does this by getting car up to the desired speed and then slightly letting off the accelerator -- he often does this by driving in his stocking feet because it allows him to better "feel" the car. He also avoids using the brakes as much as possible, letting the car roll to a stop through a combination of engine regeneration and natural drag. This means taking a bit more time and avoiding jackrabbit starts and stops."

 

[hobokencentral]

BabyBleu,


Please note the following excerpt from a wikihow article on hypermiling. https://www.wikihow.com/Hypermile This is related to your scenario about hilly areas:


Use hills to your advantage. Generally, this means you should go slower up hills, and faster down hills. Going uphill slower helps prevent wasting more gas than is necessary to get up the hill. Going downhill faster uses less gas and produces valuable momentum that you can use instead of engine power. If you combine the two in areas with small hills, you'll see much higher mileage.

• While going downhill, you can go faster using less gas. As such, don't lay off the pedal completely — use it until you're going a little faster than normal.
• Use every downhill slope to your advantage. For instance, when coming down a hill and faced with a red light at the bottom (where it levels out), try to stop well before the light so that you can use the remaining downhill slope to your advantage when you need to move again.
• Avoid stopping on an incline heading upwards. Starting from a dead stop on a hill is the worst scenario in terms of fuel economy — your engine is fighting the weight of the car, plus the car's acceleration downhill from gravity. Stop at the top of the hill, or stop before you climb the hill when safe to do so.