Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: Raidin
Since most of my driving is highway, my engine is actually running closer to 95% of the time. I rarely, if ever, cruise below 40, which is when my engine is off. Traffic lights and stop signs are about it.
I see; no hills and dales in TX ! With moderate rolling hill travel my C-Max hybrid is probably only running 50% of the time. Even if at highway speeds of 60 - 80 mph, the engine turns off going downhill.
Your TX terrain is very much not the ideal topography to exploit a hybrid. What MPG do you get? I get 45 MPG average, half-hiway/half-city, in moderatelly mild hilly terrain. When on a long trip to AZ/CA last year, MPG dropped to 35 MPG, flat terrain, high speeds. Uggh!
Most cars shut off the fuel injectors when coasting or going downhill, and while that is true in my car as well, the engine never completely shuts off. It's actually part of the transmission. At a certain speed, the engine must turn with the eCVT to maintain that speed. While I don't have any hills, I do go over highway overpasses, but those are limited to certain areas of the highways I drive, maybe 30%?
As for MPGs, driving at 60 MPH with cruise, and driving like a regular car on city streets while using the regen brakes as much as possible (I'm still on the factory brake pads), I get between 50 and 53 MPG right now (using Ecopia EP422 Plus tires, best I've found for MPG efficiency).
