[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Originally Posted by jdong

FWIW, for the last two tanks, I've been running an experiment I like to run with all my cars: Driving in the worst (but still more or less legal) way possible, how bad can I get my fuel economy over the course of one full tank?

On a tank that was 20% highway 80% city, that was 23.3 mpg. On a pure city tank, that was 21.2mpg.

The general rule was to take off at WOT or almost WOT from every light, WOT to 70mph on every onramp, take every opportunity to pass people going under the speed limit, as well as running the A/C on as high as possible...

Overall I'm pretty pleased with these results -- my 21.2mpg tank also included 2 hours of sitting in Park waiting for a friend, running the A/C in 80 degree weather. In contrast, when I ran the same experiment on my Audi A4 2.0T, I was able to get down to 14mpg.


Overall, I'd have to say no matter how you drive this car, you'll get very good fuel economy for the way you're driving it. Those who drive a lot of city miles will see the most benefit from the hybrid system. I'd say the practical "what to expect" fuel economy of this car is something like:

Worst case: 20mpg
Average case: 26-28mpg
Trying really hard: 32-34mpg

I've just hit 7000 miles, and I'm seeing a stabilizing average of 26.8mpg.

Very good info!
Thanks!