Cars.com Hybrid Mileage Challenge: Part 1

It’s official: At $4.20 a gallon in some areas, gas costs more than a cup of the fancy stuff at Starbucks. That's why Cars.com has revisited its ongoing look at the real-world gas mileage today’s cars are getting. In our last mileage challenge, we took an SUV, a minivan and two sedans on a highway trip around Illinois and Wisconsin, and we concluded that the cars’ EPA highway ratings were easy to achieve. This time around, we wrangled four hybrids — two SUVs, one sedan and one hatchback — and their renowned ability to return extraordinary city mileage numbers to see if they could handle everything Chicago could throw at them.

The Second City certainly obliged. You might call it the route from pothole hell: Drive north 140-plus blocks, east eight blocks, south 115 blocks. Repeat. All told, we spent more than nine hours behind the wheel — 12 hours if you count stops for lunch and Mother Nature — and, thanks to a Cubs game and enough rush-hour traffic to discourage even the Californians among us, we averaged speeds of only about 20 mph.

Details on the cars below.

• 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid: 4WD, 6.0-liter V-8 w/two 60 kW electric motors and electrically variable four-speed automatic; EPA gas mileage 20/20 mpg city/highway
• 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid: FWD, 2.3-liter four-cylinder w/70 kW electric motor and continuously variable automatic; EPA gas mileage 34/30 mpg city/highway
• 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid: FWD, 1.3-liter four-cylinder w/15 kW electric motor and continuously variable automatic; EPA gas mileage 40/45 mpg city/highway
• 2008 Toyota Prius: FWD, 1.5-liter four-cylinder w/50 kW electric motor and continuously variable automatic; EPA gas mileage 48/45 mpg city/highway

We had some ground rules from our last mileage challenge — fill the tires to their recommended cold pressure, keep the windows shut, drive as you normally would — and added a couple more this time around: We avoided cruise control on our route’s brief highway stretch, and because all four cars had automatic climate control, we set the temperature on “auto” at 68 degrees with no air conditioning.

The mid-40s weather cooperated with our A/C mandate, but the Civic did not. The other three hybrids clearly delineated ways to automatically govern the temperature without A/C, but at the end of the trip we found that the Civic’s “auto” button had defaulted the A/C back on. The owner’s manual said such usage ran A/C on an as-needed basis — and the system employs a gas-saving electric motor much of the time. All the same, we have to conclude there might have been a slight mileage penalty. Honda spokesman Jon Fitzsimmons confirmed as much: Running the A/C impacts mileage because it requires energy from the engine or the battery pack, he said, though how much of an impact it has depends on driving conditions.

Weigh in below with any predictions, and check back tomorrow for the results and check out our team with the four contenders.

Cars.com Green Buying Guide

Comments

[Spanky]

I'm surprised that the Tahoe gets that good of gas mileage (estimated). That gets the same as an Acura RDX. Imagine what would happend with a CVT or a 6 speed auto.

[Bob Wilson]

The hybrid community has found that warm-up, the first two miles, is important for good commuting performance. By keeping at neighborhood speeds, 25 mph, for the first two miles, the engine warms up without burning up a lot of fuel. Driving right into cross town traffic is the worst.

We also use radiator blocks at temperatures under 70F to preserve the engine heat and improve fuel efficiency. Some use engine block heaters for no more than an hour to save more fuel than the cost of the electricity.

Running hard tires helps but it is also important to check the wheel alignment. Getting perfect rear wheel alignment is difficult but Specialty Products makes an EZ Shim that looks to better than the metal tabs that I use.

Check the engine oil level to make sure it is below "F". We found excess oil makes a significant impact on mileage. Overfilled engine oil costs twice because you pay for the extra quart at the oil change shop and later you pay at the gas pump with lower mileage.

[Spanky]

Bob Wilson,

I asked you for the time and you told me how the clock worked.