Companies always over estimate in advertisements, and they are talking about the best case scenario. They are not thinking about the average driver, or the driver who drives quickly, or has a heavy foot, etc. They also probably are only referring to flat road and course road driving, not taking in consideration the hills in Pittsburgh. So, yes the hills in Pittsburgh may be the reason you're not optimizing your mileage, but also it could be your driving. Sometimes people are not able to correctly analyze how they drive, so you saying no "jack rabbit" starts is just your thoughts. This is probably true, but then again you may be driving it heavier than you think. My best suggestion, since it's a new vehicle would be to take it back to the place where you bought it and ask them. It very well may need to be break in miles, and then it will get better mileage.
Source(s):
My Thoughts.

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A few things come to mind here. First, you should be breaking to a stop at red lights and going down hills. Hybrids work by using regenerative braking. If you let aerodynamic drag do all your slowing down work, you wont be giving your battery the charge it needs to help you.

Another point is that hybrids thrive is stop and go traffic. You only get the benefits of the hybrids electric motor at slow speeds. Its sounds like you live in a more suburban area (I don't really know what the "hills" are like) so you wont be getting as much of a benefit as a driver in a city would (That said, driving in a city is still less fuel efficient than on a highway)

Finally hills are the bane of the hybrids existence. Cruising up a hill is a lot of work for the smaller than usual gas engine in a hybrid and its too much work for the electric to do all the time.

Some other possibilities include low tire pressure, a dirty air filter (very dirty) or some sort of mechanical problem.

Another issue is that hybrids don't do well in the cold. It increases the internal resistance of the batteries so they wont work as well while it is cold. And on the flip side, running the AC (and depending on the model, the heat) can drain power from the batteries and reduce millage.

A final point is that the EPA just revised MPG estimates this last year and hybrids took a massive hit. It had to do mainly with what they considered normal operating temperatures. It didn't make a big deal for gas powered cars, but temperature can hugely effect batteries.
Source(s):
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml

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Estimated gas mileage is measured under ideal laboratory conditions. In the real world, gas mileage is not expected to measure up to the advertisements, but because you are getting about half of the advertised gas mileage, you probably have a lemon. Check out this link, http://www.lemonlawcenter.com/hybrid-gas-mileage.htm,and if the fine print used similar language, then call 1 (858) 270-7000.
Source(s):
http://www.lemonlawcenter.com/hybrid-gas-mileage.htm

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The 45 mpg estimate is based on tests conducted by the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA). You can read some of their technical documents here on how they performed and evaluated their results:

http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/420r06017.pdf

In addition to some of the conditions you may find that the EPA does to come up with their numbers, they may also not be relying on the digital instruments Honda displays at the dashboard. Instead the EPA may use consistent measurements of gas supply and external measuring equipment to avoid results that may be inaccurate from vehicle to vehicle.

Rather than relying on the avg MPG displayed on your dashboard, try the traditional method of measuring fuel used given a specific distance calculated by an indpendant GPS device or accurate mapping tool.

Visit the following website and enter the following information:

http://www.hondacivicrepairs.com/saving_gas.asp?q=Saving%20Gas%20-%20Honda%20Civic&id=17

1. First, fill up your gas tank to full.

2. Reset your trip meter (next to your odometer) on your dashboard to 0.

3. Travel 100 miles or more (the more miles the better). Try to isolate driving between traveling on highways/freeways only and street/intersection conditions.

4. Then refill your gas tank to full and enter your values and click on calculate.

Good luck!
Source(s):
http://www.HondaCivicRepairs.com do it myself honda civic repair

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