the Hybrid Project...RESULTS

Well the results are in and the winner is.....going to be announced right after this commercial interruption. 

Discount Tire on South Tryon Street has been an awesome store to work with during this experiment.  I was always met by kind and very informed sales people every time I walked into their location, which has been a lot over the last few days.  If anyone needs tires at a great price and great service I HIGHLY recommend them.  Also check them out on the web at: www.discounttire.com  From there you can check out tires for your make/model of car, check stock inventory, get an "out the door" pricing quote, and even schedule an appointment to get the tires installed all before you even step foot in their location.  If you go to the location on South Tryon, see Wayne.  He was the very helpful salesman that helped me through my little experience. 

Alright, back to our show...

AND THE WINNER IS..........the stock Bridgestone Potenza P165/65R14 tires.

When I went down to Charleston, I ran on the P175/65R14's all the way down there.  The ride was great and the handling was improved in wet weather over the stock P165/65R14's.  However, with two runs on those tires (one to and one from Charleston) the average gas mileage that I achieved was only 39.1MPG.  This is with compensating for the odometer and speed difference.  My computer registered my performance at 43.4MPG, but I knew that this could not be correct because of the wheel diameter difference.  

Now being a true fan of MythBusters (sorry Lise, your husband and I are together on this one) I decided to switch back to the the stock P165/65R14 tires to see if there would be a major difference.  Luckily, right after switching back, I had to take a trip down to Georgia.  This would be a great comparison test.  Well it turns out I did not need to wait that long.  As soon as I got the tires switched, I filled up the car, drove back to work, and then back home.  Just in 22 miles of driving, the car registered my gas consumption at 52.1 MPG.  WOW what a difference tires make!  After I made my run down and back from Georgia, my car stayed between 51 and 53 MPG the entire trip.

Now gas mileage is not the only reason I switched back to stock tires.  I noticed going down to Charleston with the P175/65R14's, that my gas and electric motors would compete against each other when I tried to accelerate up hill while at high speed.  It would unnecessarily down shift and kick in the electric motor to try to maintain speed.  When I did the same thing with the stock tires going to Georgia, the car didn't do any of that while at speed.  This leads me to believe that there is more than just increased wheel traction, wheel diameter, and wheel weight at work when the engineers at Honda created this car.  

I know what the true fans of MythBusters are thinking.  I did not have a dedicated course with the exact same conditions for both sets of tires and that I did not take exact measurements of the gas consumption.  All I have to say is that even though I am a true geek, I still have a life.  This test proved exactly what I wanted to know.  A real test of gas consumption with my hybrid.  

To sum up, changing from the stock P165/65R14 tires to the P175/65R14 tires dropped my gas milage from 52mpg to 39mpg.  To a hybrid driver this is the worst that could happen to our cars (well one of the worst things).  It also shows how much homework that Honda did for this first generation of hybrid cars.  Now I can dispel the incorrect information that sales people are spreading about changing the tires on hybrids.  Where's my cape!?!