I took a multi-hour trip this weekend and averaged 37 mpg. Damn good for such a large, heavy vehicle. In the V8 days, I could barely get there without a refill.

With a good 9 speed, I bet P-AWS could get highway mpgs in the 40s.

 

Wow! :-)

 

That is amazing! I'm now averaging around 32-33 mpg regardless of highway or local driving. I have never hit more than 34 mph on the highway but local stuff I see mid 30's daily.

 

Be careful, now, you're making the hybrid owners jealous.

 

Yep, that is my experience with the PAWS. 35 to 38 with strictly highway driving - and going with the flow as far as speed. Have hit 40 on several trips of about 200 miles round trip, but that is the exception. And a few trips stay in the 32-34 range.
Of course city drops a LOT. If you think about it, the PAWS should be able to meet/beat the SH on strict road driving given the comparative steady state load. And the Acura highway MPG figures are quite close between the PAWS and SH.
But for city driving, the SH wins hands down. My driving is mostly highway, so a SH would be of little advantage to me, as far as mileage....

 

If somebody drives significantly highway driving...they live a highway trip to most things they do, and short non highway component to most of those things, and traffic tends to drive 75mph-78mph+ often..... Does the hybrid make sense based on the fact the hybrid effects are limited at 75-78mph due to the electrical motors disengaging?

 

^^The torque vectoring continues to function beyond 78mph, but the rear electric motors are no longer used for propulsion.

To answer your question...The Sport Hybrid will get you up to 78mph a lot quicker and assuming you need to turn at some point, that torque vectoring and awd helps the handling significantly. The fuel economy benefit of the Sport Hybrid is pretty much negated in highway driving, but the fun factor is not.

 

Actually the front EV motor is always engaged even above 78 mph, but the rear EV motors do not add propulsion above 78 mph but does provide torque vectoring assistance. Thus the reason why the SH throttle is so much stronger above 78 mph over the decaf RLX. Having more than 335 ft/lbs tq at the wheels on demand above 78 mph is fantastic.

 

I see similar fuel mileage with my 2014 PAWS. Love this car. It is not as intimate (read small & sporty) as my 2006 RL, but it sure does well as a road cruiser. A 300 miles trip is an excuse to listen to great music or talk radio while the miles blithely go by and the engine miserly sips fuel.

 

Just finished about a 500 mile round trip to Vegas and back in the RLX Paws.
Averaged 33.5 mpg round trip even in the 116 deg. F. Nevada heat.
Was also surprised how quickly the air conditioning cooled the car down. Must have been because of my dark windows and a windshield sun shade.

 

Sport Hybrid has never been about optimum mileage.

Sport Hybrid is about offering the benefits of SHAWD without the weight penalty to mileage and power / torque similar to a V8. In short, cake eatin'.

Most any Hybrid configuration flips the city / highway mileage benefits where hybrids benefit more on the city drive (by using electrical propulsion) and less benefit on highway. In some cases less than the ICE counterparts on the highway as the hybrids are often heavier.

This will be a challenge for Acura to market Sport Hybrid. Most consumers equate hybrid to mean Prius type mileage, not performance with no penalty on avg mileage. They never really succeeded with public understanding of SHAWD so will they with Sport Hybrid? I doubt the RLX will be the vehicle to attempt to break that perception. But perhaps the NSX exotic will not only generate needed hype, but be a vehicle to bring Sport Hybrid to consumer understanding and THEN say "Hey you can get this on a pedestrian sedan too!".

 

I think that Tesla's success has help get the word out that electric motors and batteries can be for more gas mileage. The Tesla is a performance car that runs on electricity. That image has helped dispel the notion that all hybrids are only about high mpg efficiency.

The world doesn't know anything about the RLX Sport Hybrid but they will learn once Acura gets the kinks worked out both in the production end as well as the marketing end. I think those of us with the car will attest to the fact that there is a great deal of promise in the drive train technology in the car. While I don't pretend to know what's gone wrong inside Acura with the botched roll out of the RLX, I do think Acura knows how great the engineering of the Sport Hybrid is. I have a firm belief Acura isn't stupid and will figure out how to take advantage of the great engineering achievement they have created in the drive train of the Sport Hybrid and the NSX.