Ok, so I've been putting your advice to work. I went out for a longer spin today, and I practiced trying to get it to "E", coaxing it up the hills and coasting down as much as I can (you're right, not too many hills in MN, I just happen to live on one!).

It was the first time that I've ever seen any bars on the "Econo" chart or whatever it is (you know, the one that has the 25/30/35/40 numbers and the horizontal bar graph?) Until now, it had never shown any bars whatsoever and I thought it was just a useless, non-interactive display!

I also got an "excellent," which floored me. That was my first time feeling the joy of my hybrid. Obviously I just need to move farther away from work! Either that or bike to work and only drive for longer trips. I'm hoping that as it gets broken in and as I get better at using these tips, my stats will improve even on the way to work, though. I'm up to 26.6 mpg for this tank, which is better than where I was at, at least.

The only thing that bums me out is that it's not necessarily better than another vehicle, since I probably would have bought a smaller car if I hadn't gotten the hybrid. A Jetta gets 25 mpg, for example (and is a lot cheaper!). Oh well--I'm stuck now. Gotta make the best of it!

Thanks everyone...let me know if you have further thoughts.

Sabrina