Quote:
Originally Posted by JasperPearlMomma
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
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In order to get an excellent on the econo chart you need to get at least 35 MPG during that trip. So that is excellent. Since your current tank of gas reflects such a low MPG it's going to take time to build up or increase your MPG on this tank of gas. But realize you have the capability of getting 35+ MPG. That's great. Now that you have some techniques wait until your next tank of gas...you should see a definite improvement.
I live in east TN and we have a lot of hills. I'm getting at least 7-10 MPG's better than my Honda civic (which is what I traded in for my TCH). I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that the Jetta will get 25 MPG? Maybe you used to own one or maybe that's what the sticker says? Unless you are basing the 25 MPG on first hand experience you have no way of knowing what you would actually get driving the Jetta under the same conditions as your TCH. Maybe you have first hand experience...I don't know. I really believe your next tank of gas will show considerable improvement now that you have a few techniques.
I don't know your financial situation but you can always trade in your TCH for a Jetta or whatever and take a little bit of a loss? No point in being unhappy for the next 5-6 years (or whenever you decided to get rid of it). Life it too short to be unhappy
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