Quote:
Originally Posted by seaford
May be a strange question BUT without this board I never would of heard of hybrid driving tips. No one at dealership mentioned HOW to drive to get max mileage...
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Not everyone who buys a hybrid is fixated on squeezing every last mile from a drop of gas that they can. I imagine a large number of purchasers buy it because it gets better mileage on its own, without needing to take the extra steps needed for maximum efficiency. Others buy it for environmental reasons.
Many just buy the car to drive it, not to experiment to see if they can go from 35MPG up to 37 or more.
Just guessing here, but I'd say that they type of driver who would want the dealer to explain all the little tricks and techniques needed to improve their mileage is probably
not the majority.
It seems like everyone at this forum is interested in better mileage techniques, but that's because of the nature of the forum. For every 100 forum members, like the enthusiasts here, there are probably 1000 or more 'normal' drivers who don't know, nor care.
I can't imagine my parents (assuming they were to be purchasing a hybrid) sitting there with the dealer as he tries to explain the difference between stage 3 and stage 4 or pulse and glide or the proper tire inflation for front and rear tires.
Traditional cars can be driven to maximize their mileage also, yet dealers don't sit there and discuss driving techniques.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TCHconn
...The only "instruction" that we got was the officially-required overview: "This is the instruction manual, here is the spare tire, have a nice day -- sign here." The same turnover process done for TCH and anything else on the lot.
That was typical of the rest of the experience... I came in with plenty of information and data and the dealer was about 80% worthless...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coolshock1
It's sad when you know more about the vehicle than the dealer....
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I don't expect a dealer to run a class on efficiency, since their goal is to educate you about the car, sell it and move on. I don't expect a computer salesman in Best Buy to teach me how to partition a drive so I can dual boot.
As with any technologically intensive product, the best advice is always to read the manual. Manuals are written in easy to understand language (for the most part) and provide a great deal more information than the salesman could deliver in the 10-15 minutes that they will spend with you.