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Originally Posted by Inigo Montoya
Does anyone know which is better? I've tried both but I have no idea which would be better for gas-savings. On one hand, mashing the petal puts the charge to use as the IMA is used more to get the car to cruising speeds. On the other, slow acceleration is the more efficient way to get to cruising speeds in gas-only cars.
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Generally, what's effective in a conventional car is effective in a hybrid. The penalty of aggressive acceleration is mitigated somewhat in a hybrid because you don't force the ICE to work much harder. But you're using up energy from the battery which you ultimately must replenish. The most fuel efficient strategy may depend on the battery charge. If it's full, you might as well use some of it or else you'll waste energy when you press on your brakes with no room to regen. If the battery charge is low I would use it sparingly.
The reality in the HCH is that it's fairly impractical to accelerate from a stop with absolutely no assist. You can only accelerate VERY slowly without assist.
My rule of thumb, for better or worse, is to use no more than three bars of assist for acceleration whenever possible. It prevents the ICE from going into the high rev range.