While saving gas and having clean air is great, I think there is something even more human at work which causes hybrid addiction. After owning two hybrids, and wondering why nothing else would satisfy me now, I realized that there is a phenomenon at work that I've never seen discussed...

I believe people get hooked on hybrids for the same reason they go to Las Vegas to gamble... there is the opportunity to WIN or LOSE. In a hybrid, you're playing a mileage game, and it's primarily about winning and losing that causes us to crave these machines.

The INSTANTANEOUS MILEAGE GAUGE is like a slot machine. Some days you get lousy mileage due to headwinds, winter weather, a hill, traffic, etc. Your job is... to beat the odds. And it's the instantaneous mileage gauge that turns your hybrid into a rolling arcade game.

If my 300-hp gas-loving Lexus had an instantaneous mileage gauge, I would find new reasons to drive it. It's not enough that it goes fast... that's a thrill that comes and goes quickly. However, if all NON-hybrid cars had an instantaneous mileage gauge... BING... every car would be as fun to drive as a hybrid. Knowing when you're WINNING and LOSING is the source of ongoing fun.

Try and take your mind OFF the instantaneous mileage gauge in your hybrid, and you'll find that it can't be done for very long. That demon gauge is the pleasure zone... it's where we hybrid drivers get our "fix."

Too bad every car manufactured doesn't have a built-in game screen to tell drivers of ALL types of cars and trucks whether they're winning or losing the mileage game, moment-by-moment. The great by-product would be gas savings for everyone, not just for hybrid owners, and something else entertaining to do in the car OTHER THAN talking on the mobile phone.

Steve Villatoro
www.stevenvillatoro.com
“An enlightened guide to small business mastery.”

www.scangauge.com

My Audi A4 had an instantaneous mileage gauge. So does our Sienna.

I think his point is that most cars don't, and most people are not going to purchase a scanguage- if they even know it exists.

I agree to some extent that my behavior is a little more OCD in a car equipped with a real time economy readout. I've ALSO found that I get better economy in our FEH by not looking at it! Ok, I'm really looking at the state of charge display, which is what I have found maximizes my economy by adjusting to the available EV capacity.

In our truck however, I get downright discouraged at times watching the display. As despite my very best efforts with the short commute to and from work of less than 3 miles, I can't on average get more than about 14mpg. I can P&G 75% of it, only to completely wipe it out by having to merge with a bunch of choades who refuse to make enough room short of me forcing people off the lane. Then again, there have been days where it gives me the '777' and I get a 15+ mpg to turn up on the display. Funny how it's always my driving that gets it there, yet the lower numbers are due to the other numbskulls on the road.

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But where's the sense of superiority? That you've got the most fuel efficient vehicle in the parking lot? On the Expressway? On your street? Where's the SMUG?

Where's the glee when you hear people complaining about gas prices after they've spent $75 filling up their tank every week?

First 4WD Hypermiler

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Read My Automotive Blog at Rich Rambles

I'd rather characterize the obsession with a video game....

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

This is interesting. I used to have a girlfriend who always tried to get me to switch the real-time mpg display off because she hated when I got pissy when my milege dropped. It really isa completely different experience to drive a car with a real-time milege display than any other. And yeah, a lot of cars have them -- for instance a lot of newer German cars have them -- but the needle kind just isn't the same as the real-time digital display of a HCH or Prius.

Personally, I find the guage practically useless!

Give me a digital readout. Would that be too much to ask? Granted, it wouldn't look quite as "swoopy", but it would actually mean something.

"I serve with the memory and pride of those who have gone before me for they loved to fight, fought to win and would rather die than quit."Night Stalkers Don’t Quit!

Just before I baught my Prius I wrecked my 06 WRX and was glad, was a fun car but 19mpg didn't help that I shifted at 5k rpm all the time. Anyway I had to drive a Chevy Malibu for 3 weeks was so amazed at its 31mpg at 80mph commute 100 miles each day on highway.

Anyway the reason I post this here is it had a display for mpg as I beleive most Chevy's do now. This car made me buy a Prius altho I wanted one before it really made me think about my mpg. I used to be the biggest speed demon ever and now I putter along at 70mph in my Prius my friends think its so weird, best thing tho is I am changing their minds now too. Frined has a Ford Tarus V-8 SHO and is trading it for a Toyota Corrola or Yaris soon hes now caught the mpg bug too. The display helps a lot, its been around for a while in gm SUVs but way up top where you never get to it. I think that would be a great epa law rrequired mpg gauge with speedometer cluster. The data is already there why not make it avilable.

The MFD display game is the only way I can stand driving 70mph down the highway

Did someone say "Yaris"?

Sadly my diesel one doesn't have the mpg display, but petrol ones and the new "Mk2" diesels (in euro-spec) do. I used to love going down hills and seeing the display just stop at 99.9mpg The other game was "mpg above speed" - could you a lower mpg number than your speed at that exact moment in time.

Cheers,

Alan