The other day I decided I would try to drive my Insight the old fashion way; without the instantaneous mpg display. I positioned a business card over the mpg readout and I left everything else uncovered. I checked the mileage at the end of my route and as I expected, without the display, my mileage was lower than normal. Even though I tried to adjust my driving and "be one" with the car, without the instantaneous display, I was basically lost.
Have you ever tried this with your hybrid? If so what was your result.

Eric Powers

MHG Organizer - www.MadisonHybridGroup.com
Hybridfest 2008 - A Hybrid Electric Car Show and More! www.hybridfest.com
Madison, WI July 19 & 20, 2008

I own a Prius, but thought I'd interject anyway.

I haven't tried it, but that's basically because my technique involves adjusting the pedal according to the screen readings. Before doing this, my mileage was 5-10mpg lower. Naturally, covering up the instantaneous mileage (and the Energy screen, actually) would result in a dramatic decrease.

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I kind of did it as a test to see if I knew my car as well as I thought I did.
Clearly, if I want the absolute best mileage I need to have it available.
It was interesting to see the difference.

Eric Powers

MHG Organizer - www.MadisonHybridGroup.com
Hybridfest 2008 - A Hybrid Electric Car Show and More! www.hybridfest.com
Madison, WI July 19 & 20, 2008

I've not tried it in my HCH but would probably get the same.

Ever since I got my car last Jan I've always wondered how much gas the nation would save if ALL cars were required to have an accurate MPG guage by law, like an odometer is required.

At least the 75% or more drivers wouldn't be driving BLIND as you have discovered!
Steve & family

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

i'd just love it if you could buy an acurate aftermarket MPG gauge...so those of us not blessed to have one in the first place could have one.

Hidden Views Photography

If there was a company that made an aftermarket guage, I would think there's a pretty large market for such a product. Especially as gas prices go higher.
It could be perfect for an info-mercial, too.

Eric Powers

MHG Organizer - www.MadisonHybridGroup.com
Hybridfest 2008 - A Hybrid Electric Car Show and More! www.hybridfest.com
Madison, WI July 19 & 20, 2008

Hi All:

___The Corolla doesn’t have a game gauge in it but with the MDX’s, I learned how to drive both to maximize their respective fuel economy. Picking up and now driving the Insight for the last 3 months was like putting on a nicely worn glove. Each car has there idiosyncrasies of course (MDX is to drive in cruise and tap the DEC/ACC when climbing and descending hills as an example) but what you learn from one car with a game gauge can be applied to the next albeit without instantaneous feedback. The mileage improvement will definitely show.

___With the above being said, I don’t know how one could maximize fuel economy to its absolute limits without the various game gauges and their instantaneous feedback. I won’t be turning the Insight’s off anytime soon

___Eric, you can turn the game gauge(s) and instantaneous mileage off and then on again at will instead of covering it up if you would like. The method is listed in your Owners manual IIRC.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

I call my FCD (Fuel consumption display) in the Insight the voice of Hal. One thing the mileage database doesn't show is the year to year progress. I know the FCD is responsible for getting me to drive consistently more economical. Wish all cars had a lmpg and instant display right in front of the driver. The other week I saw another Insight on I95 southboud. It flew by without beeping. So I decided to give chase. Anyway I picked up my speed to 75 and was closing very slowly if at all. After a few miles I could hear hal and something about not allowing Dave to do that so I slowed back down until the FCD was once again hovering nearly 100 mpg. Someday I am going to get a couple of soundbites, record them to a memory stick to provide some sound effects in the car. Have fun, RIck

It doesn't show year-to-year progress for 2 reasons. First of all, there's too much data already to find a way to automatically change everything to 2003-2004. Secondly, while it may benefit the specific driver, it is more valuable to simply watch a trend based on the month. Weather and temperature effect the same way every year.

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Jason,
I fully understand the difficulity of getting a good looking graphy. (The graphs on the website are great. I like them so much I pulled down a british Prius owners spreadsheet and have been copying and pasting my data in (Its easier for me to modify his charts than make my own). I find it quite interesting to see the current vs lifetime mpg values plotted. As well as the upward trend on the lmpg. Unfortunately with 4 years of data it is best to look at them one at a time or other wise the chart needs to be wider to see the trends. Have fun, RIck