Setup: 40 miles on my trip OD @ 60 mpg (totally normal on my ride home commute: +1000' in total elevation - I can easly bring that to 68 MPG total with the round trip)

Wife takes it on the weekend to go to the grocery store

I get in the car this morning:
- AC is ON
- Front Defroster is ON
- AND 49.5 miles on the OD at 50 mpg. . . . ARGH

She drives less than 10 miles and TANKS the mileage. Was she drag racing Pruises in the parking lot??

I was only able to get it back to 59 MPG this morning with a total of 90 miles.

I think my only solution to these driving antics is to buy her her own hybrid maybe a 2006 HCH


p.s. My overall tank mileage is still above 66. I'm confident I can still eke out 1000 miles on this tank, but I gotta keep her out of the driver's seat.

 

Same thing happens to me when my wife rides with me in the summer. Has to have ac on or else....so now she knows that if its hot out, we take her car

I'm glad the wx is cooler now. Don't have to use ac. If you get the vent shades for the windows, you can drive with the fan switch on off and director switch in defrost with windows open slightly to get some air flow across the windshield for defogging with a little heat on.

 

The thought has occurred - wouln't it be nice to have multiple trip settings? You could have a couple of "his" trip settings and she could have one of her own. If she saw what she did, maybe it would be a wake up call....or maybe it would get you really worried!

 

Yep... My domestic partner does the same thing. He always lets the foot off the brake at stoplights, so the engine just runs and runs. He also blasts the AC to max, even if it's not hot outside. Net result? I get about 45 MPG, and he gets about 36. Lovely...

I keep trying to tell him that hybrids only get the "hybridized" mileage if you know how to drive them correctly. Oh well. What can ya do?

 

Another reason I'd like to have multiple trip settings is it would then be possible to do trips for:

• the day
• since learning to hypermile
• the summer (when FE is better)
• the winter (when FE is worse)

In the future, maybe all this can wirelessly downloaded to PC.

 

OK. Maybe it's just me; but assuming your other car is not a hybrid wouldn't you still be saving gas if you drove your hybrid with the AC on vs. your wifes car? Just a thought. Or; is the whole object here to get the best mileage by taking the Humvee for short trips and saving the hybrid for the game?

 

What is better? My wife getting 30mpg in my HCH and me getting 30mpg in her Jetta, or me getting 50mpg in my HCH and her getting 20mpg in her Jetta. Take into account I drive 10 miles a day and she drives about 40 miles a day. Im thinking it's the latter, but I don't what to give up my little guy.

 

when i'm away in the summer, my father drives my car occasionally and he gets around 37 mpg. reason? 75+ mph on the freeway and a heavy foot - he's used to his benz. he also "pumps" the gas, but i can't do anything about it because it's an ingrained habit for him (accelerates, lets the car slow down 1-2 mph, and then accelerates again, repeat). he usually gets around 22-24 mpg in his V8 e430.

bigbearballs, you mean to say you're thinking it's the former (1.67 gallons vs. 2.1 gallons used daily). the latter choice would mean you would keep your little guy. although, if i was in your situation, i would keep driving the hch

 

10/30 + 40/30 = 1.67 gallons
10/50 + 40/20 = 2.20 gallons

Therefore the first situation uses the least gas. If you didn't get that, it's miles driven divided by miles-per-gallon.

 

NOOOOOOOO, I don't want to give up the Golden Bear!!!