When stuck in gridlock traffic with your hchI, what do you guys do to get through the rush and at the same time, not making sure your battery or mpg dips too low? I'm curious if HCH drivers enjoy gridlock traffic as much as prius drivers or they just avoid it all together

 

Phil,
What I do if I know I'm going to be stuck in some gridlock for a few minutes or at a series of 4 way stop signs is to temporarily put the CVT into "S", which disables the auto stop function. Doesn't seem to affect the MPG too much, maybe 0.4 worst case.

 

I try to avoid traffic jams, but when I get stuck in one I remain stopped until there is enough room for me to get up to the 7-10mph I need to autostop again. The best is when I can autostop without stopping and can roll for a while, especially on hills.

 

The car is not built as well as the Prius for straight gridlock but, it is made to better than an average car. P&G if its not to bad, if it is just love the fact that when you are stopped your car doesn't use any gas.

 

FAS,Roll in N and keep a traffic buffer

 

I do a combination of things - some of which already suggested.

If traffic permits, I wait until there is enough gap for me to hit the magic 10 MPH mark to trigger another auto-stop. Other times, If I can look ahead far enough, I'll turn the car off (FAS). If it's down hill, sometimes I'll FAS and coast in Neutral. On rare occasions down hill, I can auto-stop, but keep the brake off just enough to allow the car to roll. You need a reasonably steep incline.

The rest of the time, I just run the engine. Traffic can move suddenly and I don't want to be caught with my engine off...

 

If traffic is moving at less than 20 mph, but I still have to stop breifly every 50 yards, I'll slip it into S. It helps so that the engine doesn't rev when accelerating again, better than from full autostop. It keeps the coasting drive more steady, and I think it saves my efficency, too. But, I am still experiementing with it, and I do have to remember to put it back in Drive when I get to a point where I get to go faster than 25 mph!

Mostly, I avoid heavy traffic if possible. I check the sig-alter website before I leave work, and if the worst spots are red, I go over to my parent's place for dinner and wait until traffic is cleared before getting back on the road .
Or, if I can't do that, I use the car pool lane and get off at the next available exit to take surface streets home.

--A