Wow, Wayne, that's quite a list! At least, however, if your wife asked to use your car, you could tell her sure, as long as you remember to do all this.... We with the Accords have no impressive command list to intimidate the wives. And then... they come back with our mileage destroyed....

 

Wow...I go away for a couple of days, and I see this thread has now spanned 2 pages. Impressive. Wayne, how does it feel to be a celebrity, if only in the eyes of hybrid owners ?

Tink - I can say that his instructions were pretty much exactly like that - I was LMAO as I was reading his post, it was so spot-on! Was feeling just a little stressed - not just from the instructions, but... how would *you* like to be the one who put the first crease in Little Red Beauty's flawless skin - or, even worse...affect lmpg negatively! Thankfully, neither happened.

Seriously, though...getting to experience that ride in the Insight *immediately* helped me understand and incorporate improvements in my own driving - it was reflected the next day. Now, I'm finding it hard *not* to drive for FE - even deliberately (ok, I'm exaggerating, but not by much). I thought the main 'value' was going to be watching & talking to Wayne about driving the HAH. It wasn't. I gained the most by driving the Insight under his steady guidance.

Wayne - I've been tied up the last couple of days, but wanted to make sure that I personally reciprocated the heartfelt "thank you" that you extended to me. Definitely a win-win for both of us, and to be truthful, I wasn't expecting a tour in the Insight (see: stress and reasons for, above ) Your hospitality is most appreciated.

When we get to summertime, I want you to take the car for a week (or however long it takes you to go through a tankful), and see what you can do with it. Maybe I should give it to you for 5 tanks - instant hypermiler status (oh, wait - that goes to the driver, not the car...
Seriously, though...I know I'll get there on my own...just a matter of time. Since I'm not down with the SUV thing, maybe I can exchange my HAH for your PZEV Accord (if you wind up getting the TL for the wife, though, *that's* the car I want to borrow...ROFL)

Also, to follow up on the 'force skip regen' question - it indeed *is* the case. If done just right, you will skip decel *and* brake regen. Now...you'll need to give everyone here the details about why that is such a good thing (I kind of know why, but in my daily driving, am not sure I'll be able to use it much).

I've been killing my pack w/ auto-stop the last couple of days at the Wolves / White Sox games / Chicago driving - but the good news is, even on a mpg killer like those things, I can recover and get the trip meter back to a reasonable (!) 35-36 mpg, given enough time / road on the return trips home.

Had my boss in the car for the Sox game, and now I think I've got *him* thinking 'hybrid'...showed him the instantaneous FCD reading 60 steady, told him *he* could do similar with his car using a ScanGauge(late model Dodge Intrepid), and his jaw just about dropped when I told him I got *better* than EPA, and so could he. I drove 'normal'...65mph...drove for FE, but not insanely so - and still got 38+ for the trip from Bannockburn > 35th St Once I watched the trip odo go from 38 to 26 from trying to find a parking lot still open, I showed him the 255 horses for a block or so...
Still, at the end of the day (including return home in the middle of the rush hour)...86mi @ 36+ mpg...

Really is amazing how a person's view of driving changes, once they've become accustomed to driving for FE...it's obsessive / addictive (or, I suffer from OCD...maybe a little of both

 

It is! I can't tell you how many times I've told myself, OK, I'm just gonna drive - no obsessing. I can't do it. My daughter's boyfriend was going to one of her games with me and I know he was thinking, "Why can't he just drive one speed - fast, slow, fast, slow?". Well, I'm working on a 38 mpg tank and I'm NOT going to blow it to convince my daughter's boyfriend that I'm normal. In fact... I LIKE him wondering if I'm all there.

It's gotten to the point that I WANT to just drive - you know, just to remember what it feels like. I can't. I... just... can't.

 

Sure, you can! Here's how...

a. Get roll of black tape (the cloth-based, non-shiny stuff)
b. Cut three strips. One 1.5" long, one 2.5" long, and the third at 1"
c. Paste these over the auto-stop, charge/assist & trip odo, and BAT meters, respectively

Done.

Drive the car as per normal, preferably with the fan speed at 3 or higher. Also, don't select the Trip Computer, if your car has Navi.