Just imagine the potential impact if a couple of MILLION DRIVERS were all working hard to squeeze 1 to 2 extra MPG out of thier vehicles!!!

 

But imagine the potential impactS of these millions of drivers who are studiously watching their MPG displays instead of the road ahead!

 

Lots of availability in the used auto parts business.

 

Thanks for the laugh, pajasper. All very true.

I heard a comparison years ago between a building-sized late-seventies computer at a major physics research institute and the TI-81 graphing calculator that put the computing power of the graphing calculator significantly ahead. Time and technology march on, don't they? But people stay the same.

We still need to do the same basic things- eat, sleep, breathe,- and we are becoming the limiting factor in the technology we use. It's all well and good to have cars that do amazing things, but people still have to operate them, and somehow we always find ways to mess things up. Some people find ways to make those same machines do incredible things, though, so it's not all bad.

Education!! That's what it's all about! To separate the people who drive hybrids from the rest of the pack is all right, but to bring the whole level up is better. How about a section in the Driver's Ed books (or maybe even driving tests) on 'how to conserve fuel?' Get 'em while they're young, and it'll stick with them.

 

That's a good idea, and these days with $3+ gas, teens might just care about mpg. My daughter's been driving for a year, and now since we got the TCH, our Buick LeSabre is "her" car. She immediately groaned about the gas mileage (even though she didn't know what kind of mpg the car gets), and told us we should have bought a Prius instead to really save gas.

It wasn't like that when I was a teen, though. Gas was well under $1, (uh-oh, dating myself a bit ), and nobody even knew what kind of mileage they were getting because it just didn't matter to the wallet that much. When I was 16, I used those pedals on the floor like on/off switches. It was either full on the gas or full on the brakes, with very little in between.

OK, that enough of the "back in my day....." stuff.

 

I agree that the instantaneous and segmented displays makes the driver aware of what the car is doing rather than thinking about it when one fills the car at the pump.

I am amazed at how efficient the prius can be. On my second tank, I am sitting at 647 miles at 67.3 mpg. I am no longer aggressive and I try to conserve momentum (timing of lights) on every drive. It only takes a few more minutes to get somewhere, but more importantly I feel that I am safer, my blood pressure is much lower and traffic permitting, I enjoy the scenry.

Again, regarding how my hybrid has changed my perspective. Think about this statement, which I told my co-worker reagarding an upcoming trip, ". . . I will only get about 53 mpg on the highway." I am lucky to get 25 mpg with my maxima and 19 mpg from my M5 in those same conditions.

Thanks,

Chris

 

I have vague recollections of waiting in very long lines to get gas, sitting on the hot vinyl seats of my father's 70-something Plymouth Duster during the late 1970's. I have always cared about fuel economy. One of the reasons I am getting the TCH is that when we decided we needed a bigger, more family-friendly vehicle I said that it had to be at least as fuel efficient as my 1999 Corolla. There really aren't many vehicles out there that fit that bill yet, but I believe that Toyota and Honda, at least, are heading in the right direction.