Wife Driving

I have a question for people who share the prius with their wife or others. Is it hard for you to say how to drive the car correctly? I've been trying to add hints here and there to further get better gas mileage but I don't think my wife cares as much as I do.

Fortunately, my wife does a pretty good job driving the prius when she wants too. IE hypermiling, p&g and some SHM but she will only do it for small stretches. We did average 53.4 mpg on our very first tank of gas which I guess is better than most, but since getting the scanguage and watching the ign/rpm/coolant temp/gph I've been able to get 64-67 on my normal commute to work. That places the rest of the miles she drives at a much lower mpg.

My question is, does it bother you guys and gals that you may never see a tank above 60 because of others driving the car? I care to an extent because it is starting to be extremely fun to try and pull better mpg using all the techniques, but I can't tell her how to drive. It just isn't right, and we still got close to 54 mpg which is far better than what we were getting in our other cars.

I'm sure with breaking in the car we'll see tanks over 60. I think i just throw a lot at her after reading most of the articles on priuschat and putting them to use.

Thanks

Mods 42/40, scangauge

521 miles on first tank

Brandon

Being the "wife" here, I say....get her her own Prius! I am the "wife" that does not let her husband drive the Prius for I feel it is the "husband" that won't care as much as I do in getting the best mpg's possible.
Situations do arise that when his car is in the shop, we have only the Prius left, and if he does have to be somewhere or go somewhere, its is I that drives him there. Maybe I should buy him his own Prius.

if you click on my signature, there is one tank i've had (very recently) that my wife drove basically the whole tank. i'll let you figure out which one... in her defense, i will say that the MFD did read 38...

it happens a lot less now that we got her a Mazda3 and she doesn't have to drive my old car from college...

Speaking from a "wife's" perspective, if you have no other choice but to share the one Prius, then I agree with you in saying that it is not right for you to correct her on her driving. I say this because you are both 2 very different individuals and you just cannot make her conform to your way of driving. It's that simple. The Prius is an excellent car and if she is at least making an attempt to P&G and do her best, then leave her alone and don't say anything to her. At least she is trying and you are still getting awesome MPG and saving money.

Now, if you have the financial means for you both to have your own car. Like someone else said, get her a Prius for herself to drive, then you will have the most fun out of your Prius and can maximize your hypermiling to the level that you want from it.

My husband has 2 of his own cars/trucks and I let him do what he wants with them, and he has never even asked me to drive my Prius yet and I suspect he won't ask because he is just not interested in driving it. Which is just fine with me. :nod:

Yes, it bothers me. No, I don't say anything. A little extra gas is a bargain compared to the cost of a new wife.

Tom

Exactly what we did! Not solely due to my high FE numbers or any griping (I don't gripe) but because of her expense when filling up her SUV. When I was spending $40 a month on gas and she was spending well over $100 she saw the light. Her justification was "more money for shoes" or something like that.

In the end, getting the 2nd Prius was a great decision. FYI - She also had to get a package #6 (since I had a #5).

Every time my wife drives my mileage drops. it's not really her fault though. I drive 20 miles 1 way for work which does a good job at keeping my mpg in the low 50's (well, a bit lower now that it's 113 in Phoenix)... and the only time she drivers it is on the weekends when I'm home. She'll typically just take it to take the kids to the grocery store a mile away.... or head to lunch or other trips shorter than 5 miles... so that's where the miles goes.

On her vehicle that she uses for work she's running 10% higher mpg than the 2008 epa figures suggest she should be getting so overall she does good.

My mileage used to drop when my wife drove. Rather than try to tell her how to drive, I left the MFD on the Consumption screen when I powered off. She noticed that the mpg average was higher after I drove than when she did and asked me how I did it. Expained to her how I drove and what I was doing whenever we went out together. Now there is almost no difference in our averages.

Everytime my husband drives my Prius, my mileage drops...

BUT, everytime I drive my husbands Prius, his mileage drops....

I think each car is used to how the "owner" drives it. I swear it learns!

This sounds just like me!!

I was glad to see this thread. We've had our 2005 Prius for 2 months now and I get a great kick out trying to increase the mpg, but my wife is not interested at all. Most of the time she turns the MFD off because it distracts her. Fortunately, I drive the Prius most of the time, but we use it on the weekends when we're both going somewhere. If she drives, I've learned to just bite my tongue and let her drive. At least we're getting twice the mileage we would in our Accord. That car is dying, so we're looking to get a second Prius at the end of the year.

I'm the wife that drives the Prius most of the time.

My poor DH tries so hard not to "screw up anything" when he drives it, and I keep telling him not to worry.

You see, I love my DH MORE than I love the Prius. Like Tom, I think that the "cost" of a bit lower MPG is nothing compared to a relationship.

Ten years from now, which will be more important -- your wife/husband, or whether you got 48 vs 52 MPG?

Dang. You're hardcore. Love it!

Wife rarely lets me drive the Prius unless it's in & out of the garage to wash & wax it. She is averaging around 50 mpg and seeing how I pay the gas bill it makes me a happy camper. When I do drive it though I think the mileage drops a bit.

do you want to maximize mileage, or do you wish to stay married?

I own two Prius taxis. You should see the look I get from my drivers when I try to explain P&G to them. If they all did it I would save over $3,000 a year on fuel. I love the fact that I can check their fuel consumption to see if they are driving my cars too hard. That got them down to 5.1 to 5.5 without doing P&G. If i could get them down to the 4.3 to 4.7 litres per 100 km it would be great. Promised them a bigger xmas bonus but hard to get them to care.

There are two causes of mileage drops when my wife drives the Prius. First she is normally taking her mother to appointments, or running to the grocery store, which means she is taking several short trips in a day - not the sweet spot of the Prius. Second she just isn't interested in hypermiling including coasting to traffic signals, holding a steady foot on constant speed flat runs, leaving the air conditioner off, roller-coating, or anything like P&G.

I, on the other hand, will try to squeeze out what I can but haven't gone so far as to buy a scan guage. My trips tend to be longer. We average 48-49 together, when I'm alone I can usually get into the high 50's.

CAN'T blame the wife. i can't even get over 47.2.......................

i'm still happy. i got up to 47.7 with the stock tires.

ohwell......................................

BING BING BING AND WE HAVE A WINNER!

Also add, men and women enjoy driving for different reasons. While you find it fun to see what mpg you can get, maybe she has fun forgetting about all that mechanical stuff and using the road to get stuff off her mind, who knows!