Driving Tips

Hi credgar - better late than never, this might be of help.

 

You can't move a 3,100 lb car from a dead stop with anything much better than 20mpg at first. Remember, you are looking for an average mpg of 50 or better, so average the 20mpg with the 60, 70, and 80 (or infinite) mpg segments and be happy. And by the way, the gas mileage will get better as the car breaks in.

Are your tires well inflated? Most of us use 42F/40R to get better gas mileage, better tire life and better traction. The tire manufactures admit that they recommend pressures that are too low for the comfort of soft passengers.

 

Greetings and congrats on the new car!

Measure your mileages tank by tank, and follow the tips already provided.
There's a bit of a learning curve to get the 61.something (@ the MFD---probably 58.something mpg in the real world) that I'm getting on my current tank.

Probably the best feature of this car (for me) is that I can concentrate on driving for fuel efficiency---and get about 60 mpg (so far) or I can just drive it like a normal car and get 50+ mpg.

Either way, you're going to get the best measure of what kind of efficiency that you're really achieving (the goofy display is off by about +5%) by measuring your mileages the old fashioned way---at the gas pump when you fill up.

Good Luck!

 

Instantaneous MPG readouts from dead stop are pretty bad. What really counts is the long-term average MPG at a given average speed. Also, when in ECO mode, use a very, very gentle foot on the accelerator. The owner's manual talks about smooth acceleration, so check that out.

 

Umm, I'm sure the original poster appreciates the comments and encouragement but the OP is dated 6/17/2009. How did this thread surface?

 

My fault - I thought "why not? the OP might still need an answer..."