Use the force or Scangauge

The ScanGuage definitely helps improve your fuel economy. In fact, I would say it does more than anything else you could do to your car.

After using it for a while, you may find that you can get good results without it, but that is only because it has trained you what to look for on the MFD.

I was able to get 58.8 mpg at the Green Grand Prix this year, mainly following injector timing.

 

I must rain a bit on the ScanGauge parade. For an ordinary driver who only wants to save money, SG is going to have a very long payback time. Most of the savings from hypermiling can be achieved without it, and most modern cars with builtin MPG displays already have the most important display that SG provides.

But for those willing to pay something to get to get the very best possible fuel mileage, or who want to learn the techniques very quickly, an engine monitor such as SG is essential.

I put a SG in my old Subaru a year ago, when gas prices were peaking and I was looking forward to a personal record driving distance for summer and fall. All my hypermiling steps combined saved enough fuel to pay for the SG in about 7000 miles. But:

* Prius starts with twice the MPG of my Subaru, so it will need twice the distance to achieve similar fuel savings;
* gas prices have fallen considerably;
* more than half my savings were achievable without any MPG gauge;
* any built-in MPG display (Prius included) will enable at least half the remaining savings, without adding a SG.

I loved ScanGauge enough to immediately add one to my new Prius. But it will take years to pay back its cost in fuel savings alone.

 

The Scangauge taught me how to recognize what the car is doing. I still have to look at it from time to time to see if the engine is really off when stopped (which I think is a good thing).
However:-
Once again, a newbie mistake is thinking running electric mode is more efficient. It isn't. The electricity you run on has to be generated by the engine, stored in the battery, then removed from the battery and used to power the motor. Each step has inefficiency, some as great as 50%. The general consensus is it's overall 40-50% efficient to run electric only (actual value depends on a lot of variables). It's more efficient to just let the power from the engine drive the wheels, rather than store it electrically then use it later.
The "hypermilers" run the car so it uses the engine at low throttle demands. This is usually considered the most efficient mode (reflected in their mileage).

 

Well, I got the scangauge last week, and I'm a fan. Locking into that "super highway mode" with the ignition timing at 14 is not as possible without it, and a standard pulse and glide is too annoying for those behind me... pulse and shm, not so much. I am getting better mileage now (improved from 4.9 litres/100km to 4.4). Not a lot, I guess but I'm having fun, too, and this little sg toy is cheaper than a set of golf clubs.

I have a proclip centre mount for my cell phone/gps and I put a little bracket onto that so the sg is just to the left, putting it just above my right hand's knuckles... so my eyes are always pretty close to being on the road.

As far as payback... I plan to keep the car a long time (my son drives my 1988 corolla now) so I'd be surprised if I won't want to read codes a time or two before I'm done with the sg. That'll pay for it.

 

I just use the force, and I'm working on my best tank yet, 59.1 MPG, and I live in the mountains!!

(Nahhhh, JK! I got a scan gague, and I rely on it much more than the MFD readout)

 

Days are long here now, so I haven't really cared yet about colour. I set it to one of the standard colours that was close to the numbers on the speedometer, since they're close to each other.

 

I left mine the way it came. But then I'm a tech. I live by the code "if it ain't broke don't fix it!"