Well, it has been an interesting experience getting higher performance tires for the car. All of the quirks and nuances the car had before wearing the stock LRR ContiPro 400's changed when I got replacement Bridgestone Grid 019's. I found an amazing deal on some slightly used take-offs and figured the savings was worth the sacrifice in cost (got 4 for less than $300 so could not complain).

But once I got them on, as i posted in the Tire Replacement thread, my mileage immediately dropped. And I could not maintain EV mode past around 34mpg without being really light on the gas, almost feather light. My mileage dropped some 4-5mpg, I could feel the drag due to more resistance, and I was starting to regret my switch, even though really the cost difference was still worth it since I could tell how much better the car performed.

So, as teh title of this thread says, I had to re-learn how o drive the car. I devised new techniques to get into and maintain EV mode more effectively, and started to get a feel for where the touchy points were and how much resistance would cause teh car to kick into ICE mode. Slowly my mileage improved. In conjunction with this, I inflated the new tires to around 45ppi and that helped in reducing the rolling resistance and thus making it eaier to maintain EV mode.

But little did I know, it seems the car's ECU was still adapting to the new conditions and to my new driving style I guess. Around 3000 miles into this experience, I suddenly realised that the car had started handling better in terms of how it switched back and forth from EV or ICE and in fact I was getting up to 43mph and able to maintain that speed in EV more often than before. This is relative to the 3 or so I could only attain when the tires first went on.

Given these observations, assuming my assumption that the ECU may still allow learning to maximaze appropriate outpts to the engine, I would suggest that if one is changing tires out, it may be good to consider resetting the ECU with a battery disconnect so that the reset can happen quicker.

Those with more experience on this matter, please correct me if I am wrong as this is all based on my experience this time, not actual knowledge on how this all works in the ECU.

 

That might be something interesting at least now you became extra careful and also try to observe also. I think the key is to observe and be sensitive all the time. I found a link and hopefully this would help you. When I'm starting to drive I was just like you but now I improved a lot.

===> drive efficiently

 

I've heard mention numerous times of car's computers learning and adjusting to the driver's style. It could be there is some adjustment to factors like new tires with higher RR: the computer should be able to note that with given engine effort the car has not achieved the same speed.

With the HCHII there's a procedure called "idle learn procedure". Also, MSantos (hybrid and fuel efficiency guru) recommends occasional disconnect/reconnect of the negative 12 volt battery cable, followed by a "gentle" 15~20 minute drive in varied conditions, to re-educate the computer.

The inference is that the computer is learning from it's various inputs and it's programming. I think there's something to that, but suspect it's not that advanced or complicated. For example, if several people with different driving styles are using the same car, what does that do?