I, too, was a speedster....until we bought our MMH. Now I dont care who's passing me by. I'm too busy optimizing my drive and looking at the console.

If we dont make cars that can go/accelerate fast, all of us would be saving so much gas. The beauty of the Hybrids is that we CAN go fast (to pass a truck for example), but we DONT in all other driving instances.

(on another note, our other car is still a 6-cyl gas car. I find myself driving half of the time like a hybrid car, and the other half, I revert back to the dark side).

 

I love reading all this- your comments sound so much like the things I've been reading in the HCH discussions for months, as one by one, people go from being drag racers to grannie drivers, because they realize that it saves a ton of gas and costs very little time, sometimes none at all. Slow driving is more efficient!

The point I always try to make, to add to all this worthwhile discussion, is that not only are these sorts of driving habits more fuel efficient, but they're also much safer and they also dramatically decrease your chances of getting speeding tickets. So in other words: being safer, following the law, and saving tons of gas, balanced against the possibility (not certainty) of saving a couple of minutes or less on your commute? No contest. Drive slow.

 

Haven't joined the Hybrid club yet, but will between now and this time next year. Can't say I go 80mph either...usually 72mph on the freeway. Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand going 65mph on the nose. 72mph is plenty fast to keep traffic flowing smooth in all lanes gets me by lots of traffic and even my current V8 beast gets 25-27mpg doing that. At even 40mpg in the new car, I'd be tickled. Any gain helps.

And while I don't drive highway much, when I do it's usually for 2-4 and sometimes 7hrs at a time. Given that, the 7mph difference can shave off quite a bit of time. Thus I'm most interested in the mpg's at 72mph.

 

Hey Tim!
Don't be surprised after you get your hybrid car to discover that 65 is quite doable and pleasant to drive. After years of pushing whatever 4banger I had to be doing 70-80mph up and down the hills in the SF Bay Area, I am reforming. I do have my moments when I am running late and I open her up to 85mph... But it is amazing to see what a difference just driving a few miles at 85mph makes on your tank average in the downward direction. And after a few times of seeing that happen, you find the balance between time, speed, tank average and your pocketbook changes in the driving slower but not Grandma slow direction...

OC YMMV

 

Yeah, my core habits didn't really change a whole lot (a bit lower speed on the highway, and using cruise control) until the week I was getting low on gas and had FE over 40 mpg already and due to traffic decided to cut a more leisurely (and shorter) track through nearby towns rather than fighting the highway, and saw my FE go up every day. Had to try that out for a whole tank to see how good I could really do after that! And now I'm on my 2nd or 3rd tank doing that and right now nominally getting 48+mpg on my current tank (after 400+ miles).

So you might just find yourself hanging onto those less-beneficial habits until you get a sudden moment's evidence how much more you _could_ be getting, and quite possibly by driving a much more pleasant route! I've had to budget a bit more time for my commute but it's reliable, and I'm driving through some nice woods for a couple of stretches... Also makes it much more pleasant to roll down some windows and crank the moonroof open on a nice hot day!! I wouldn't want to do that on the interstate I'll tell you that!

 

I have proven many times that when I get sloppy and go back to driving my TCH like my other cars it knocks the milage down 3-6 mpg real fast.

 

I must admit, most days my driving habits have not changed. Before I bought my TCH I was driving a Jeep Liberty at 16MPG! Now at 35MPG I'm elated!
But I can just imagine what any of you might say when i zip past you.

 

Personally I'd probably just say "ha!" and shake my head... Like I always think it's kind of silly seeing someone in their Prius cruising at 80 mph on the highway. Sure it's going to be a high FE 80 but you'd think someone interested in saving gas enough to pay more for a car that will do that well would care about the FE lost from driving so fast. *shrug*

I'm content getting nominal 48+ mpg on my current tank going my speeds mostly off the interstate.

And with the excitement of going from 16 to 35mpg, consider once you get used to 35 that it might give a little more thrill suddenly realizing that a change in driving behavior gets you over 45?

 

I'm right there with you. I've found that with little to no change in my driving habits, I get better than twice the mileage in my TCH as compared to my miserable, loud, uncomfortable gas guzzling Liberty.

I'm content to drive as I always have, and benefit from the inherently better mileage my TCH provides.

The truth is, if I drive 600 miles this Labor Day weekend, averaging 80 miles per hour (a little high, but for the sake of discussion), I'll be in the car for 7:30. Covering that same distance at an average of 70 miles per hour will take just over 8:30. I'll take that extra hour. Everyone makes their own speed-cost trade offs, and that's mine.