Has anyone tried the hybrid driving techniques on a regular vehicle? Our Concorde (still for sale, LOL) has a continuious MPG reading and we tried some of the techniques with it and had some instant readings of 60 MPG (it usually gets 26 MPG with mixed driving, not bad for a six cylinder, LOL). Anyway, I tried them with my Neon and it dropped the RPM's (does that relate to MPG in any way?). Laurie

 

generally being at the lowest rpm while in the highest gear is best. There are a bunch of techniques that apply to hybrid and non hybrid driver alike. Most of the very basic techniques are not dependent on any hybrid technology.

Timing lights, coasting to red lights, no jack rabbit starts, etc. It is possible to get 20-40% higher than epa in any car. Give it a try, I'm sure at minimum you will be able to hit epa. Well, it might be hard now with the cold and winter gas, but the sooner you start, the better you will get. And next spring you will be shocked at the mileage you will get.

You are lucky to have that instantaneous mpg display, use it.

 

sssssssssssssssh, be quiet, we don't want to let non-hybrid owners on our little secret.

 

This is how I have been getting by. I have tried 90% of the techniques available, and probably use 50-70% of them on a daily basis. In the end the hybrids win out due to their smaller, more efficient engines and the capacity to capture energy while braking. It's also way easier to accomplish the really high-end stuff in a hybrid due to the fact that they are designed to shut down the engine on the fly at the mere lift of the driver's right foot. But the root of efficient driving is simply energy management, and that applies to every single vehicle on the road. On a good day I can see a solid 25 to 30% boost over the EPA figures (sometimes even higher.) Or, if I'm lazy, I can only do the basic stuff and still beat EPA by 10-15%.

And yes, RPM plays a role. The lower the better for the most part.