While driving up to my office I noticed the road to the parking lot is slightly uphill. I never noticed that with my old cars. Are you, like me, noticing even slight inclines and declines? It is easy to notice hills when bicycling but, I did not generally pay much attention while driving. jrohland...in hilly Northern Virginia, USA
Yes... especially if you are paying close attention to your mileage, you will notice hills a lot more heh. There is a stark contrast between level and downhill where the ICE is most likely off, and uphill, where you either have to fight to use stealth to climb, or use the ICE.
Although my Prius has no trouble with anything I encounter, I do notice many MPG-related items I never noticed with my old car. For example, I get annoyed when someone turns in front of me because I know slowing down and speeding up eats slightly more gas than staying at a constant speed. Same thing with the hills -- I usually make it a point to pull my foot off the accelerator at the summit, so I can put it back on slightly and maintain 100 MPG+ on the downslope.
BP (before Prius) I used to think that the terrian here was pretty flat. Now I realize it's like the bottom of an egg carton. All hills :angry:
I was stealthing near 40MPH with my wife in the passenger seat. There was an ever-so-slight hill and the engine engaged. She heard and felt the engine kick in and actually yelled at me for accelerating. Sometimes now, I announce the approach of a hill and warn her that though I'm maintaining a constant speed, the engine might engage. She's growing tired of it and has advised more than once that I can stop at any time but I consider it fair play.
I find that I love driving South and West from my home as my mpgs climb dramatically. Then I watch them go down as I return home. Pretty funny as I, of course, know I live in the hills and watch my mpgs change depending upon whether I'm heading out or heading home, but to see the same results in the 'flat lands' was quite a surprise.
