I drive about 330 miles per workweek (mostly highway at 65 mph) so when the weekend comes around my brain's spent and I opt to let my wife do the weekend driving. The thing is, she despises cruise control (feels she needs to hover her foot over the break), will drive up to 80 mph, brakes vs coasting to reduced speed, and generally doesn't drive very efficiently. I have a sense I'm not the only one with a spouse killing mpg so I was wondering what you guys do/what advice you have. Danke.
My wife rarely drives my car except for one Saturday a month when she picks up food from grocery stores for the homeless. She rarely drives over the speed limit but she wastes no time from 0-SL ! After driving all week and keeping pretty good mpg, when she brings the car back my mpg is usually shot and the HV battery temps are really high ! Her route includes a lot of short trips with a lot of starting and stopping. You have to pick your battles and this is one that I just plan to leave alone
My wife kills my MPG too. She took my car one night to drive some of the church youth group to an event. MPG before she drove it 53.8, MPG after she drove it 46.3. I don't know how she managed that one but I just kept my mouth closed.
Since buying my Volt, the Prius has become my wife's daily driver. She's doing very well--displayed mpg on the trip meter ~54 mpg this time of year and her trips are shorter and the weather hotter than for my commute. I do notice that the brake rotors are better polished than when I drove it so they may actually last longer (forestalling rotor rust) than if I were driving it.
