Long Drive Question

Planning a 450 mile trip from Overland Park, KS to Memphis, TN next week.

Best relaxing route we have found is through west central Missouri down to Springfield, then east to Mammoth Spring, AK (this drive is flat to long rolling hills terrain) then, in north central Arkansas you have "mountains" for a while, then Mississippi flat land to Memphis. (this route is preferred to the white knuckle, I-70, I-55 route, Dennis Weaver's "Duel") There may be minimal driving in Memphis and probably not the ability to plug in.

I have had my Advanced for three weeks now and still learning ......Previous car was Prius 2007 Touring....

Will leave with full charge and full tank of gas.

I have to add the wife will be in the car and she does not want me to fiddle with "settings" and I don't need her Jim Morrison lecture about,
"keep your eyes on the road - your hands upon the wheel,....
The future's uncertain, and the end is always near...."

Aside from getting a new co-pilot... What should be the driving "mode" I set the car in for the best mileage and frame of mind?

Or should I on the sly, just adjust according to the type of terrain
Long rolling hills
North Arkansas mountains
Delta flatland

Should I just leave the settings in Eco - EV Auto mode, set the cruise control once on the interstate at 70 mph and ferrrrrrrget about it?
Outside temperatures will range from 80 to close to 100 degrees F during the trip, both back and forth.

I searched previous threads and found the following to be possible good advice.

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from #19 PT Guy, Apr 22, 2017
There is the battery vs. engine operation. EV is all battery. HV is almost all engine. EV Auto lets the car's computer decide when to use the battery (if the battery still has some charge) and when to use the engine. If you have EV switched on and the battery becomes depleted, the car will switch itself to HV. Try EV Auto for your trip--and it'll still switch itself to HV when it needs to do so.

There is Econ vs. Normal vs. Power modes. This is just the programming of the accelerator pedal. Econ gives little power for a bit of pedal travel. Power gives lots of power for the same pedal travel. Normal splits the difference. There ain't no free lunch. At the end of the pedal travel Econ gives more power for the pedal travel. Power doesn't have it to give--you get little added power. And, Normal splits the difference. Econ will give a bit longer battery life or burn a bit less gas. Power helps safely scoot into gaps in traffic. Set it how you prefer.
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Not to be picky, but it's West Plains, MO. I am sure the Mizzou'rians would consider being part of Arkansas an insult.
As an aside, between Springfield and West Plains, there is a considerable stretch where Amish or Mennonites run their horse and buggies along side the lanes where cars and semi's are doing 70 mph. At times you see them way up ahead trying to race across the highway from a crossroad, Now that's white knuckle! With having to travel like that, I cut them some slack when I see a horse and buggy parked at a McDonalds.

I have made this drive many times (visiting grand children) and I do recall seeing the Huddle House in West Plains. I am good at remembering trivia, what I should remember, not so much. By the way, viewing the inter-webs today (thank you, GW Bush!) I see the Huddle House is now permanently closed. What did you do to it!

West Plains is the sweet spot in the drive where its time to eat lunch. We stumbled upon Kings Garden Buffet, not too bad, and it's my kind of place because when you approach the front door there is a large hand written sign on it that says, "We are NOT responsible for accidents inside or outside of the restaurant....... Nice!

As for the drive, will probably use Eco or Normal mode, and HV.

 

At times during the drive there are long downhill stretches, should I put the car in Charge Mode when going down these long hills?

 

I saw you post about inflating the tires to max. Is this going to affect wear on the tires? My 2007 Touring I added more air than stated on the door sill and they wore out faster. Also, I don't think the co-pilot will appreciate letting air out along the journey. It's going to be bad enough with me testing out the lane departure features and the auto emergency braking (maybe not that feature!).

We are on the same page about find a pace vehicle, maybe a state trooper!

Does not Charge Mode use MORE gas when running, which will drain the tank faster as you are running on empty?

As for the Quality Music, I do miss not having my 6 changer CD Player, With my XM streaming on the phone, you can have a special Tom Petty's Buried Treasure channel and such.... Is there an easy way to get this from my phone to the Advanced' audio system. Eventhough it is "jbl" it really doesn't sound that great. Years ago, I had an "Eagle Talon" with an Infinity Sound System in it, I have not had a car since with such sound. Really crappy car though, transmission broke at 12,000 miles in zero degree weather, near the middle of no-ware.

 

We will give Skillets a try! Nothing like a 2 to 5,000 calorie lunch!

 

Finished the drive today. About 1,000 miles with overall 54.9 mpg. I drove without worrying to much about gas mileage.
I suspect one could get better mpg, if they do not use cruise control and pay attention to maximizing mileage. On the trip down to Memphis, I mainly used ECO HV with cruise control going 75 mph.

In the hills/mountains south of Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, I used Normal Mode and no cruise. This was the very fun to drive, as the car handles quite well and can accelerate well when necessary. Here I got about 61 mpg.

On the return trip, I used Normal Mode and HV. I was not liking the responsiveness of the car in ECO mode with cruise control on. I am thinking cruise control does not optimize the car's mpg?

Left with full battery and ran Battery only in Memphis. Return trip had about 4 miles left on the battery, which I kept almost all the way, but in hour 7 of the trip, I stopped to get gas, forgetting car defaults to battery mode and accelerated up to 75 mph quickly to get going in traffic. Battery quickly went to less than 0.5 miles remaining.

Great riding car, responsive, somewhat quiet, (I bet those low rolling resistance tires make alot more noise then a normal tire?).

QUESTION. How does the car know the speed limit changes which is posted in the HUD and the smaller screen with the compass in the dash display. For the most part, it was very accurate and I was surprised how fast it corrected itself.

About Skillets in West Plains, MO, it was a very good mom and pop cafe. They must have 15 different types of home baked pies available. I had Rhubarb Pie with real chunks of Rhubarb in it. They had a chocolate pecan pie which looked quite decadent, next trip!