Spouse gets much worse MPG, how to remedy?

having the car sit may record 0 mpg for a time period, but the amount of gas used would be very infinitesimal

 

it will not affect your tank mpg figure hardly at all unless you have the air conditioning, heater and stereo all going full blast the whole time.

sure it will make your 5 minute average mpg bar look bad, but that is about it.

but i have sat frequently for periods of up to 10 min frequently and it has had no detrimental effect on my tank mpgs

 

I have the same issue and in my case, couldn't agree more with schumacher: "do and say nothing...be happy". Some of us need to realize that not all drivers are obsessed with wringing every last fraction of an MPG out of their car. Some drivers are not as techno-saavy as a lot of Prius drivers. Sometimes these drivers are our spouses. My wife drives the Prius on the weekend and I'm just happy she is starting to feel comfortable with the car, as a lot of the new technology was a little intimidating for her. She is just not concerned with eeking out great efficiency and I have to understand that. Even if I gently and politely try to suggest improved driving methods, she (and I'm sure some of the spouses we are talking about here) will take this as an "attack" on their driving style and say "Well, you just drive then!" or try to avoid driving the Prius all together. I don't feel that kind of dissention is what the Prius is about. It should be about feeling good, driving clean, enjoying each other and the car.

I guess I'm saying, the hit in MPG used to bother me... then I stopped letting it bother me, and just enjoyed driving/riding in a Prius!

My two cents... results obviously vary with spouse.

 

Book both you and your wife onto the same "better driving course" so she can get some tips from someone who "isnt nagging" about her driving habits.

You can say you want to do it with her so "you will both be safer" or similar story. may work.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"42821)</div>

My poor analogy: Let's say your kid is capable of getting a 95% avg for the school year but comes home with an 80% avg. Are you happy with 80% because it is still better than the average student?

'We' want 50 or more mpg because the car is capable of it, under the right conditions. If my '95 Odyssey got 40 mpg I would know there was some 'grade inflation' going on. The only way it could possibly get that kind of mileage would be if all my trips were downhill, VERY downhill.

 

I'm smiling because 1. I own a 2004 Millenium Silver Prius and 2 because its my car. I was the one who researched the features of alternate technology and decided even having driven Civics for more than 20 years that the Prius was my "must have" car. I have not been disappointed. I love it. We have over 3000 km on it in the month we've had it and are around 50mpg, in a combination of highway and city driving. I was the one focussing on how we were doing but now it is a joint effort.
We are currently a one car family having returned from living in Egypt and as such my husband has to drive the car. He was not convinced or particularly interested in the features of the car prior to first driving it. However within days he has changed his driving style, it much more aware of what the car is capable of and guess what? He ordered his own after three weeks of driving it. He would stand back and not comment when we got the "interested bystander" comments but is now extolling the virtues! He has the best five minutes consumption ever, but he's not really into all that "stuff"!