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Has anyone gotten burned out from watching the ScanGauge day after day? I think I've had enough of it for awhile. I've been using mine in my Mazda 6 for a few months now, and it has helped me to get close to 42 mpg lately, but I almost feel like I'm a prisoner to it!

Recently, I started to notice that I was getting tense in traffic when things would affect my mileage negatively as shown on the Scangauge. So today, I decided to disconnect it for awhile and see if I can still get over 40 mpg without it. I think I'll be more relaxed, which I'm looking forward to.

Strangely enough, I think I actually like not knowing what my numbers are going to be until I pump the gas. I filled up today and even though I thought I had blown the tank over the last few days running errands, I got my first 42 mpg tank. Of course it's not always going to be good news, but at least I won't be sweating things on every commute.

Also recently (and this is unrelated to my decision about the Scangauge) my wife told me see couldn't stand riding with me anymore when I'm hypermiling. She says her time off is too valuable to drive around slowly. Even though I might convince her that the actual time difference is small, her perception that everyone is passing us and getting to their destination quicker will still drive her crazy. So I thought about it, and I decided that when we're together she'd have to drive (her car) or if she wanted me to drive, and drive fast, it would be in her car. That's the plan anyway. I think I'll want to do a little faster driving in the 6 once in awhile, I kind of miss doing that. I just won't make it a habit ;)

Dave, I've been monitoring my SG since I got it back in April -- I don't think I can get burned out by it any more than I ever could by watching the speedometer. :)

My wife has been riding with me for 8 years now -- she got used to the cars passing us after about 2 years. She doesn't even notice them now! If we leave when I want to we are never late because I know how long it is going to take. About the only thing she complains about now is the AC pulsing and the fact that she wants to leave at the last possible moment.

Don't give up!!

Strangely enough, I think I actually like not knowing what my numbers are going to be until I pump the gas. I filled up today and even though I thought I had blown the tank over the last few days running errands, I got my first 42 mpg tank. Of course it's not always going to be good news, but at least I won't be sweating things on every commute.


My car's too old for a scangauge, so I'm constantly guessing as to my numbers at the end of the tank :) I can guess pretty accurately by looking at the gas gauge, and I have a good feeling for judging it by the way I drove during the entire tank. From what I gather, a scangauge is a great tool, but one of it's most importaint jobs is to teach you how your car's FE reacts to different variables. In theory at least, once you learn this you don't need it as much.


Also recently (and this is unrelated to my decision about the Scangauge) my wife told me see couldn't stand riding with me anymore when I'm hypermiling. She says her time off is too valuable to drive around slowly. Even though I might convince her that the actual time difference is small, her perception that everyone is passing us and getting to their destination quicker will still drive her crazy. So I thought about it, and I decided that when we're together she'd have to drive (her car) or if she wanted me to drive, and drive fast, it would be in her car. That's the plan anyway. I think I'll want to do a little faster driving in the 6 once in awhile, I kind of miss doing that. I just won't make it a habit ;)

Interesting, since I've started hypermiling, people who don't drive much (or at all) have started to praise my driving, they say it's much less stressfull and more relaxed than most other drivers (note that I don't FAS when I'm not alone). Drivers themselves are different. Most feel that I drive too slow, though I've noticed that if you are relaxed, people in your car become more relaxed as well.

As for the time difference when driving slow, I would say it is barely noticable. Especially in heavy traffic with lots of traffic lights. You can time your driving and compare it with your wife's for the same route, trust me, you won't see much of a difference. A german TV show once pitted some ultra-compact (can't remember exactly what it was) against a souped-up Porsche Cayenne (a SUV which had over 500 HP), they 'raced' something over 400 miles. They both drove the speed limit, though on much of the German Autobahn, there is no speed limit so the SUV was doing over 150 MPH. Anyhow, it was only half an hour before the super mini, but had to stop for fuel three times, while the smaller car only stopped once. I can't remember the mileage they got, but it was a huge difference.

From what I gather, a scangauge is a great tool, but one of it's most importaint jobs is to teach you how your car's FE reacts to different variables. In theory at least, once you learn this you don't need it as much.

Yes, that is part of my reasoning. I shouldn't need to keep it on to continue to get good FE once I've learned the proper techniques. If my FE drops below 40 mpg for more than one tank I'll probably hook it back up to see what's going wrong and touch up my technique if necessary.

I haven't been using mine for 7 or 8 months. It was just information overload to keep track of that, the MFD, the speedo, and the road all at once. That might change with the new SGII firmware and the extra readouts that I've been waiting for but it wouldn't be info that I need but once in a while to to learn more about how the system works.

I give myself a break every so often - I leave it on the 'home' screen and just check final #'s when I park . It actually seems to help develop memory driving skills . Works for me anyway .

I've had mine since May, and depend on it for instant readouts. I usually leave it on the gauges screen, and only check the trip average about 4-8 times during my commute. That way I feel I'm not going nuts watching the average fall and rise, I'm spot checking the gauges to monitor the segment... tps, mpg, rpm, lod is what I have set and pretty much the order of importance to me. Most of my 'eye' time is outside the vehicle, not gauges. Sure when I see that I have a particularly good run going, I will look at the average again, but mostly I am looking at it when the trip is finished.

I could see me getting tired of the SG. It isn't so much for hypermiling/ecodriving, I think I will be doing this. I never was much into fast acceleration, fast driving, and all that type of stuff-- But the constant feedback type thing. That I can see myself tiring of. I would probably still keep track of mileage via recording the tanks.

My biggest problem is that at times the SG seems to interfere with me doing more chores, as each time the nos. get worse and worse. I need to do these things, so sometimes I think just to heck with it.

OTOH, if I got another car, it would likely be a Prius that has the most constant feedback of any car.

I actually doubt I will always be so competitive with myself. OTOH, I hope that I will develop some skills that stick by me no matter what obsessive behavior I get into. :-)
The one thing that is very noticeable is how much less groggy I am going home from work. This has just got to be a good thing, and maybe a life saving one.


--des

Try moving it to a different place, maybe, or playing with
some different parameters to watch, but not so it becomes
a distraction. You're probably settled into an optimized
set of stuff to watch and maximize your driving sweet-spots,
which you'll presumably always want available especially if
the butt-dyno isn't sensitive enough to replace live numbers.
.
_H*

You should try driving an Insight, The thing has the instant MPG, the segment MPG, TripA MPG,TripB MPG, and lifetime MPG right in your face. One can shut them off if desired.
I found myself falling into the same type of driving, taking the slow road instead of the highway, going as slow as the traffic would permit, and making my wife want to drive the 20 MPG van instead of going with me.
I changed my attitude one day when I was on the highway going 50-55. The traffic was a bit heavy, and was moving at 70+ so there were vehicles in both lanes. I saw a big truck and some cars in the lane behind me coming up fast, and since he could not change lanes to pass me, he had to drop speed to match my speed, and the same with everyone behind him. After the traffic cleared up, he and the line of cars behind me passed me and accelerated back to 70+ to sync with the rest of the cars.
At that moment, I realized that my being on the road, and driving slower than the mass of cars, caused the truck and the cars behind him to waste more fuel in that one slow down/speed back up event, than I was saving for my whole trip, and I was the cause of that wasted fuel.
Since then I make it a point to stay with the flow when traffic is heavy, and to be more concerned about the road average MPG rather than my own MPG.
For me driving efficiently in a way that will not influence the MPG of other cars on the road in a negative way, is the best way of saving oil for the future. It also has the added benefit of not making hybrid cars look like underpowered toys as people pass, which will help when that person finally starts looking at a hybrid car purchase in the future.
;)

Well I'm probably sending mine off for programming next week so I better get prepared. I'm pretty good at using the tried and true seat-of-your-pants approach, so I think I might survive the loss.

11011011

When I first got my SG2 (last March, I think?), I tried using the 4-gauge display, using different combinations, but that turned out to be too much information, too fast for me to get any benefit in my FE. So then I switched to just using the "Current trip" display, in combination with my FEH's energy-flow screen, which shows the HV battery's SoC. The feedback of what my driving was doing to the current trip mpg, & how much juice was in the HV battery was just enough information to help me grab a few more mpgs ;)

Since I've been dealing with my EBH problems, I've switched back to the 4 gauges, one of which is coolant temp, so I know where I'm at, especially starting out in the AM :rolleyes: I'm thinking I may use this display more this winter to have some idea when the ICE is likely to kick in to warm itself. Maybe I can be more in control of *when* that happens, & boost my winter mpgs a little :)

... At that moment, I realized that my being on the road, and driving slower than the mass of cars, caused the truck and the cars behind him to waste more fuel in that one slow down/speed back up event, than I was saving for my whole trip, and I was the cause of that wasted fuel.
Since then I make it a point to stay with the flow when traffic is heavy, and to be more concerned about the road average MPG rather than my own MPG.
For me driving efficiently in a way that will not influence the MPG of other cars on the road in a negative way, is the best way of saving oil for the future. It also has the added benefit of not making hybrid cars look like underpowered toys as people pass, which will help when that person finally starts looking at a hybrid car purchase in the future.
;)

Glad you wrote that. That's a very good thing to keep in mind in crowded situations regarding the "big picture" FE and also safety. You could say, well they had to slow up so that saves energy, but yeah, they'll always speed back up as soon as they can.

BTW, we were heading out to dinner last night and my wife asked, "Can you drive us there normally, or do you want me to drive?" I drove, and did it "semi-normally"... :rolleyes:

Hi Mike:

___The problem with your scenario is you are not playing with traffic or routes to your advantage. The TDS 2006 should be all that you need to consider when Dan and I pulled Bradlee’s Insight in within 3 minutes of the time limit and that included a 3 + mile detour when we missed a turn. 90 mpg with our hands tied behind our back should be proof enough. If the extra few minutes of time is that much of a burden, by all means pick it up but that does not mean you throw it away while coming to a light, sign, traffic impediment or whatever happens to be in your way. Gasoline is to precious of a commodity/resource for anyone of us to throw it away hoping for that magic bullet to arrive yesterday. If there is more then one lane; it should be your patriotic duty let alone the law to hold to the maximum posted speed limit. The faster drivers in Chicago are in the middle and left and when the stop and crawls arrive, bingo, the hypermilers amongst us get over 100 no matter what they are driving.

___Pumaman, you have your choice to consume more or less but I hope in the end, you choose the path that is right for all of us and not just your wife. Running w/out a SG-II is going to cost you some but hopefully it will allow you peace of mind or whatever else you are looking for?

___As for me, I glance at the SG-II parameters for maybe 2 – 3 minutes total over an hour period which is far less then those around us speak on their cel-phones oblivious to the real world outside their windscreens while hauling @$$ down the road without a care in the world :ccry:

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I didn't read this thread until now because I thought it was about the SG itself actually burning out!!!

I use my SG just in my Subaru, to get some of the info that the Insight gives me in its standard display. I leave it on daily avg mpg almost all the time and work on that. Occasionally I switch to the 4-gauge display to check something. I would like to see instantaneous mpg at the same time as avg mpg but that isn't possible yet. For people who feel overloaded I'd suggest just reading avg mpg. Just one more thing doesn't seem like an overload.

Trying to balance regen, speed, and mpg in the Insight takes mental juggling (I usually drop the ball on one of them), but I don't mind.

I understand Mike D.'s viewpoint on "global" FE for everyone on the road but I have a different experience. I tried driving 65 (in a 65). Virtually every vehicle passed me, and I definitely found that traffic got MORE snarled up and aggressive than when I go 50-55. My best guess is that it's less obvious to them that they will be passing me and it takes them longer to do it, so it's more of a problem for them.

Several thoughts:
(1) if you watch your mirrors (which you should do anyway no matter what speed you are going!) and use your hazard flashers for trucks when they are still far behind you (at least 1/3 mile), they usually find a slot in the left lane and flow right on by, no problem
(2) a surprising number of vehicles (often people on their cells) will settle in a reasonable distance behind me for miles, sort of hypermiling by example, saving fuel which helps to compensate for any fuel losses for others to get by me
(3) it might actually register on a few people's brains that they don't HAVE to fly down the highway at 80 (or speed on secondary roads)
(4) traffic doesn't flow as a smooth stream anyway: vehicles clump into knots which constantly juggle speed and thus waste fuel because they are getting in each others' way - a slower-moving vehicle can actually help to break up these knots, much as the tollbooths around here used to do

Doing what we can to keep everything safe and traffic flowing as smoothly as possible is certainly important, but IME I can do that at 50-55 in the Insight and P&G-ing the Subaru at 50-60.

___Pumaman, you have your choice to consume more or less but I hope in the end, you choose the path that is right for all of us and not just your wife. Running w/out a SG-II is going to cost you some but hopefully it will allow you peace of mind or whatever else you are looking for?

I have to live in the same house (and hopefully continue to share the same bed) with my wife, so what she thinks matters to me. She is not a bad person. She wishes I could stand the house as warm in the Summer as she can so we wouldn't have to run the A/C as much. She recycles. She has always driven a small car with a manual transmission. Her next car will likely be a hybrid. She just doesn't want to slow down when she drives. I can forgive her that.

As to what I'm looking for, I'm looking to learn new skills to improve my gas mileage, but I don't want to get too obsessed about it. I'm looking to read information about new cars and new technologies. Thanks for providing all of that.