Newbie from Central Texas

[pathguy74]

Hello CleanMPG forum,
I am Felix and I am new to the forum. I live in Central Texas. I own a 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid since Nov 2011. I love the car but I decided to join this forum to get a this advice on how to get the most out of my car. So far I have 15000 miles on the car as I drive a lot of miles to and fro to work. I realized I needed a hybrid car to reduce the amount of gas money I was spending which was upwards of 250-300 dollars per month. My commute to work was 50 miles one way plus the added driving during the week. So at first I had a 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid which helped with the gas bill but was terrible on accelerating especially when merging on the Great IH35 here the 18 wheelers do not believe in allowing small ant cars like mine to merge onto the highway. So I had the car for a year but I could not take it. Once the 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid came available, I readily traded in my old car to get it.

So far, the acceleration has been awesome...no more fear on merging on IH35. But Since I have been driving it, the overall mpg is 38.4. I have only managed to get the car up 43 on the highway but inflating the tires to 50 psi.

I think the car can do better but I am not sure how to.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[herm]

Once you get on the highway, slow down!

The basics of hypermiling is to slow down so that drag does not steal your gas, anticipate what the traffic is doing and drive as if you had no brakes...

[xcel]

Hi Pathguy:

It is important to allow the TCH to glide at every opportunity. The I35 in Dallas I usually jammed whenever I have driven it which means speeds anywhere from 75 down to 0 mph. Whenever you are below 45 mph, its glide time. Above, Warp Stealth and gentle acceleration/decelerations. Trying to teach someone to drive an HSD equipped vehicle to maximum takes months to years so be patient and both you and your TCH will come around.

Wayne