Here's a happy thought that I had the other day. First, I don't try to intentionally annoy the person driving behind me. However, I do go the speed limit and watch the conditions so I don't 'speed' to a red light, or have to come to a complete stop very often. More ofthen than not, I have someone behind me that would have been going faster, racing to a red light, etc. Since I'm going slower than they would, they are using less gas and likely getting a better MPG too. So I'm going to look for a decal/bumper sticker that reads along the lines of "if you are tailgating me, I'm saving you gas money" or "if you're behind me, I'm saving you gas money. :mrgreen:
So far 2 friends have tried out my car. Both were like you describe, rushing up to red lights and then braking hard. One of them drove on the highway for a considerable distance. I had just driven to his house with overall trip mpg of 52. Best he could do was 42. He might have driven 10 mph faster (over the speed limit) than I do, but not enough to explain this difference!
Actually, 10MPH over speed limit on a highway could result in 42MPG. MPG drastically drops after 65MPH.
I've noticed the same thing. When other people (usually my parents) drive my Prius, they get somewhere between 30 and 40 mpg (city driving), while I usually get around 45-50. I've also noticed that they tend to brake a lot harder, and I've seen them generate up to 150 Wh - 3 of those little symbols on the Consumption graph - in a five-minute period.
