Reactions to your hypermiling

[Kodak]

Aside from other drivers on the road, what do your friends and family members think of your driving style? I'm talking about people close to you who at least have a general idea of what hypermiling is about. Are there any certain tactics that people think are cool? Extreme? Share your interesting stories.

I've convinced at least one person to be more anticipatory in her view of traffic signals. A buddy of mine is getting the hang of it, but has a love affair with 5k rpm and above that somewhat hampers his progress. I have been told that engine off pushing (out of the garage) is a bit extreme and unnecessary.

[Joenavy85]

My girlfriend gets annoyed sometimes when I drive the PSL or a little lower, but other things don't bother her, such as coasting up to stoplights since more often than not we end up not stopping at them. My friend Becca on the other hand freaks out when I drive her Jetta VR6 (Stick shift so I typically EOC it), the first time I drove it with her in the car I popped it into neutral and coasted to the light and she looked at me funny. The next time I drove it I shut the engine off and she freaked out. After a few EOC's she realized it wasn't as dangerous as it looked (I got 3-4 good brake pumps before I lost brake boost) and calmed down, but I always see her (or my girlfriend if she is riding along) grab the sissy bars (the handles above or in front of the doors) when I EOC

[UFO]

My wife likes asking me the question "why are you going so slow?" as I approach red lights about to change. Usually she is not looking far ahead enough or anticipating, but now she just asks the question to be funny.

[myrefugeisintheLord]

Ya, my parents thinks it's pretty extreme. My mom more so on the driving techniques and my dad with things that might be a bit more expensive at first but provide better results (and end up paying for itself), such as synthetic oils, etc. My sister and brother-in-law think it's a bit extreme too. I keep telling them they could get around 50 MPG with their Mazda 323, but they are happy with mid to upper 30s.
Don't have any friends that would want to talk about cars, let alone driving.
I don't like talking about hypermiling with my family, because I don't want them to think I'm obsessed with this. I'm not, I just get into things that I enjoy. : ) I think hypermiling is so much fun!!!



(rear spoiler was removed)
~Cherish

[Angmaar]

Most of my friends are into gas saving things like shifting early, DWB, no A/C and some neutral Pulse and Glide.

[dkunitz]

When my wife and I visit her family in Wisconsin, they all share a laugh about me driving like a grandpa (the Park Avenue doesn't help) but, they've started asking what my trip MPG was. On our last visit, my father-in-law had me explain DWL.

I explain my hypermiling techniques to my wife on these trips since we share the car. She usually likes the calmer pace.

[BHarvey]

My mom loves the smooth pace, compared to dad anything is better.
Nephew is getting into it so I bought him a UG for his birthday.
Friends won't even talk about it as it requires too much thinking.

Looks like anything that requires thinking is WAY too much effort for most idiots out there.
Like they say, "Ignorance is bliss".

[Arragonis]

Mrs A is competitive so she tries to match MPG. If I sit next to her she shuts off at lights as I do, but then only claims to do it because I stare at the rev counter still counting whilst we are standing still.

I expect this to become more extreme when the Prius arrives - Wednesday.

[Sidakers]

My dad doesn't notice it, my girlfriend gets irritated, this is what happened the other day when I was doing P&G ("Why are we breaking!?", "We're not, I just took my foot off the gas", "Why did you do that!?" "Because the speed limit is 60 and I'm doing 65" "Isn't that against your little 'hypermiling' code?" "Next time you drive"), and my mom is mildly interested, but doesn't want to work to do it.

[Arragonis]

If I have passengers I drive like a limo driver so nobody notices.