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Hypermiling and paddleshifters
I am considering buying a G2 Insight. It is a '10 EX. EXes have paddleshifters so you can pretend to have a 7 speed auto rather than a droaning CVT.
One thing kind of cool about the G2 that the G1 doesn't have is it has an actual EV only mode....sort of. The VTEC is configured to allow deactivization of all cylinders. In this mode, the IMA motor is doing all the pushing. The ICE is spinning, but not putting much of a drag on things as it is keeping all valves closed. This "ghetto EV only" mode is not as efficient as a Prius' but it's better than nothin'.
Anyway, I was thinking that manually paddleshifting rather than letting the computer have all the fun might be helpful. Mostly by forcing it to the highest possible gear ratio during DFCO, but also by trying to extend EVO mode by holding a lower "gear".
In reality, I suspect that the CVT is smarter than me when it comes to managing this stuff, but I would be interested to hear about anyone's experience regarding paddleshifting and efficiency vs letting the CVT do its thing.
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