Does anyone else drive your car?
 

So I rode the bus today and my better half worked from home, so in all it was a pretty good FE day. My wife wanted to do the grocery shopping tonight so she picked me up at the bus stop instead of me walking home. I jumped in the car and she jets out into traffic and is absolutely flogging the car, slamming through the gears, weaving through traffic. It felt like we went up on two tires around one corner but it could have been my imagination. The whole time I kept telling myself that it was only a couple of miles so it couldn't hurt my average that much, could it? Finally, I just reminded her that we were going to the grocery store not taking a trauma patient to the ER so please slow down.

So the question is does anyone else drive your car and how much do you think that it affects your FE?

I'd let my girlfriend drive my car if she wanted to... but shes financially minded... and has her own... so... She drives generally eco friendly

I've let my room mate drive my car when she needs to haul stuff (hatch back!) but she drives like me, I've also let my next door neighbor use my car for weeks at a time and my girlfriend use it when I'm working on her car, with those two I tend to notice the mileage drop 5-10%, mostly because they don't turn it off at stop lights.

04_Sentra -

Not counting servicing, I drive pretty much 100% of the time. This issue will pop-up this January when my sister visits. She may borrow my car. I *know* it will tank my MPG. I *want* to discount it, but that would make me a critical hippo.

CarloSW2

My wife used to drive my car on occasion. I got tired of the (significant!!) impact on my FE, so she doesn't any more. Not unless it's an emergency.

-soD

I drive a manual tranny car, and my wife can't operate a clutch because of her arthritis, so I'm home free ;).

My girlfriend drives my car sometimes. She used to "drive it like she stole it" but now she has discovered how much fun the kill switch is. lol.

...wife has her "own" cars (yes, two of them: '11 Cruze and '04 Vibe), but she's definitely not a "light-footed" driver...and always "...goes with the flow..." in the highspeed lane at whatever speed they're all clipping along at, regardless of whether it's above the posted speed limit or not.

My parents drive my vehicles occasionally, and they probably get 15% less FE than me. My dad likes to accelerate up until he is stopping (no coast) and revs the engine way higher than it needs to be, even though he isn't accelerating hard.

It kills me to be a passenger for this very reason. I see how inefficiently everyone else is, and it drives me crazy.

My sister is by far the worst. She jumps into a cold car and just hammers the peddle, and doesn't anticipate anything. She barely watches the road enough to avoid accidents (most of the time).

My wife drives the yaris now and then. She knows me and my hypermiling so she slags me something savage when she has to drive the yaris! I had to get the NCT (google it) done on it today and i could see the tester guy revving the sh1t out of it to clear the soot out so i would pass the test. Bittersweet moment i can tell you!

The wife drove my car two times in 10 years. Once when I picked my motorcycle up after driving my car home from my buddies shop where it was rebuilt. The second time was when she wrecked her Rogue and she drove my Insight while the Rogue was being repaired. Her first accident in 25 years.

She averages 29 MPG in the Rogue which is rated at 24 combined. My Altima Coupe is the same engine and transmission as the Rouge but she prefers the visibility of the small SUV.

That puts her average at about 20% over EPA combined on her car.

regards
Mech

My wife got her license a year ago and hardly ever drives. She only drives when we're going somewhere together (not too often, maybe once a month), and usually only one way. She's also eco-minded and law abiding, so no fireworks. She never drives alone because she says the car is too big and powerful for her (she learned to drive on a Yaris with a tiny engine), and I allow her to concentrate on basic driving skills instead of telling her when to use what advanced hypermiling method. I do tell when not to accelerate because the 2nd or 3rd light down the road just turned red (beginning drivers only pay attention to a traffic light if it's less than a few car lengths away, many never grow out of that). On a few occasions I've coached her where she can safely coast. No P&G (engine on), just steady driving, which shows up in quicker engine warm up.

But she's learning, and sometimes engine brakes, oftem throws in 5th gear around 55km/h instead of 70-80 like most people.:)

lol

The only other people who drive my Mustang are the service personnel at the local Ford dealership. They don't affect my average FE all that much.

I try very hard not to let other people drive my Jeep. Partly because it's very easy to get horrible mpg in it (9 - 11 city is reasonable for a typical, inefficient driver, and highway tanks at higher speeds), so they destroy my average. Plus, it's got enough power to get sideways on dry pavement in 2wd, so I place limited trust in some people's ability to drive it without killing themselves.