Driving alone (vs. with passengers - effect on technique)
 

I've noticed that when I'm driving alone I get better FE. When there is noone else in the car I feel relaxed and am in no hurry. I go faster with someone (usually the wife) next to me. It's not that she's complaining about my speed or the way I drive, I do it on my own. I've talked to her about P&G and when asked she doesn't say it annoys her, though sometimes I do get remarks of the "You can actually go faster on this stretch" when I'm trying a ridiculously long glide. When I'm with someone I P&G around the speed limit, but when alone the speed limit is my upper bound. Also I glide down to 20-30km/h below the upper bound before pulsing, compared to 15-20km/h.

I'll guess that's typical?

On the one hand

Alone ~22 km/l :)
Paired up ~20 km/l :(

On the other hand

Alone ~22 km/l per person :)
Paired up ~10 km/l per person :):):):)

Yea, my girlfriend hates having to follow me in her car because I go too slow on the highway. I don't think she minds if we're in the same car though, but I do have a tendency to drive more 'normal' when she's in the car or following.

I think you mean
Alone ~22 km-person/l
Paired up ~40 km-person/l

Has South Dakota converted to the metric system already? ;)

Yeah, ~40 km-person/l is what I meant. :o

No, SD has barely even heard of the metric system, let alone converted to it.

I saw Warsaw, Poland as Piwoslaw's location; tried to meet Piwoslaw on his own ground, but muffed it.

Maybe some of you are overlooking the obvious reason for why your fuel economy is worse with wife/girlfriend in the car - the extra weight :-)

A low blow!

My dad is always telling me that it is ok to drive faster. Occasionally I'll hear the question "Am I too fat for your gas mileage?"

James , well to be honest I wasn't overlooking it I juts wasn't brave enough to say it !

Cheers , Pete.

One of the benefits of being single :-) My usual right-seat companion's only about 55 lbs (Border Collie/Aussie mix), but my old dog was about 110 lbs, and there was a noticable difference driving the Insight up the mountain with her along.

I thought about that, but my wife doesn't weigh anything ;)
But even if she did, an extra 3%-5%, compared to the weight of the car, wouldn't explain a noticeable change in FE. Most of the change is from longer glides and lower average speed, both to the joy of fellow drivers around me :)

mmmm, this would make a difference for intown driving, but with 5 people in the car I still can get 35mpg with my car; same as with just me driving.

Noted: my WIFE pointed this out, so I don't think I could blame hurt for decreased FE ;)

My wife does complain about me driving slower. Then wonders how I can get 30-35 mpg around here and she only gets like 20-25 when she drives the Celebrity. She just doesn't and probably will never understand the connection.

The only thing I have noticed with weight is when my friend and I used to drive quite spirited in the good old days after high school. He was 300 lbs at the time, and my 6000 wagon was quite zippy. But when I would have him ride with me to show him, it was not so zippy anymore.

I'm going snowboarding on Wednesday with an acquaintance I don't know all that well. I'm going to be driving and I already warned him: I take the side roads and drive "at a relaxed pace". :)

I'll likely not drive as extremely as I would on my own. Mostly, I'll probably not draw the coasts out as long (slow) as I would by myself.

My daily driver doubles as the family car on the weekends. I've learned to drive it pretty efficiently during the week, but with the family in the car (wife + 3 kids)I'll still occasionally lug the engine too much and kill it while trying to accelerate away from a stop. The extra weight is quite noticeable.

'You might be an ecomodder if'... your passenger asks:
That made me chuckle, robbiewt!

Today's unscientific results:

Difference between going to the hill on my own: low 70's mpg round trip

Going with a passenger I don't know that well (much less P&G, but still EOC on hills): 67 mpg round trip

I suppose it's hard to get ride in the Flea and not wonder what all the junk stuck on the outside of it is for. So on the way back he asked about fuel economy and we got into a good discussion. He said: "I noticed on some of the hills you were putting it in neutral and coasting."

I asked him if he noticed I had shut the engine off on the downhills too.

Reply: "No, I thought you just had an unusually quiet engine".

I joked about how I would be reluctant to let my friend Lauren Stanhouse (who is pretty fat) carpool with me as that'll drop my MPG.

Lauren better be a really good friend.

I carpool most days. It's 60 miles to work and I definitely compromise my FE technique so as not to delay our arrival. Even so, the fuel savings of car pooling makes it worthwhile.

Driving with my wife, I also don't maximize my FE techniques. But I do plan on keeping my wife.

She is. And my best friend (Hannah Tucker) is a hypermiler.

i EOC'ed this summer in my buick when i was alone and i received an instant 10% boost over not EOCing when i was with other people. I now drive my truck usually by myself and try to drive it nice :turtle:, but then every weekend i end up going wheeling with my buddies and then drive around on friday or saturday night and ruin the tank average :rolleyes:

I usually remove my seats just so nobody else can sit in the car. This neon has a passenger seat though just in case.. but I'm considering losing it because I don't want anybody in the car at all. I got better mpg with a passenger with this car, but i also used more coasting than usual with her in the car.

I guess I'm just kinda lucky. My gf likes the way I hypermile. She'll mock me sometimes...for like, pushing the car out of a spot in a parking lot.

It's the best when other ppl ride with us. The first words out of her mouth: "So, have you heard of hypermiling..." Good to be supported. Now my mom in the car...that's a whole nother story. Drivers her CRAZY, so i'll usually EOC less.

Your reasoning makes no sense. You are putting your own personal gas mileage ahead of saving someone else from driving and using more fuel.

I try and drive just as I would normally with or without company. Yes, it does bug them because I drive either at or slightly below the posted MAX speed limit but I just ask them if they're getting 42+ mpg, and that usually shuts them up.