How to get my wife to drive smarter

[MPGranger]

So our new family car should get an EPA 31MPG combined. My wife just pulled a 24... WTF! I tried to gently explain that it is the way she drives. But no! I'm the jerk. She likes to accelerate at 3,000RPM, until she hits 80MPH on a 65.

So how do I show her it is her driving style that soaks up fuel? Anybody with any experience with the spouse conversion?

I've been lucky enough with the second tank to do a fair bit of the driving, about 5 or 6 round trips of 40 miles. So we'll see how the FE rebounds...

[PaleMelanesian]

"You can lead a horse to water..."

Good luck. Consider the relative value you place on mpg and on your relationship and proceed accordingly.

[MPGranger]

The same can be said to her.

It's funny: with the stick on the mini, I've seen her shift at 4,000. And I am the jerk when I say she must must hate dinosaurs for the way she's ripping through the dinojuice.

With the Altima, she likes to remote start the engine and finish a long conversation on her phone through her parked car. grrr....

And then I was doing a tape test for wheel covers on my Ranger and she ripped them off!

[Piwoslaw]

How about a game? Let each driver get points both for how fast s/he drove and for their trip MPG. Lowering fuel consumption while trying not to lose too much time should make both of you happy, and I know (but don't tell her) that the laws of physics will be on your side: You can considerably reduce FC while taking only slightly longer to get where you're going.

I assume that remapping the wife's ECU for economy is out of the question?

[LeanBurn]

Wow, ripping off stuff from your vehicle...sounds anti-ecomodder rather than merely apathetic..yikes.

When I showed my wife the $$ value savings on paper, the stats of everyone she knows getting tickets, multiple accidents because of speed... it was enough to get her to see the light....

...but then common sense doesn't always grab everyone the same way.

[MetroMPG]

FYI: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...elp-20958.html

A couple of ideas in a very similar thread.

I assume she pays for her own fuel?

[Frank Lee]

Glad to be single!

[Beau]

There is no way on God's green earth that this will work out, at least without a great deal of pain.

The only way to do it is to hit her in the wallet. The two of you should determine a monthly gas budget for her based on the mileage she should be getting. Give her that money; no more no less. If she runs out of gas money, oh well.

Everyone thinks they are a good driver. Telling someone they should change driving styles is akin to telling them they need to lose weight; however well intended, it won't be pretty.

Good luck with that.

[jalmir]

glad the wife doesn't drive!

[Weather Spotter]

get a device for teens that limits the speed of the car, then set it to say, 56 MPH