Hypermiling drives my wife nuts! (my new hobby ;-)

[doviatt]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I still don't know: Is hypermiling your new hobby, or is driving your wife nuts your new hobby?

See you guys are smart. I was intentionally vague on that one.

[zjrog]

I thought ALL my hobbies revolved around the hobby of driving MY wife nuts...

[UfoTofU]

Your title reminded me of http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ted_talk.png

[zjrog]

Originally Posted by kitaimdao

I never liked using my breaks since I'm paranoid I'll overuse them and they won't work when I'll need them to

You'll have to pardon my confusion here... If you are doing the maintenance right, how are you going to overuse the brakes? That makes absolutely no sense to me... I've overheated my brakes on my Neon to the point of brake fade. But that was with spirited (read that near reckless and WELL above posted speed limits) driving through a VERY twisty set of mountain roads. Daily driving isn't likely to cause you problems with your brakes... UNLESS you ride them constantly.

[UfoTofU]

Originally Posted by zjrog

I thought ALL my hobbies revolved around the hobby of driving MY wife nuts...

O, no

[UfoTofU]

Originally Posted by zjrog

You'll have to pardon my confusion here... If you are doing the maintenance right, how are you going to overuse the brakes?

It's what I meant by paranoia. I doubt the breaks will go bad, except the two times I drove with parking breaks on, although I only drove a mile both times. I get mine replaced whenever I get my oil checked and they say I should, which is probably also sooner than I should. Driving is the scariest thing to me

[Frank Lee]

Sorry... but, are you nuts?

[UfoTofU]

What do you mean?

[McTimson]

Originally Posted by doviatt

Because is it different than the boring Honda and she thought it might be quick and sporty. I do think I have cured her of the interest though (it wasn't as fun as she had hoped). The Metro currently sits all weekend deemed as only a commute to work vehicle .

Obviously, she's never heard of a Metro.

Welcome to the site! You should be able to get some nice mileage with that Metro.

[doviatt]

Originally Posted by kitaimdao

I don't know anything about cars, and I'm more concerned about maintenance than mileage. However, I've noticed that what I pay attention to are things that hypermilers also talk about. I never liked using my breaks since I'm paranoid I'll overuse them and they won't work when I'll need them to

kitaimda

I'm kind of the opposite (or more concerned about $$). I am concerned about maintenance but then I see how much shops want to charge me to install a $10 part (like brakes for example) and learned to do it myself. Also I don't really trust auto repair shops anymore. They don't repair just replace stuff 'till you are out of money. I recently replaced the radiator in my Honda for about $50 and probably saved a maybe a hundred. Later when my transmission started slipping I took it to a shop and they wanted $2500 to investigate and rebuild it because they couldn't find what was wrong with it. I said no. I took it home and looked and found one of the transmission cooling lines that goes to the new radiator was plugged/leaking. I replaced the radiator again under warranty and the transmission is fine now. I had even told the shop that I had recently replaced the radiator but they didn't even look there.