Interviewed and Drive Test with Newspaper Reporter Today!
 

Hey all! Sorry for the long post but I have alot of info. to share about my experience today...I made this post it's own thread as I felt it was newsworthy (I had been updating my story on my Prius thread prior to this).

This morning I met a local "green living" reporter to talk about hybrids, hypermiling and efficient driving in general. It went very well! The article will be published in a week or so and I'll post the link on here when it is. Hopefully, it will be what I expect it to be...guessing by the results today it will be very positive.

We met for a little over an hour first discussing my 2009 Toyota Prius and her 2007 Hyundai Sonata...comparing the two and how they work and how to get the best mileage out of both of them. We did the standard walk around the car to talk about tire pressure (her 44 psi tires were at 34 psi...not bad for a non-hypermiler). We talked about not storing too much items in her trunk (I used the "Store your car in your garage not your garage in your car" line). Her trunk was not filled with many heavy items (10-15 lbs.) so that was a plus. We also talked about my grill block, EBH and max psi. There was a photographer there that snapped some pics of my grille block, me checking her tire pressure and me sitting in her car hooking up my SGII.

After hooking up the SGII to her car we proceeded to drive her car over a 7 mile course mixed with city and highway (10am...traffic was moderate...temp was around 68). She was highly impressed with the SGII and said she wanted to get one for her dad for Fathers' Day! :thumbup:

She drove the car first and she drove well enough to get a little over 26 mpg (her car is combined EPA of 24). She was a little quick on the highway running the rpm as high as 2800 one time when changing lanes. Overall, not bad for a regular driver.

I had her drive to a gas station as the destination so we could fill up and give her a starting point to begin monitoring her mpg tank to tank. We reviewed the SGII stats (she was very impressed with the instant mpg, cost per mile and avg. speed stats). We reset her trip odometer to help her track her tank mpg and it was my turn to drive (ironically her car has a trip mpg guage built into it that she did not know about so it was an added bonus to point this out to her).

I drove her car back to our original meeting point and was able to pull over 34 mpg (8 mpg more than her). I did not have time to inflate the tires to max psi so I just drove with the same psi as her (would have liked to add the psi to put up a great number...but didn't have the time). After driving my Prius for the past 3 months I was a little rusty on the giddy up of a 2.4L engine (vs. my 1.5L Prius engine) so I lurched it a couple of times from a stop...probably cost me a little mpg. I talked to her while driving to explain the different techniques I was using (pulse and glide, neutral coast, timing lights and traffic, etc). She asked a lot of questions while I was driving and we really got to some good talking points about hypermiling.

After we parked at the original meeting spot we chatted a little more about hypermiling and the SGII. I didn't look at my mpg until we parked so I was pleased to see over 34 mpg on the SGII (more than 30% over EPA with no grill block or max psi)!!!:turtle:

I mentioned ecomodder.com at least 5 times and I would be surprised if she didn't have a fuel log on here soon. The focus of her article was about looking for a new car (she's considering the Prius, VW TDI and Chevy Malibu and will be interviewing their representatives over the next couple weeks).

We did get into the "is the Prius battery safe, durable, efficient and recyclable" talk a little which I expected and I think overall she was satisfied with my replies. She will be doing alot of research on the Prius battery so I'm sure she will form her own opinion (positive or negative) regardless of what I said.

Overall, everything went well and I'm looking forward to seeing the article! She will be putting my phone number and email address in the article in case anyone else wants to take a Super Commuter Driving lesson! :thumbup:

Great to hear Matt. Will her article be written online so we can take a look at it?

She writes for The Salem News ( Home - SalemNews.com, Salem, MA ) and all of her articles are posted on their site as well as hers. She said it should be published in the next couple weeks. If you want to read some of her other articles (all "green living" related you can go here www.msgreenquickfixes.com )

I'll def post the article when it goes to print!

Hi Matt,

Congrats on the interview! Did you get to talk about the mileage that you are getting with the Prius? If they mention it in the article, then you can hope to challenge the other Prius drivers who may read the article.

Hey Neil...hope everything is going well...good to hear from you!

I did mention my current mpg in my Prius and it floored her and the photographer (currently I'm around 60-63 mpg my last few tanks). But because I was promoting my Super Commuter Driving Instruction and what I can do for "her" mpg in "her" car I didn't put an emphasis on it.

I think anyone not familiar with a Prius (probably the majority of her readers) thinks the Prius is a freak of nature and doesn't relate to it. I didn't want to come off as only a "Prius" driver that has a skill that every day commuters can't learn themselves. Instead, I tried to make the conversation relevant to all people driving "normal" cars (her 2007 Hyundai Sonata is rated at 24 mpg and probably more in the ballpark for someone to relate to).

I did think alot about what angle I wanted to take with today's meeting and I decided that talking about my skills and accomplishments would alienate people reading the article instead of capturing their attention that "Hey, maybe this guy can help me too if he helped her!" If she writes that I posted 34+ mpg and she posted 26+ mpg in the same car on the same route...I think that would be ideal.

At the end of our interview she asked what she could write in the article for people that want to take a lesson with me and she wrote in her notebook "for a nominal fee that was worth every penny you can take a driving lesson with Matt to improve your miles per gallon by calling or emailing him at..."

Hoping that makes it into the article!

I should also note that on two occasions she mentioned she gets around 36 mpg in her car prior to us taking a drive today. I think the SGII reading after her drive was a pretty big wake up call as she was well under that figure. My run didn't even go that high (maybe it would have if I inflated the tires to max psi)!

Good work!

Matt -

I like your take on helping "normal car" drivers. Your advice will be relevant to the majority of readers, just as you say.

CarloSW2

I second that

Great opportunity for you, EM, and your local paper audience. Props, man! It's good to see that local news sources are starting to take interest in this.

I hope she mentions ecomodder as it would be great to see some local people get interested in what we're doing here. Plus, it would be good to have some people near me to build up a group of people interested in hypermiling. I've been wanting to find time to go to some of the meetups guys on here have visited but all of them are quite far or I didn't have the time.

The 2010 Prius is due to hit my local Toyota dealership in the next two weeks and I'm planning to visit them this weekend. I've spoken with their head guy over there a couple times and I'm going to pitch to him being an independent source they can use to help sell cars. Maybe a "if you're not sure about the car go visit this guy...he drives a Prius and can show you how to get the best mileage out of this car and can give you a detailed overview of the car if you're not sure about buying it today." I know they don't want to let people off their lots without buying a car but it might be a way for them to keep someone interested that is def not going to buy a car that day.

It's worth a shot and might help me build my business back up from last Fall when I casually started Super Commuter Driving Instruction. I probably had a dozen customers last fall and it paid for my Scanguage II plus a little extra. Another good run this summer and fall might be helped by the article coming out in a couple weeks and a connection with the Toyota dealer. Not bad to make a couple extra bucks just for doing what I enjoy!

Good to hear! It is always nice to hear such things, receptive reporters, such and such.

Anyway, what is this Program you have? Tell me more!

SVO,

Last Fall I decided to put my hypermiling skills to work for me and I started (very unofficially) my "Super Commuter Driving School." I posted on ecomodder about this last year (the thread is below here if you want to see my initial posts when I came up with the idea).

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ness-5812.html

My business involves teaching everyday drivers how to get better gas mileage in their own vehicles. I hook up my SGII to their car and let them drive over a selected route as they normally would. After they finish we check the results and then I drive the same course and check my SGII results. With the 9-10 people I instructed last year I was able to get anywhere from 5-11 mpg better than them. The lesson lasts about an hour and I charge $20 or $25 for it.

While I'm driving their car I explain the different techniques I am using (pulse and glide, neutral coast, timing stop lights and traffic, etc.). After we both drive the car and analyze the results I then give them a hypermiling homework assignment (usually something like inflate your tires to max psi, pulse and glide on your commute this week, etc). I also provide some literature about their car, what EPA means, what EPA means for their car, how to keep a fuel log and that they should join ecomodder (at least to keep track of their fuel log at a minimum)!!!!

Initially, I only started the business to pay for my SGII but people have been very receptive to my business and I've made some good profit on it. I have magnetic signs on the side of my car promoting my business and have received a few lessons from that (you can also see them in the thread link I provided above).

Last week I was able to land an interview and road test with a local "green living" reporter to take a lesson from me and it went very well! The article should be out in the next couple weeks and I'm anxious to see it.

All in all, with gas prices rising, I figured I should get proactive about getting some lessons to make some extra cash.

Perhaps you can start a community on craigslist since the listings are local and more popular. You can also post about your business there. Good luck

I have my business on CL under automotive services...been up for a few weeks but no bites yet. I've reposted it a couple times.

Yesterday, I was driving home from work and I saw a Honda Insight all modded up nice. I was about 10 cars behind it and saw it pull into (ironically) a gas station. I swung into the next parking lot and was going to pull into the gas station to chat with the guy but then he pulled out. So I swung back onto the street and tried to chase him down but I lost him. He had all kinds of mpg stickers on his car and his drivers side door had a big sign that said "Elite Hybrid Vehicle." Maybe I'll see him around again soon...would love to get up close to see what he's got on his car.

Was informed the newspaper article will be out July 10...looking forward to it. Will post when it's available.

The article came out today...read here...overall very pleased. The paper dedicated alot of space to it and included 4 photos (checking tire pressure, my grill block, my SGII and checking the trunk for unwanted cargo)...

Drive down gas consumption by hypermiling your commute - SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

Matt -
I enjoyed the article, and interested in the business side you're pursuing. I've thought about it as well - more working with a local dealership ... customer buys a new car, and gets a lesson on the capabilities. My first thought is you're not charging near enough for an hour of invaluable material. Keep in mind the return in the first year of implementation.

Mileage Builder

99 -

It was really quite easy to build a decent following with my business. If you have a relationship with a dealership you are ahead of the game (I lost my main contact at my local Toyota dealership so I'm still trying to get my foot back in the door there). I'm taking two angles with the dealership...the one you mentioned with someone that already bought a car and secondly to help the dealership sell cars by showing possible buyers what they can get for mpg's if they buy the car.

I've only done a dozen or so lessons but they paid for my SGII plus some. I'll see what reaction I get from this article and see if it generates more business. Good luck on your business...it's alot of fun and a little extra pocket change too!

The hypermiling bashers are chiming in over at the article that is posted online at the Salem News. Take a trip over there to read more and support your local hypermiler if you feel inclined. Link to the article is in post 16.

Meh, its just the guy bantering on because he is mad that he can't speed in the slow lane... typical responses.

True Daox...and good to see some other comments over there supporting safe, efficient driving.

My favorite comment he made was...
"The Priasses who P&G on 128 cause major disruptions in traffic. Try driving on 128 at 50 in the center lane, and see what happens. Everybody will be passing you. You are in effect blocking that lane and taking it out of use."

Love the word "Priasses"...Welcome to the Club Daox!

Yeah, I can't stand all the people out there who think hypermiling is anything but responsible driving. It's being responsible for your wellbeing, everyone else's safety, the environment, politically.... I could go on. Regardless, these people seem to be PO'ed by me driving my little car slowly in the right lane. I guess the only way to make them happy is to buy the biggest truck out there, and tailgate them for an hour while flashing my lights, honking my horn, and cussing out my window. Complaining about hypermiling would be like someone complaining about people who walk too slowly down a sidewalk.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? Walking slowly makes everyone else behind you confused, and then they break their ankles!! This is HORRIBLE, and it's all YOUR fault!!"

:rolleyes: