"World News Now", their overnight show, ran a three minute piece on hypermilers last night (24-Jul-2007), which included plenty of coverage of the Hybridfest.
(Alas, I wasn't able to make it there).
Plenty of Insights in it.
I've digitized the clip as a QuickTime file and placed it at:
I missed that on TV but really appreciate having a copy of it now in mov format for my miscelaneous Insight clip CD. I'm using dial up so it took hours for the 33 meg file to load. I just let it run overnight and had it in the morning. Great video quality, and nice to see some familiar faces.
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Kip Munro
The laws of physics don't need changing, but rather our attitude and values. 72.8 LMPG
Location: Lewisville, Texas USA Drive 2000 5-speed Insight
Posts: 789
I was there and it was disappointing how they took their hours there and condensed it to three minutes portraying hypermilers as dangerous geeks practising black magic, echewing numerious common sense (but non-spectacular) techniques that save gas. Al Walker (internet nickname hobbit) is extremely knowledeable on Prius' - could definitely do serious mechanical work on one, but Good Morning America did not put him on the story for that. It had to be for the barefoot hippie image.
America sees that skewed picture and goes back to driving liKe Ricky Bobby, then whine at the pump.
... but Good Morning America did not put him on the story for that. It had to be for the barefoot hippie image.
America sees that skewed picture and goes back to driving like Ricky Bobby, then whine at the pump.
I look at it this way: Think of the NASA astronaut who went for that little drive (900 miles, which she just might, might, have been able to do with one tank in an Insight...).
Going after the "other guy (or gal)" is a bit much, but it's common enough that it's not a major eye opener.
That would be comparable to our basic stuff, like checking tire pressure, driving carefully, etc.
However, when she pulled that diaper deal, that's close to leaving shoes out fo the car for weight reduction...
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Very satisfied owner of a used 2001 (cvt) Insight,
a retrofitted cruise control,
and now elated to have a wife with a 2003 (cvt).
They concentrated to much on the silly stuff like leaving the shoes off for weight reduction. The Dangerous stuff like drafting with the supporting statement from the AAA guy. They really didn't offer anything serious about hybrids or modification to driving style like just slowing down a little and not rushing to lights.
Last weekend I was driving my moms Aztec along with her and a few passengers. Some A-hole goes ripping past us to the next light. Me, being used to driving the Insight stayed at a casual speed and accelerated slowly. I pointed out to everyone that the guy who was being super aggressive was only using more gas and would most likely get stuck at the same lights, which he did (3 lights) until he turned.
This alone seems to be the #1 factor for saving gas in a city environment.
even though i do agree that it sort of portrays us in a bad light, at least it can help me show my friends why i drive so slow
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2000 MT Red. Pioneer head unit with iPod direct link. Dead IMA.
LMPG: 57.0mpg over 198Kmi
OMPG: 57.7mpg over 104Kmi
Best tank: 70.2mpg over 633mi
Best short trip: 87.8mpg over 18mi
Best long trip: 70.5mpg over 103mi
Best round trip: 76.1mpg over 46mi
They concentrated to much on the silly stuff like leaving the shoes off for weight reduction.
AFAIK, the shoes off is not for weight reduction, it's to feel the accelerator better. It depressed me even more that that not only did they focus on that, I believe they got it wrong!
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2006 MT
MIMA w/FAS module
various mods to driver
Location: Lewisville, Texas USA Drive 2000 5-speed Insight
Posts: 789
Quote:
Originally Posted by Armin
Yes, and they labeled turning the engine off at a stoplight as "bad for the car"!
Ideling is considered "severe wear". Among other things, it promotes sludge build up because you are going nowhere. I guess the hybrid engineers that put in autostop over the heads of the legal department and recall department have a lot of clout.
As a clarification, the reason skilled hypermilers don't wear shoes is not necessarily for weight reduction, it's for sensitivity on the accelerator.
In the 60's when fuel economy competitions in the USA were highly publicized, the general advice on how to save gas was to drive as though there were an egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal.
Al "Hobbit" Walker doesn't like shoes, and while it would seem he should have a natural advantage as a hypermiler, that may have been lost because of the calouses.
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'gonEfishnt
2001 5S, "Sputnik"; Various Modifications; 76.6 LMPG at 75K miles
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ABC-News clip on hypermilers
