almost, but not quite...

[HafNHaf]

well, i almost made my first 800 mile tank. got to 795.4 and it ran out. oh well... still my best tank @ 76.6mpg. would have made it without the two trips to work in the rain and the traffic jam i had to detour around. maybe next time...

btw, a quart of gas dumped in after running out will get the engine running. but just barely. it would only move the car if i helped it out with some manual assist, courtesy of MIMA another gallon and it was back to normal.

[uhtrinity]

I managed 60 mpg on my first tank, but that was with me driving the car just like my Saturn the first few hundred miles. My average since has been in the 70's, with one 60 mile trip at 92.5mpg. I can't see ever going back now .....

[HafNHaf]

all my driving is around town or 35 minutes to work. the farthest i have gone in one shot was richmond for a hybrid meet, and it ended up pouring down rain on the way home. so much for good mpgs on that trip.

btw, nice stereo gear in there!

[NoPetrol]

Why is it that rain hurts the MPG so much?

[IMAhybrid]

I read somewhere that because of all the water, the air is 400% denser when it's raining.

[james]

Think about it: On average the raindrops have zero horizontal velocity (assuming the wind's not blowing. Each one you hit immediately gets accelerated to whatever speed you're going, and that takes energy. Likewise, if there's water on the road, the tires have to squish it out of the way, which takes more energy. The energy comes from gasoline, so you have to burn more of it.

[HafNHaf]

it messes up the airflow around the car a bit, but the big thing is not the rain per se, but the standing water you are pushing out of the way and throwing up into the air with your tires. it takes lots of energy to do that, and it comes from the gas tank.

[Dougie]

Actually air with water vapour in it is less dense than dry air, because a water molecule H2O weighs a lot less than either an O2 or N2 molecule, the main components of air. I think the main effect is on the tires, because if you go through even a small puddle you can easily notice the increased drag.

[Insightful Trekker]

Water is very cohesive (sticky).

[Sherrisue]

I read in the manuel that you can harm your Insight by completely running out of gas. I notice the first entry on this strand talks about running a tank empty. Isn't that bad for the IMA system?