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Re-activateI love trip computers. Especially when you turn on the "instant mpg" feature. Go down a hill in even a gas-guzzling Navigator and - shazam! - the truck is getting 99.9 mpg. I think this is a hoot. Who ever thought a 6,200-pound monster of an SUV would ever achieve such a feat?!
While driving my son to soccer practice recently in the Mini Cooper S, I had the "instant mpg" display active on the tiny screen in the lower part of the tachometer. As I observed the car attaining this incredible mpg down a hill, I thought, "Who really believes this?" I mean, when you're hammering the Mini's turbocharged engine, the instant mpg falls quicker than a yodeling first-round American Idol contestant. Who's surprised that you're not maximizing the car's fuel efficiency when you're driving hard? And how often can you drive down hills to and from your job to get this 99.9 mpg?
Trip computers have many useful features--I'm especially fond of the distance-to-empty display--but the instant mpg? The only reason to look at this gizmo is to highlight the appalling fuel economy you get when you accelerate hard. Admittedly, keeping an eye on this display can help modify your driving habits to attain better fuel economy. So, if you didn't know this already, hard acceleration = poor mpg. And frequent descents make you feel like the king of the green world.
May all your commuting be down hill...
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