Blueprint said:
More seriously, my wife now drives the Ody ('till we find a buyer for the CR-V and get her an MPV), mostly numerous short trips, and her mileage is worst than mine, but not by a huge margin...
Same observation here. While her Camry is not in operation, she drives the Ody, and I noticed her mileage is much lower. I think the way she keeps the speed of the van by modulating the gas pedal made the transmission never locked.
The way I drive is to get to the highest gear quickly, and then keep the gas pedal the same pressure to keep the transmission in lock.
Also, I let go the gas pedal quite a ways from the red light as I know my Ody will keep rolling.
I mentioned to let go the gas to her but she is still afraid that it would make the car slow down too much. Her Camry is manual, thus engine braking is in effect if you don't press the accelerator.
My in-town MPG is 19.2, and hers is around 15.1