Newbie - tomorrow is the day...

[ThudnBlundr]

Save is probably better for shorter journeys, and sounds like it would be ideal for your motorway part. Not sure if you're aware, but Save is essentially the same as the car does when the battery shows empty, but it tries to maintain the existing range. So it's no less efficient unless you've got a nearly-full battery, when the charging rate (and regen) is much lower.

My suggestion was really for a longer journey where you know you'll have a significant amount of slower driving towards the end after a long, high-speed section. As mentioned earlier, it's best to arrive at your charging point with an empty battery to make the most efficient use of your fuel. To be fair, the car does pretty well by itself in 'D', but it doesn't know the route as well as you

 

[cornclose]

To be fair, the car does pretty well by itself in 'D', but it doesn't know the route as well as you

I have always generally set my Nav on journeys - even to destinations I know well. The main reason is it gives me an accurate ETA so if I need to call anyone or they call me, I can tell them.

I now do the same with Waze in my Outlander, with an even more beneficial reason; use the remaining distance as reported by Waze and my electric range as reported by the Outlander to determine when to use save and when to switch back to EV for the remainder of the journey, when I can then recharge.

Works very well so far, especially if your driving is consistent and therefore the EV range 'guess' provided by the Outlander is very accurate.

What would be really good (if the Outlander had factory Nav) would be to link the EV range to the Nav destination so that the car could manage this automatically (with the option to switch this feature on/off).

I have also now started to use save mode when driving at higher speeds, but usually only when going up an incline, and reverting back to EV when going down hills. It seems to be a little more efficient use of EV power to avoid using lots to drag the car up a hill. All used with a couple of other battery management techniques of course, and as stated, with the aim of arriving at a destination with zero EV range left (--- displayed) without the engine starting.

I'm currently on about 750 miles on the clock, yet I have still only put 39 litres of unleaded in the car, and I still have half of that left! If I never recharged again and used the unleaded from now on, it would still be an equivalent of 74 mpg (UK) - this takes into consideration the cost of electricity to charge so far, and what amount of unleaded I could have bought for that same cost. Overall miles per gallon(UK) of unleaded used is 105.

So far, total spend on unleaded £52.22 (half of that remains unused), total spend on electricity £21.12 (and I have 80% full battery).

Yes, this car is going to save me a considerable amount of money over the 2.0 litre diesel V70..

 

[Andrev]

For sure on short trips this car is fabulous.
I drove the last 2 days from Montreal to Fayetteville NC and I averaged 6,5 liters/ 100 km on a 1680 km journey. I am happy with!

 

[greendwarf]

Also whilst ThudnBlundr is fiddling about trying to "coast" in B5 I am already hovering over the brake pedal with my right foot in case some idiot pedestrian, cyclist or driver decides attempt suicide under the front of my car - a daily occurrence in Central London! :twisted:

Coasting or not, such risks are always there. How do you deal with those while not coasting?

True, but my style might mean the difference between an accident or not for some of the time, especially when slowing down in traffic as cyclists hurtle past intent on ignoring traffic lights and pedestrians amble across on the assumption you will stop - outside Waterloo Station being a particularly good (bad) example. :evil: