Etherplex

I bought a hybrid car back in November 2007 after my 1990 Toyota Corolla got totaled in an accident while I was stopped in traffic. I chose the Honda Civic Hybrid, and my experience ever since has been awesome. The most important feature (other than the electric assist and regenerative brakes) is the feature telling me instantaneous MPG and MPG for my trip so far.
Knowing how many miles to the gallon you’re getting heightens your awareness of how your driving style affects fuel consumption. Sure, hybrids get 10-15 MPG more than their conventional counterparts, but my driving style affects my MPG by about as much. Rapid acceleration is a real killer, but so is high speed. I tend to drive with traffic, which is about 70 mph or so in the right lanes. Since gas here went over $4 a gallon though, the last couple of days I slowed down a bit. Yesterday, I drove to work at just under 65 while drafting an 18-wheeler, and got 48 MPG on a 14 mile commute. Today, I drove at between 60-65 the entire way (no truck this time) and got about 47 MPG. Both of these number are much higher than my typical 70-mph fuel use of 40 MPG.
It occurred to me that many people would probably be willing to change their driving style a bit to save money, but that most cars don’t give drivers the tools to easily understand when the driver is really burning the most gas. If drivers don’t know how their actions affect fuel consumption, it is hard for them to know if they should change their behavior, and how much they should change it.
I’m hoping that all cars (not just hybrids) start including the tools to give drivers the information they need to manage fuel consumption. With oil at $135/barrel and only increasing, this is going to matter to more and more people.