EcoDrive

The next thing I have started playing around with is EcoDrive.  The FIAT 500 comes with a program built in that will track your driving habits and give you tips to be more fuel efficient.  

Basically, you download the software from their website onto a USB thumb drive.  You plug this in to your FIAT 500 and turn on EcoDrive.  I have found that you don't have to leave the thumb drive in all the time.  Your Fiat will store up to 8 days worth of driving information.  So I am plugging mine in each week to download the data from the car.  

You take the USB and plug it back into your computer in order to see how you stack up.  They give you an Eco Index between 1 and 100.  The higher number the more fuel efficient you are.  The tips they give you are common sense things like accerlate slowly and don't be an aggressive driver.  I guess that is easier said than done for some people.

So how did I do so far?  After my first week I was given a rating of 66.  This was already above the "community" which is the average of all the registered Fiat owners.  This past week I have been trying out my cruise control for the drive to work.  So I plugged in the updated data to see if it made a difference.  Wow.  I'm already at 77!  

While the EcoDrive is a fun little feature I'm sure I will get tired of it soon.  Since I already have a high score there isn't much incentive to keep using it.