[djmcmath]

Quickie math looks like 26mpg for the hybrid as opposed to 18mpg for the nonhybrid, or an improvement of like 40%. Not too bad, really.

The auto start/stop feature is interesting, and has been employed with success in Honda's hybrids. When the car slows below a certain speed (like 0.5mph), the engine shuts off and the car coasts down. When you hit the gas, the electric motor kicks in to get you off the line while the gas part is restarting to get you up to speed. It would be marginally more interesting with a gas only engine, as the start would have to happen on it's own when you hit the gas, and would take just a second longer to get started. My thought is that some brilliant Porsche engineer has come up with a way around that little "it takes a second to start the car" routine, so it comes off the line convincingly immediately after you hit the gas.

Or something like that. The trips (that I've seen) are a downward speed on the one side, then hitting the throttle on the other side. It isn't, maybe, a feature you'd want in your dragrace car ... but then, if you're planning on coming off a lot of stoplights real aggressively, maybe fuel consumption numbers aren't something you care about either?