I love power mode. I use it every day to pass on the highway and sometimes to accelerate fast to merge when entering. It changes the car performance much more than I expected. I would not want to drive in power mode all the time - it is a little too responsive for normal driving, but I love having it when needed. I wish Toyota would put the power mode button on the steering wheel for highway passing.
The only difference, as far as power is concerned, is in pedal mapping. The exact same amount of power is availibe in all modes, it just happens at different pedal positions. In addition the ECO mode operates the AC in a more efficient manner. I think the power mode was designed to make the Prius seem more non-hybrid like to new hybrid drivers. In the power mode most of the action happens during the first half of the pedal movement, most cars are designed this way to make them feel snappier. In the other modes pedal response is more linear and control is a little more precise. But use what ever feels good to you, just be aware you do not have to select the Power Mode to get power. When you put your foot to the floor it's the same in all modes, I have tried it. If you wish to prove that to yourself one simple test is to hold your foot to the floor and switch back and forth between modes, normal, power, and ECO, and see how much difference it makes.
You may be right, but I much prefer having a responsive pedal to having to floor the pedal. In power mode, the Prius "seems" to have as much power as my Camry, especially off the line. On the highway, switching to power mode does "seem" to make passing effortless.
My car is in ECO mode by default. I used power mode yesterday, for the first time in I can't remember how long, to merge onto a crowded highway. In the year I've owned the car, I've probably used power mode less than a half dozen times (excluding the typical new car feature experimentation).
After I got done screwing around witht the car when I first got it its been in ECO mode since. I just did a 600+ mile roadtrip last weekend, all highway driving, in ECO. I had no problems passing or any of that. Like tumbleweed said its just pedal mapping. The power is there in any mode. Going highway speeds and passing is the same in any mode. The power is really only noticeable IMO off the line.
Like you, my wife uses Power mode because it makes it behave like a "normal" car, except for the slight response delay. I use Eco, or Normal if I forget to put it in Eco after my wife's driven it! I don't use Power at all. If I need to accelerate more I press the gas pedal further.
ECO by default. Rarely on POWER, only when climbing or have one too many people in the car. Power mode is nice, very sensitive pedal.
I don't use either ECO or Power modes. I played with them initially, but as others have said it just changes the pedal mapping. The linear mapping of "normal" mode gives me the most finesse, so I just leave it there and don't worry about it. I recently rented a Chevy Impala while traveling and it took me a while to get used to the accelerator response. It was basically dead until pressed 25% will near full acceleration just a bit beyond 50%. I ended up lunging a lot and missing my Prius.
I experimented with ECO and POWER modes when I first got the car and now stay mostly in NORMAL. Normal gives me the best pedal mapping for most of my needs. I still use POWER when I need to accelerate on a highway ramp or to cross a busy intersection in a hurry. I still like to use it now and then just to know that the Prius can accelerate quickly when needed !
After the initial thrill of ownership went away, I have only used the 'PWR' mode to show friends who have not been in the Prius before. I prefer to have it in 'ECO' mode all the time, as I know that I have the full power available to me regardless of the mode that I am in. I feel that the reduced A/C speed, and other minor differences in 'ECO' mode must make it the most efficient method.
It's always on for me. But I think that's because I had a Maxima before the Prius and I was used to the response.
I've noticed that in Eco mode, the engine will shutdown at lower temperatures as compared to the other modes. This has been mentioned on these forums before but I don't remember where.
Last time I used Power Mode was at the dealer when buying the car. I use ECO all the time - makes me feel ECO and when I rarely need the ponies I just push down hard on the pedal.
Wife uses pwr mode virtually 100% of the time and gets an average of 54+ mpg, a win-win as far as I'm concerned.:cheer2:
I'm fond of power mode but I play around....to me it is the Prius version of paddle shifters or DSG...Certainly this technology cost something and is there for a reason so I reason, why not use it?
Interesting. I may decide to stay in PWR mode most of the time if there is no impact on mileage. The pedal response just feels so much better.
I have driven my daily 52 mile RT commute in ECO, NORMAL and POWER modes and cannot tell any appreciable difference in mpg in any of the three modes. As explained, it only changes the pedal movement mapping. Even when I accelerate more briskly than normal in POWER mode I do not see a negative impact on mpg.
