What Is "Normal?"

Normal is the absense of any of the other buttons being pushed .... the default so to speak.

REV

 

What REV said. No ECHO light=NORMAL mode, NO PWR light=NORMAL mode, No EV light=NORMAL mode. You get the idea.

 

Re: What Is "Normal?"

Around here? That's a heckava good question!

Welcome aboard! :welcome:

As you drive your car, read the 600-page manual, and then sleep off the induced drowsiness, you'll begin to discover what is 'normal' with your driving habbits in this car.
Try to keep the 'worry' switch in the "do not" position, and enjoy the car and it's $30-every-500-mile fillups!
If you find that you cannot read more than 50 pages of the owner's manual without the Sandman pouring sleepy dust into your eyes, then do some reading in the forum. It's always good for a chuckle or two and I think that you'll find that most of the "Why does (doesn't) my car do this?" questions are (best) answered with:
"Relax. It's normal."

EDIT: I always drive in ECO. When you place the car in this mode (as opposed to PWR and EV) the car will thence default to this mode until/unless you switch back out of it---then it's back to "normal". EV mode is pointless, unless you want to move the car w/o starting the engine, or you're trying to sneak up on your neighbor's cat (it never works...they always hear the tires.) PWR mode doesn't give you more power---it just remaps the throttle requests from your right foot. Like I said....RTFM. (read the *ah* factory manual...)

Good Luck!

 

"There is nothing worst in this world than being normal"

 

Congrats on your new Prius and welcome to PriusChat. Enjoy the high MPGs, technology and Prius fun.

I drive my Prius only in ECO mode. The owner's manual recommends ECO mode as one of a couple means of achieving higher MPGs. Like everyone else said, NORMAL is the absence of any other mode.

 

I also run the car in ECO most of the time.

If I want quicker cabin warm up or cool down in hot or cold weather, I run briefly in NORMAL (POWER should also work)

If I want a more sensitive accelerator pedal (eg merging onto a crowded freeway from an old on ramp that is far too short), I will put the car in POWER briefly.

For the rest of the time, I think that the better fine control of power application available under ECO is a benefit that makes other cars seem antiquated.

 

Really, there is nothing "normal" about the Prius. It is exceptional in every way.

 

i'd say once a day, but it depends on your age.

 

It's a small town in Illinois near Bloomington.

I like the "worry switch" in the "do not position" comment. After two car payments worth of ownership I am finally getting a little less obsessive about squeezing every-single-bit of mileage out of it and just driving the car. If I drive oblivious to what mileage I am getting I usually lose about 3 MPG during my morning commute to work.

 

Then I'm very normal, but a dried prune helps.

 

What others said. If your car is in ECO mode, pressing ECO again will toggle it off and put the car back in "Normal" mode.

ECO makes the car a bit more conservative with the climate control.

A regular German PriusChat poster has suggested that in ECO there's some difference in how the car behaves while driving at different speeds, but the main difference is really just in the response to gas pedal travel. ECO gives you more precision at the low end, meaning that it's easier to avoid unnecessary acceleration and regeneration, with the trade-off being that you have to press the gas pedal down further for a change in required power.

I ECO, my wife PWRs.

Congratulations on your new car.

 

I Love this site, you guys are funny
So, by the way what does the car do differently in the "normal" mode. I've been driving in Eco and I too am obsessed about mpg. But I'm sure I'll calm down after a while. Had the car since Mon. today is Fri. I'll play more with it this weekend.
Joe

 

A less obsessive way is only to try to avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration instead. That'll become more automatic and you'll still save gas, tires, brakes and engine wear.

 

From reading threads, I've discovered that ECO mode may not provide enough a/c compressor support for those really, really hot/humid days, but I've not seen evidence of it. I always stay in ECO mode and I'm comfortably cool on hot summer days. I assume that ECO model tries to cycle a/c compressor on-off more frequently while NORMAL mode keeps compressor on longer. It's all an effort to maximize MPGs. So with that, said ECO/NORMAL modes may be more than accelerator pressure sensitivity.

 

Once a week would be outstanding.. could you talk to my spouse please

 

How do you people do that once a week thing? It's like trying to only drive the Prius once a week; just can't be done

 

ya, that wouldn't work for me. i'd have to walk the other six days. and oysters work better than dried prunes.:rockon:

 

Seems like you have little to lose. You might as well go ahead and buy that Prius.