Power Mode doesn't hurt fuel economy per se; it only makes the throttle more sensitive. jack rabbit starts, hard braking and lots of short trips on cold motor Will lower fuel economy a lot. See 2 posts above
Ok, good, but do find the very steepest hills in the area to compare. Fremont toyota has been great for renting Toyota cars here. The other day I rented Camry Hybrid for two hours for $10.50 plus bit of gas. Great way to really test drive a car. highly recommended. It can take an hour or so for driver's seat quirks to rear their ugly head. Hopefully Toyota dealers in your area rent. Easier than finding Prius, Cam Hy at Hertz, Enterprise. Honda are jerks in regards to renting. Dealers don't seem to rent, nor do they sell to rental fleets. If you want to try a Honda, have to put up with salesperson.
Yea cold motor and short trips can hurt fuel economy, but by any chance, people at the dealers haven't been able to answer this question for me. Do i need to warm up the car in the morning. Where i live could get to 28 degrees at night, and it seems when you turn the prius on, it automatically goes to battery mode. I am used to warm up my vehicles at least 5 or 6 mins in the morning, but it is all new to me with the prius. Do i need to turn it on, then hit power mode in order for the gas engine to kick in and thus getting warm?
No warm up needed. Power up and drive. I can get underway in about 5 seconds Power up takes a couple seconds, then it's fine to put it into gear. It will move under electric power, then gas engine comes on to warm up. As you take off, it moves under electric and maybe some gas. Just drive it easy and will be fine. no worries. Don't need power mode. Prius / hybrids are reallly easy to use, that's for sure.
Turning the car fully on (to drive) is called "ready" mode (push power button with your foot on the brake). The car will start its own engine in a few seconds after that. You don't need to warm the car up in the morning. I haven't since I bought mine. You'll get better mileage (and the car will warm up quicker) if you just drive it.
