Considering Prius v - first hybrid ? ?

1. It will cruise at 85 or higher all day long with a decent controlled ride and low road and wind noise. Much improved over earlier versions in these categories, aided by bigger wheels and a bigger engine than the 2004-2009 versions. You can get 39 or 40 mpg at high speeds.

2. AC is superb. The compressor runs with it's own electric motor as does the radiator fan and water pump (plus the power steering is electric). No gas engine required. Toyota actually improved the cooling in the v. Most of the early versions also had electric compressors and water pumps. The v has no belts at all.

3. Most people can tell no difference in the way the Prius drives on the highway from any other car. Basically it will run the gas engine at highway speeds except when going downhill, slowing or braking.

 

we also replaced a minivan with the v, we anticpate a rare occasion that a large item will not fit, but has been fine with everything we needed it for so far. My wife and I took a 2200 mile trip in it with a large dog, and much luggage including dog crate and large ice chest, got 42 mpg at highway speeds with the air on

 

My sister and brother-in-law drove their v Three 9000 miles in 6 weeks from BC to San Diego, to Ft Myers FL, to Las Vegas to BC. They did not go 85. I sometimes touch 95 while passing in my v Three, but mostly never cruise faster than 71

A 201 volt DC motor spins the compressor, powered by the High Voltage battery. A/C is quite nice, you want to run it when you feel hot, as the batteries do not like to be hot either.

With the quieter engine, you will notice road and wind noise that would have been drowned out in a more normal car by the engine. It will take a couple of weeks to get used to these 'new' noises.

You may notice that the Prius Cruise Control does not speed up going downhill, but uses the 'excess' energy to recharge.

This is for a Gen 3 Prius, I would deduct 8 MPG across the board, as a guess.

 

TexasMustang - Drive your "Chevy The The Levee," let her roll, and watch her taillights disappear beneath the water surface. The Prius v(vee) is a "Caddy In A Kimono."

Concerns #1, #2 & #3: Not To Worry. Run...Do Not Walk To Your Nearest Toyota Dealer. The Prius v "Vonder Vagon" is a Conestoga Wagon-Grade People, Kids, Dogs/Cats and Stuff-Hauler. It will cruise on the Interstate at 85 MPH all day while keeping you and your passengers in cool comfort the whole time.

However, if you want to meet or beat its Official EPA Fuel Economy of 44/42/40 MPG number, 71 MPH is the Interstate Cruise "$weet $pot" to deliver you MAX HIGHWAY MPG.

FWIW FYI: I am currently running at 53.7 MPG "Lifetime" on my 2012 Prius v Five. The Family CFO & Prius Borg Queen likes that.

 

Recall that you have much much greater air resistance the faster you go so don't expect EPA MPG at 85 with a fully loaded car. I'm about to take off on a 50 mile 65 MPH trip with 2 people and luggage for a 5 year old for a week including scooters, hose riding stuff, swim accessories, etc. I'll get 41+ on cruise control with 3 lights between here and there. Read down about a half dozen threads for my thoughts on the best and worst features and other folks comments.

Glad I bought it. I make well less than half as many gas stops as I did with my CRV.

 

All Priuses (currently in production) have electric A/C which works better than normal belt driven A/C while idling. You can do a full blast A/C (maximum cool) at a redlight since it is not limited by the gas engine rpm.

 

During the Cash-4-Clunkers program we looked at just about every minivan alternative. We liked the Mazda 5 which is a small minivan. But *small* is the key word. My criteria ended up being a car I can go to Home Depot and fit in 4x8-ft plywood. So we ended up with our 4th Dodge Caravan (VW Routan version). So we have a Prius and minivan. Prius gets the 3x more use per year.

So I would think a v might be better than a Mazda 5, but I am not sure cost differences etc.

We once had a Mazda 626 that did not stand the test of time.

 

Truck Rental at The Home Depot

 

We replaced a Dodge Grand Caravan, preserved the utility and tripled the gas mileage in doing so.

 

1.) what is the B on the shifter?
It is useful when going down long steep descents. Use it when you would use L in an Automatic Transmission. (Almost never)

2.) Can it display avg. mpg? I only found instant mpg display. Bounced all over the place.
I use Trip A as the average this tank, Trip B as the average this trip and the odometer has lifetime average.

3.) any link to a breakdown of 2, 3, and 5.
I have a Three, and miss the 3 door SKS from the Five. But it is all I miss.

4.) what's the ev, econ, and pwr button on the armrest? I'm guessing electric, economy, and power? What do they do?
EV is almost a gimmick, but if your car is warmed up, and you need to move it within a parking lot, it can be used.
ECO maps the throttle to require a great deal of movement early to change the amount of gas, and it reduces the enthusiasm of the A/C.
PWR make the throttle jumpy off idle, very little change add a lot of change in power.
Not pressing any of them is normal. Only normal and ECO last once the car is off.

 

Instant mpg can be very useful to see what is good and bad hypermiling technique. I am leaving it their for now till my scangauge arrives.

 

TexasMustang - Short answer... The Prius v Five is Queen Of The "Caddy In A Kimono - Hive." Regarding Questions 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5:

1. Shifter Position "B" is for mountainous and hilly areas and is the Prius equivalent to an 18-Wheeler downshifting to a lower gear for engine braking to travel down long, steep down slopes, and not burn up their brakes.
2. Use the "DISP" button on the steering wheel to sequence the MID readout to and through to the AVG MPG position.
3. 3-Door SKS, 17-inch alloy, low-profile wheel/tires, SofTex Pseudo-Leather, LED Lights... There is no substitute for the Pv5. You are correctomundo... there is no Pv4.
4. What Is The EV, ECON, PWR buttons on the armrest?
>> EV Mode - Besides being great for tooling around parking lots in "Max Stealth," EV is very useful to "Snatch" incremental MPGs from the Traction Battery when accelerating from a stop at a RED LIGHT or a STOP SIGN. I have pontificated about how I use this driving technique to reap these incremental "MPG Rewards" in other prior posts of mine on here.
>> ECO is the Mode I run in 99.9% of the time. If you are interested in garnering Max MPG from the Hybrid Synergy, then driving in the ECO Mode is the ticket to logging "$tellar" 125%-130% of EPA MPG numbers.
>> PWR Mode - The nickname I have given to the PWR Mode is "After-Burner." I used the PWR "After-Burner" Mode when I need to or expect to have to "Horse" my Pv5 Warfighter around like it is my old "Low Flying, Terrain-Following" Porsche. In the PWR Mode, the torque delivered by the Combined ICE-Traction Battery operating mode makes my Magnetic Gray Pv5 Stealth Petrol Warfighter feel, ever-so-briefly, like I am back in my old Guards Red Porsche Uber Autobahn-Eater.
5. Dealer Recommendation In DFW Area? NO HAB NONE.

 

Agreeing mostly, I characterize the use of "PWR" off the line as a catapult launch...

 

Air_Boss - Six-To-One..Half-A-Dozen-To-The-Other. USS RANDOLPH...USS HORNET...USS ENTERPRISE...4EVER...FLY NAVY...NAVAL AVIATION!!!

 

Air_Boss - Six-To-One..Half-A-Dozen-To-The-Other. USS RANDOLPH...USS HORNET...USS ENTERPRISE...4EVER...FLY NAVY...NAVAL AVIATION!!!

 

Thank you for your service.

 

Air_Boss - That Runway Runs Both Ways, Shipmate. Have A Great Navy Day...'because Every Navy Day Is a Great Day!