2013 Fuel Buttons

^^^Not being sarcastic, but its nice to have the freedom of choice…….


Personally I use ECO 99% of the time. tried POWAH mode the other day and yes I do realize it simply remaps the pedal response, but darn... it really felt like a little turbo kicked in in the Prius. lol! I really do prefer the linear response of the ECO mode though as easier to P&G...

 

unless something new with OP's car (of course not) the above is just nonsense .... THERE IS NO MORE POWER in Power Mode ...

please do not give false information ...

there are some subtle differences (warm-up, and AC use) but mainly remapping the "gas/go" pedal NOTHING more.

You can easier attenuate the 'fuel flow' to the ICE (not really all that is done by the computers ) better put the "request for power from the system" to move ....

My advise to OP (other then RTFM) use what best fit your drving style. I use ECO in summer but often switch to POWER in city driving it makes the appearance of a little more responsive car.

 

I like using the ECO mode, because I feel it improves my fuel economy. I'll use "Power" mode occasionally in heavy traffic. I know all these things can be achieved in any mode, or without any mode, but it's a tool I appreciate.

The EV mode automatically defaults to "on" when I have a plug-in charge, but I have to manually turn it off if I want to "save" the EV charge for later. I wish I knew a way to have it turned off by default.

 

Hokay. Here comes ye standard explanation.

1. No lights lit, aka "Normal".
   1. You get there by hitting the button associated with the light that is lit. So, if there's an ECO light lit on the dash, hit ECO again; the ECO light on the dash will go out.
      
   2. Result: Imagine an X-Y graph with power on the Y axis and accelerator on the X. Make a 45-degree line starting from the origin. This will be known as "the response of the power plant to how far down you push the pedal". One endpoint is zero power (foot off the pedal); the other endpoint is full power (pedal to the metal).
   3. My daughter likes this mode: To her, it makes the car feel "normal". I like it when on cruise control on freeways at speed.
2. ECO light lit. You get this by hitting the ECO button. Results:
   1. You get a new, curvy line that's below the 45-degree line you just drew. The endpoints (no pedal=0 power, maxpedal=maxpower) are connected with the endpoints of the 45-degree line. Result: It's easier to feather the engine at lower power levels. (A small push to the pedal does not snap your neck back.)
   2. In ECO mode, the car does a couple of minor things to the air conditioning in Auto that purportedly save some energy. The fan speed won't hit max. It tends not to use the blow-at-the-floor-and-the-face-at-the-same-time setting.
   3. I use this mode most of the time since I'm mostly driving local roads where the speeds are below 45. I think I get better control that way. YMMV.
3. Power mode. You get here by hitting the PWR button. Results:
   1. You get a new, curvy line, but this time it's above the 45-degree line you drew. The two endpoints of the two lines are connected. Result: A little push to the gas pedal causes the car to snap your neck back. It's a Prius, you won't break your neck, but it feels like somebody threw 30 more horsepower in there.
   2. In PWR mode the car is a bit easier to drive when going up steep hills; you don't need the serious back-and-forth that you would have in ECO to keep the car at a steady speed. Normal (no lights lit) has less pedal travel with a steep hill than ECO and more than one would see in PWR.

Max power is the same in all three modes, so if you floor it, it's floored, no matter what mode you're in. Some people like to stick in one mode all the time, others go beserk changing every three seconds, and there's probably a fair number of drivers out there who never did figure out what those buttons were for and the car's in whatever mode it was in when it left the dealer.

There have been people who have posted here who claimed that they got wonderful MPG in PWR mode; others thought that ECO was cool; and then there's the people who stay in Normal (no lights) and like it. Toyota in the instruction manual makes mumbly noises, in and amongst which they do state that PWR is cool on hills. (They're right on that.)

EV's a toy with limited applicability. It only works when

1. The outside temperature is above 65 F or so or the ICE is warm.
   
2. The speed is less than 25 mph or so.
3. The battery has charge.
4. You don't push the pedal down too far.

Violate any of that and the car makes snippy messages at you and drops out of EV mode. It's useable to move the car in or out of the garage or around a parking lot on a warm day; that's about it.

Do like BWilson said: Do three days, one in each mode, leaving out EV, and make up your own mind.

KBeck

 

mine has never left eco, it's the cheapest and most efficient fuel available.

 

I like using Eco but where I live in the winter time it is not feasible since it takes the car so long to warm up. -30 temps plays a bad card on the prius fuel economy in the winter months. But that being said if the heater temp is set to 70 it will still roast your butt out of the car and allows the car to switch back and forth between ev/gas dynamically. I think sonfar I averaging 37-40 mpg in my prius so far this winter. Might have to block off part of the grill though

 

I didn't know the ECO mode had any effect on the warm-up time. Can you explain?

 

You can measure it, but the ICE will turn off little lower temp around 110F rather 125F or so ... very settle but if you have a lot of stop and go to start your trip may worth it. I think BobWilson had a table about this about a year ago ...

 

110 will still warm the interior, so I'll take the fuel savings associated with that.

 

When using Eco the car will shut the engine off after it completes a short warm up cycle. At least for me. I can drive 4 blocks and come to a stop in Eco and the engine will shut down. If I take Eco off the engine will kick on. So it does save gas not idling but it also affects the warmup times of the engine. Also 70 degrees non Eco is nice and toasty vs 70 degrees in Eco. That could probably be due in part to a lower fan speed though