Warming up

Absolutely,

Read the following link. It was written for Gen II Prius, but still pertains even to the new Gen IV Prius. All Toyota Hybrid's work on the same principal as described in the writeup.

http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/five-stages.txt

Also it is best to get in, hit power button, and Go. Sitting idling wastes fuel and actually does not warm up car faster than getting in and driving away.

 

i hit it and go, albeit slowly, depending on ambient temps. let it warm up while i drive. i have 4 miles to the highway, so, that plays into it. if i lived in cali, i would probably get a block heater.

 

I generally prefer to do my warmup while moving as well. The fuel economy is pretty crappy for the first couple of minutes (like under 20 mpg), but that's better than 0.

 

I don't think it is necessary to warm up Prius. I never warmed up mine.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

After a cold start, if you don't let the engine warm up for about a minute (plus or minus a bit, depending on temperature) before jumping into high-speed traffic or climbing a hill, you'll be subjecting the battery to fairly heavy discharge until that minute is up. That's because the system tries to protect the engine from having to produce more than very little power when it's cold. Instead, the system favors taking energy mostly from the battery to power the car at first. You can clearly see this happening if you monitor battery current.

However, if you press the accelerator down far enough, the computer says to itself "This idiot driver is apparently in danger of being run over from behind, so to save his butt, I'll rev up the cold engine to produce more power, and to heck with engine life. "

Leaving where I live, I have to launch from the short driveway directly onto an uphill on a moderately busy 45-mph two-lane highway, so I usually wait for the engine to be ready to go to work. Starting from other, more lenient places, where the first minute is likely to be spent maneuvering slowly out of a flat parking lot, I start moving right away---on mostly battery power.

 

One of the bad things you can do to an engine is try to let it warm up for an extended period while idling. Sure, no one will claim that you will have to drive off full revs from cold, but your engine will hardly warm up sitting idle in the driveway. It is never recommended.

Not me. I press the power button and drive off.