My previous car (96 Saturn) did a good job keeping it's speed with cruise control. I've noticed my '04 Prius does not hold it's speed going down hill. It doesn't even seem to try. Is this an aspect of the hybrid motor?
The CC will reduce your speed as much as it would for drag. In other words, it doesn't apply any more braking force than regen does for engine drag emulation. You can observe what it's doing from the energy screen. Other cars without regen braking won't slow you down any more than letting go completely off the throttle, except for really sophisticated make/models, of which I doubt a '96 Saturn would be one. But then, you didn't specify the model.
CC on my 05 Prius handles slowing down pretty well, as long as the downhill is not steep and not too long. I did notice last weekend, however, that for a looooooong downhill stretch, CC couldn't keep it to the set speed, thereby gaining too much speed. I guess you just have to watch it even if you use CC :wink:
when your on a long down hill check the energy screen if the battery if all full there is no more regen. That's the time to use B mode, be advised that it'll cancel the cruise control. Once the battery is 80% charged the regen system has no where to put the output, by shifting into B mode the ICE is used as a brake
It does apply more drag than without CC. Try it sometime going downhill under CC. Turn the CC off and the car will surge forward.
My cruise control speed needs to be reset everytime I stop. Is that normal? I'm use to the speed remaining set (Detroit Iron) and just wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
I really don't understand what the B gear is about. Why would someone drive in B mode? Any benefits to the hybrid system or in driving performance?
have a look thru these posts, it'll help you understand the time to use "B" and when not to. It's from my 2k3 but is still relavent to the HSD. The drive down the mountain will illustrate when to use B.
For the 2001-2003 Prius, the cruise control will function in "B" driving mode, and quite well IMHO. In the 2004 and following, shifting to "B" disables cruise control I have heard. I don't know why this change was made - does anyone else?
So I tried the B mode yesterday driving down the hills of San Francisco. I guess it slowed my descent, but what's the difference between the B mode and just using my brakes? Is additional energy transferred to the battery under B mode? The only benefit I can think of is less wear on my brakes but isn't the engine suffering the extra wear under B mode then? But staying in D and just using brakes allows regenerative braking to occur more than in B mode right? <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Frank Hudon\";p=\"103734)</div> [/b][/quote] have a look thru these posts, it'll help you understand the time to use "B" and when not to. It's from my 2k3 but is still relavent to the HSD. The drive down the mountain will illustrate when to use B. [/b][/quote]
pcjr, I 'm no expert on the engineering aspect of "B" however, I doubt they had the steep one block hills of SF in mind when they decided to introduce "B" mode. For those who haven't been there, most steep hills in SF have a stop sign at each intersection. "B" really shines as an accessory where the hills go on and on. Furthermore, I am under the opinion that "B" is best at over about 20mph.
So basically B mode is just engine braking without using the brakes? Just wondering if there's any advantage to using it vs. brakes. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarinJohn\";p=\"103958)</div>
sorry I missed posting the thread on B mode http://priuschat.com/forums/some-interesti...ting+results%2A
