I picked up a 2010 in October last year, and it's mostly all good, but one thing that annoys me is that when I select eco mode, it remembers and the next time i turn the car on, it is in eco mode, but not the same for the pwr mode. Does anyone know if it is possible to make it remember pwr mode the same way?
The Prius is a ECO car that's why it wants you to be in ECO mode for fuel efficiency. If I was a Corvette it would stay in PWR
It kind of makes sense that it doesn't "remember" power mode. Since a big part of power mode is increased throttle sensitivity from the peddle. The Prius actually has 4 modes, even though only 3 buttons. Normal, ECO, EV, and Power. Normal, ECO and EV aren't going to suprise anyone with "more" sensitivity. If the automobile remembers you are were in power mode and automatically defaults to that mode BUT you forget that you were in power mode, the sudden change could be suprising. So I think the default of always making "Power" a decision the driver has to conciously make while driving is probably safest. I mean really? How hard is it to reach over and push a button?
Yes, but I'd like to be the one who decides whether I want to be fuel efficient or not. And it isn't hard to push a button, but it is silly that I have to do it every damn time I get in the car.
I too want the PWR mode to be "sticky." My car just seems more like a reasonable vehicle in that mode. It must be a software mod, since ECO is already sticky. There is a whole thread about whether PWR mode really is less economical than Normal; isn't the jury still out on that subject? Really depends on how one drives, in any mode. I have a half-mile significant uphill stretch (45 MPH speed limit) from a stop to get to my neighborhood; costs 0.1 MPG each time I go up, and charging the battery going down cannot recover that (pesky physics). There's a lot of AM traffic getting to the ski area, and I need to accelerate from a stop into that same PM traffic later.
I don't think the car would be more economical just from the mode itself, the mode is meant to make you put more effort into driving un-economically, and therefore would cause more economic driving. But I don't want that, I floor it everywhere I go.
Roger I agree with you. I want the power mode on automatically every time I drive. Heck, I own the car and I should be able to drive it the way I want to. Furthermore, my MPG doesn't suffer in power mode; probably due to my driving style. I would love to have my Prius default to power mode. If anyone comes up with a solution to this please let those of us that favor the power mode know.
I wish, instead on buttons, it had shifts on the steering wheel, that way you could leave your hands on the wheel
Could they have put the power button any farther away? I keep hitting the joy stick whenever I try to reach it. Also I have to take my eyes off the road. Wouldn't it have made sense to the put the "buttons" on the steering wheel or on the touch tracer?
They're within easy reach from the shifter. Placing your thumb near the base of the shifter should allow 3 of the fingers to lie on those 3 buttons.
Well, not to burst your balloon but I think the Gen III design gets the credit - it seems to be just as efficient regardless of which mode you use. All the more reason to make PWR sticky. And it's not "dangerous" - I've owned other cars which were just as throttle-sensitive. It only feels crazy powerful after you've been driving in ECO mode for a couple days.
From my understanding PWR and ECO modes just change the pedal mapping for the first 50% of pedal application. After 50% all modes provide the same power. So if you're in ECO mode and floor it you'll get the same power you would get by flooring it in PWR mode. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this. We just use Normal mode all the time. I tried PWR mode a couple of times and it does provide some more power with less than 50% pedal application. Some people who use PWR mode all the time have reported only minimal, if any, change in MPG.
Only in the sense that doing so might help you avoid heavy demands on the ICE. If you control your foot, power mode will work just fine during warm up. Tom
wouldn't have to if it remembered and put it on automatically. I think it's a bug. I think they forgot to make it remember that one.
It's not a bug. It was deliberate. We can argue whether it's a good idea, but I can assure you it wasn't an oversight. Tom
