winter warm-up

Remarkably, you get used to the extreme cold. After a few weeks of below 0F (when it goes down to -30 to -40 at night) it usually "warms up" to -above- 0F. Then you see people going outside in t-shirts because it's so warm! I kid you not!

 

Absolutely. Freezing weather in the fall is beach weather in the spring. In later winter, after I'm used to it, I've been known to take out the trash in bare feet, despite walking in snow.

Tom

 

Take a look at the discussions on "engine block heaters". I am having the same problem here in Albany, NY and am looking into getting one installed and/or getting a heated seat. Good luck!

 

We get real cold, ice and snow here, I'll gladly sacrifice a little gas to warm up the car enough to chip the ice off the windows. That takes more then a minute or two, that's for sure.

I started mine this morning and kept the keys in my pocket, going back inside for about 2 minutes to finish getting the family out the door. The Prius beeped 3 times at me as I walked away but otherwise stayed running. When I got back outside I was able to clear the windshield easily, the back was all clear on it's own. Perfect.

Parking in the garage this winter will alleviate the need to do this at all, but I need to get my other car sold before can I do that (single lane driveway)

 

I recently purchased a 2010 Prius III - the dealership was most unhelpful in explaining the functionality of the car. Now that it's winter here in Albany, NY I am trying to figure out the most efficient settings to run the heater on. Can you recommend which settings to use for quickest and most efficient heating? Thank you so much!

 

I prefer "Auto" and let it do its job. I set my heat to Auto, and then adjust the temperature as needed. The only intervention I do is to press Defrost when needed.

Some people like to fuss with manual settings, which you can do. For me, Auto does a fine job.

Tom

 

If the A/C is set to Auto, when turning on the car, by cold external temperatures, unless you press the defog button, the A/C will wait for the engine to be warm enough to start blowing air. And rightly so - you don't want -5C air coming in...

BUT...what I normally do is turn on defog nevertheless because 9 out 10 when I get inside the car at, say, less than 5C, the humidity I generate will condensate on the inside. And if cold enough, it will even frost inside (!) until inside temperature is higher than 0C. One way to avoid this is to turn on defog...and defroster for the back until things look good (usually after 2-4 mins it is already looking OK - at least this has been my experience with -7C today and -5C yesterday).

I always use ECO mode if driving in town and/or in stop&go traffic and set the temperature (Auto mode) at 16-18C - any warmer does not really help as I drive with my heavy coat on (I don't have seat heaters) and the trip is short enough (about 30mins) to work.
In this way I can, more or less, and traffic crawling in snowy roads permitting, keep the fuel consumption at bay - ie. between 5 and 6L/100km.

So - ECO mode, Auto, 16-18C (ie. the lowest temperature you feel comfortable with, before the LO indication is shown).
Please note that ECO mode might work at the "limit", that is, you might have some minor fogging in the windows, especially at the back, but that can be easily avoided by using, when necessary, the defroster.
Otherwise, for longer trips and not in town, Auto and 22C or less (20C is also fine since I am always well dressed - I don't drive in a T-Shirt in winter... )

I don't have any experiences yet with colder temperatures in the morning. So far it was never lower than -7C. Maybe somebody from Canada or northern USA, or even better Alaska or Finland (anybody from Oulu?) can comment...

The main difference with a car that does not have start&stop, is that with the Prius you can directly affect fuel consumption; by reducing the cabin requested temperature from the A/C, you can have the engine running for less time, and likely the times it is on to push the car, is already enough for it to keep warm enough to deliver air at the requested temperature.
On a normal car the engine is *always* running, therefore setting 16C doesn't make any sense (at least to me) and setting 22C will likely be OK and make no major difference to the fuel consumption.

 

Thank you for this…..can I ask for a little further clarification? Is it more effective to have the air on recirculate or exterior and if I understand you correctly I should choose AC mode in addition to AUTO and setting the temperate. Correct? And, I never use any mode except ECO. Should I? As I said, absolutely nothing was explained or shown to me when I purchased the car.

Thanks again.

 

I would suggest you just drive it. Don't worry about the details... find the settings you feel comfortable.

I run in ECO with temp set at 68, without AC, fresh air with the fan mode on mix windshield/feet.

 

Same here in Ohio. We have already had unseasonably cold (winter chills below zero)---waiting for next week when we might hit 30. At that point you can wear a spring type jacket!

 

Hi Pauliegirl,

We had freezing mist/rain today, after 3 inches of snow. 30 F is on the way there....

 

I agree with Spiderman - at the end "just drive it" and with a bit of experimenting you will find what suits you best and you will notice what will affect fuel efficiency and what will make it better or worse.
Read also the user's manual - there is a wealth of information there - the only problem is to skim through the 600+ pages of warnings and cautions everywhere - the real information is probably enough to fill 50 pages...

To answer your questions: if in winter you set the A/C to off, while keeping AUTO, you might end up having fogged windows - you need to try and depending on weather and air humidity in your area you might end up or not with fogged windows - you need to try what works best, but safety first! the A/C off saves energy and it will not work if temperatures are lower than 0C (if I remember what is written in the user's manual correctly), but you need to see through the windows!

Recirculate surely will make your windows fog after a while - use sparingly or when necessary (i.e. city traffic when stinky cars or trucks in front of you). It could be helpful in the beginning to warm up quickly, but then the humidity you yourself create, with the low cabin temperature, will make all your windows fog - and the recirculate will not help at all...experiment and see what works best.

You can use whatever mode you like - there is no mode you *have* to use. But for my experience, in city driving, to try to keep fuel efficiency at bay, ECO works best. Fuel consumption is affected a *lot* also by how you drive - so if you have a lead foot, and break like there is no tomorrow because you cannot anticipate what the traffic ahead of you is going to do, there is no ECO mode or trick with the heating system that will make the Prius worth your money...
ECO is particularly effective in winter when driving in town, that for sure, but it is not a must.