Hey all, just got my new Prius C a week ago, and love it! Can any one point me to some links to learn more about the gas engine it has? I want to know all I can....
what is it that you want to know? The owners manual that comes with the car is a wealth of information that is hard to put down once you start reading and contains more than you would ever want to know with regards to owning and operating the vehicle.
I was having the same question when considering whether to buy a car with a Hybrid Synergie Drive (HSD) train. The best advice i can think of is to take quite some time reading some of the older threads in the 2nd generation Prius Forums. You'll find links to very informative descriptions of the functioning of all the building blocks of your hybrid system. The system developed for the C is an evolution with down-sized and optimized components, but its functioning is essentially teh same as that in the first Prii. Another way of being happy with you car, though, is to put it in D, and enjoy driving in a relaxed but otherwise normal way. I'm sure there are people here knowing a lot more and could be more precise. Jan
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_NZ_engine]Toyota NZ engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
When we first got our Prius in May 2009, the first thing we did is see what kind of mpg we were getting. In fact a week after we bought it we took a round trip to Reno Nevada and averaged a true calculated 52 mpg. Lets face it the main reason most people buy a Prius is for the M P G 's.
Thanks for all the replies, ya'll. Yes the main reason I got the C (for my wife) is for the mileage. The reliability track record of the older Priuses was also a major factor. I want to know things like how the computer changes the valve timing electronically, how it decides what engine RPM's to use since it has a CV transmission. I know this stuff is covered somewhere, I just can't find it. I think it's an amazing piece of technology. My wife is the one who "just drives it".
Here is one of the better pages on the web I've seen on how the Prius powertrain works: http://eahart.com/prius/psd/ Basically one of the misconceptions about the Prius when people hear it has a "CVT" is that they think there is a belt-and-pulley transmission in there. But the "CVT" in the Prius is totally different-- It is a simple planetary gearset that has no belts and no complicated variable-diameter pulleys. Because of its simplicity, the Prius Power Split Device (I think that's a better term for the Prius transmission than "CVT") is much more reliable than normal multispeed and belt-and-pulley transmissions. How the PSD works is truly a marvel. Play around with the PSD simulator on that webpage to see how varying the RPMs of the various power sources result in final drive wheel RPMs. It is truly different from what has been used in cars for the past 100 years.
Toyota had a good site called hybridsynerydrive.com but it's not working right now. It had a detailed PDF on the inner workings of HSD.
Is that the PDF you attached to this post in 2007? http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...us-hybrid-synergy-drive-system-operation.html
I just learned everything I needed to know on www.hybridsynergydrive.com. What an engineering marvel yet it's fairly simple to understand seeing I'm not very mechanically inclined. Very very neat stuff, makes me even more excited to own one of these fine machines!
This site has always been a good resource. Environmental Technology | TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION GLOBAL WEBSITE
No, it's not the one I'm thinking of. I'll look for it on my computer. I didn't even realise I uploaded that PDF! It certainly isn't mine (possibly john1701a's PDF that I reposted when the site went down around that time)
I found the booklet. It's not too technical but I thought it's a nice read. http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...ive-information-terminal-pdf.html#post1502721
