I have a really hard to feather the car to Neutral state above 40mph. It does happen sometimes but it is very difficult. Anyone got more luck?
Maggie, do you mean a situation where the MFD on the energy screen indicates that there is no power generation or use between hybrid system elements? If so, yes, you can go dormant at nearly any speed, however trying to force the system to do it is difficult and has more to do with the topography of where you are driving than it has to do with your driving skill.
Same question...do you mean feather to a "no arrows" condition on the MFD? If so, then yes, I can and often do accomplish that, but it doesn't mean much. The ICE is spinning at 900 RPM any time you're over 41mph anyway. I try to get close to a "neutral" condition when I'm going downhill even over 41mph, but I don't sweat it if I just barely get green arrows or if I just barely get a pink and green arrows....as long as I'm showing 99.9mpg I know I'm doing about as well as can be expected.
I thought it was called gliding. Sure, it happens all the time. Despite the MFD and it's arrows, one can feel what the car is doing. the lack of "braking" can be felt even if arrows show. I'm referring to going downhill. With practice and a suitable grade it can be held that way for miles. I do it almost every day.
Well yes at 40 but no at 42. You can do it is tough but if I am in glide mode at 30 the ICE does not cut in till about 42 then ICE spins up to 925 and apparently uses .2-.3 mpg, a least according to the ScanGage.
Normally, I can't get the car to "glide" (i.e. no arrows) above 41mph. It's kind of strange, but on several occasions this winter I have gotten it to easily "glide" in the mid to upper 40mph range, but only in fairly cold weather. Have no idea why the outdoor temp should play a role, but it seems to.
Could I ask for clearer semantics, that distinguish between "glide" [a state of one's foot] and "neutral" [a state of the shifter]? Feathering to me implies that you're still in "D" and trying to reach that state where there's little or no acceleration and no regen drag, whether the MFD arrows show it or not, and I've been reading this thread so far with the assumption that that is what you're talking about as opposed to shifting to N above 41 mph. . You *can* shift to "N" above 41 regardless, but the engine will idle while you're rolling along. It's still a fairly high-mileage state of things, if I believe the instantaneous on the MFD, and it's easy if you don't want to play the delicate-right-foot game for a while. But "warp stealth" is better because it burns NO gas. That's when you're in "D" and pressing very lightly and the MFD only shows electric drive going to the wheels -- but wait, you say, that's impossible above 41 because the engine still has to turn, right? True enough, but it turns without injecting, with the valve timing backed way off for minimal pumping loss, and will nonetheless let you glide farther than just plain neutral because the electric motors are actually helping all this along a little bit. . _H*
Well, above 42 mph MG1 has to spin up the ICE to protect itself from exceeding 6500 RPM. That's according to Graham's GEN I Prius site. Here's another snippet...
Yes, but we seem to find ICE still spins at 42, even though it no longer has to until you reach over 60MPH.