First time driving a hybrid

Eco mode puts less power to AC/Heater so yes, you save a little gas when you leave it in that mode.

Mine is always in Eco mode unless I hit the button to turn it off by accident.

 

I leave mine in normal mode because I don't like the delay "ECO" mode has. Still gets awesome MPG. Just drive it normally until you can study the manual or ask questions here at PC.

 

If "ECO" is giving you better MPG, then stay in that mode if you need to. In my Prius II liftback, "ECO" only saves me gas in the summer by shortening the A/C compressor cycle, like DoPey5007 mentioned. I also drive the freeway about 90% of the time and "ECO" mode just dosen't make a difference.

 

Firstly, forget about EV Mode. The button for that only has a limited role - never in normal driving - any many people will happily never use it at all. Most of all, using the EV mode button is not about getting better fuel economy (its impact is actually the opposite overall). This also shouldn't be confused with the times when an icon comes on the display which says "EV" in a little green car symbol.

The main question is therefore Eco Mode vs Normal. Eco Mode does exactly two things.

• It makes the air con logic slightly less aggressive and more adaptive to what the car is doing, which reduces how much energy it uses up.
• It changes how the main computer interprets your input from the accelerator pedal, although note that the range does not change - it still goes from 0% to 100% in both Eco Mode and Normal.

The latter becomes mostly psychological. It basically means the initial part of pedal travel becomes less sensitive and you will have to push the pedal further to get the same response from the car. However what also happens is that the further part of the pedal travel becomes more sensitive and small changes to pedal input in that part of travel will have a much larger impact on the car's response. Pushing the pedal all the way down will have the same impact in both Eco Mode and Normal.

Have a look at this post for diagrams and further explanation of this (look at both the post and the one two posts below it):

Driving in the ECO Mode? | Page 2 | PriusChat

Note the above link is for the liftback, so a "PWR" or "Power" mode is also shown, but this function is not present on the Prius c.

 

If you're getting 40 mpg, you're probably doing 75, 80 mph on the freeway (or more). Try slowing down to, at most, the speed limit, and you'll likely get 50+ mpg. Slow down further, and you'll start getting into the 60's.

 

Fuel economy complaints/queries? Please copy, paste & answer these questions, esp. if you're new

 

eco mode makes the gas less responsive.
turn off eco annd you accelerate faster.
Just stay out of the PWR zone and you'll get great mpg's.

I was doing 90 in a 70 dropping down to 85 to pass and my mpg was stuck at 24.7 mpg.

also, don't drive this car at 90 mph unless you want to die.

 

I use EEV mode AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I leave ECO mode off. Now that it's getting warmer the car should be going into EV mode more often.