Performance differences between Prius's in different Country

I would bet that the final drive gear ratio on Prius cars sold in Japan is taller. The gas mileage inputs from Japan, as posted on this forum, are virtually always higher than gas mileages posted here by the rest of us.

The taller final drive gear ratio would explain both your points as well as the overall gain in gas mileage.

 

Do they have the same wheel diameter? That would be the same as changing the drive ratio.

 

Evan, I think there are gears that connect the planetary shaft to the drive shaft, but they are fixed ratio. 4.3? Not sure.

So, as people always say, the prius is always in the same gear

That's the one he's talking about changing.

 

Off the PSD there is a chain driving an intermediate gear that drives the differential carrier gear and these could be easily altered to change the final ratio.

 

Is their engine size even the same?

Anyways I get much better gas mileage on the highway than in the city. Traffic here in Toronto is stop-and-go, and I suspect the same in most Japanese cities.

 

Hi Danny,

Having driven the roads in Japan, I would not come to believe that the types of roads represents the difference in gas mileage.

Tell you what, let's put this in the form of a bet. If it turns out that there is absolutely no difference between the final drive of the U.S. market Prius and that of the Japanese market Prius I'll stop bugging you to allow my little 100 x 53 20.8 KB picture to show up in my posts. On the other hand, if there is any difference at all between, say, the ratio of ring gear RPM to wheel RPM between the two markets, you allow those very slightly more dense 20.8 KB pictures. Okay?

On the serious side, reducing my uncomplicated picture to 100 x 53 using standard settings on Adobe Photoshop results in that 20.8 KB pixel density. Now I suppose there are advanced techniques for maintaining diminsions while reducing density, but your forum for the common man shouldn't, IMHO, require those kinds of special efforts.

Regards,
Ken

 

In the Classic the final drive ratio is 3.905 to 1 from the PSD to the wheels. Just found it in the 2K4 it's 4.113 to 1

 

I think if you did that in the US you'd be likely to get a ticket.

 

Of course there is an energy savings--It takes power to run the lighting system on the car. However, the HID headlamps do not like to be turned on and off (that's part of the reason the high beams are just the low beams with a shroud removed). Somewhere (possibly on this fourm) I read a report about how many millions of gallons of fuel would be wasted each year in this country if all vehicles had DRL's (daytime running lights) v.s. no vehicles with DRL's. The number was amazing! Personally, I dislike DRL's.

 

The problem here is you are using the same signal for opposite meanings.

1st Flash to say "Please merge in front of me"
2nd Flash to say "Warning - dont merge in front of me"

So Flashing is not a good idea. Look at it another way. You flash to say "Im coming through" but the other guy thinks you mean "go ahead". Result Crash.

:?

 

Flash code:

1 Flash .. Oncoming car's bright lights are on.

1 Flash .. A truck is passing you, he needs to know when it's safe to pull in front of you. You tell him with a single flash after he's passed by a distance that's safe for pulling in. He'll typically thank you by flashing his rear lights.

2 Flashes .. You're warning oncoming traffic that there's a cop laying in wait.

3 Flashes .. You're telling oncoming traffic to slow immediately .. they're approaching an accident.

 

Interesting. We dont have that in Europe, and the English Highway code specifically recommends against flashing.

 

I think these are open road practices. City dwellers may completely misinterpret them. NY drivers use their horns instead of their lights to communicate.