2013 Fuel Buttons

Normal driving use ECON. If you are going up a steep hill and need more power then use POWER mode. POWER mode is also useful in passing if you need more power. I never use the EVO mode. To me it has no real purpose. In your Owners Manual there should also be an explanation for usage of these driving modes. It is not a stupid question.

 

EV has very limited use:
If you are asked to move your car out of handicapped parking to some other parking space in the lot, there is no point to warming up the engine, EV works fine. If you need to sneak in late at night without waking the wife, EV works fine. That is about it.

Normal driving makes the gas pedal fairly linear, the more you push on it the more acceleration you get, If you need finer control just off idle, ECO will bias the pedal, you have a lot of movement near idle and less near full throttle. PWR does the opposite, the pedal adds a lot of gas near idle and you have the most movement near full throttle. (In every mode but EV, idle is the same and full throttle is the same, it just biases them in between)

In addition, ECO modifies how the A/C works, making it less aggressive and more economical. In Mississippi, I can use ECO about 8 months of the year, in Summer, in the afternoons I use Normal. (no buttons)

 

If you use the EVO button your car will operate in electric only and the car will only go about 1 mile and the batteries will run down. I never use that mode. To me I can see no purpose in using it.

Beware if you use the EVO button. Your car will run in electric mode only. It will only travel about 1 mile and it will run your batteries down. I never use that mode.

 

I don't really understand the "beware", because it is not that the Prius will die after that mile. It will just switch off EV mode and continue using the ICE.

 

Perhaps I need to read the manual again. I thought the batteries would run down after 1 mile. I humbly apologize for my ignorance.

 

RTFM! - Read the Farking Manual, its all in there.

I must be the only person that read the manual before buying the car.

 

RTFM! - Read the Farking Manual, its all in there.
I must be the only person that read the manual before buying the car.

dito

 

I would try EV, if for example I want to get the car into the driveway, or back into the garage, without firing up the engine. It may work, or it may tell you it won't right now, but it's worth a try. If it craps out, you have roughly 20 seconds of EV anyway, so if you hustle you can avoid a start up. I wish it would give you 60 seconds.

The rest, namely ECO and PWR? I never bother with them. Both simply remap gas pedal response. The result is a feeling of more sluggish or more responsive, but it does not decrease or increase power, in any way.

ECO also purportedly changes ventilation performance and (maybe) cruise control response. But I can't abide the sluggish gas pedal response. I tried it for the first few months we had the car, then shut it off, with no apparent mpg change, and a more normal throttle response.

PWR? I'm fine with normal response, so never bother with it. It's delusional to think you're actually getting more power with this. Again, it's just remapping pedal response.

 

EV mode is not ECO mode. Two separate subjects.

 

With 2014 there are four modes: EV, ECO, PWR, plus "modeless" where nothing is selected. EV is limited, and will often switch off if you accelerate too hard or go too fast.

You can have ECO on, then also switch on EV. It will run in EV+ECO mode until conditions cause EV mode to cancel. Then it's back in just ECO mode.

Obviously there is no ECO+PWR mode. Never tried EV when in PWR mode, should work..?


I've been using ECO and now up to about 1800 miles on the odometer.

I think with my next fill up, I'll experiment with ECO off to see if my mileage is affected. I typically use EV mode in my parking garage, or driving in parking lots.

The real test is... results. Try your next tank in a different mode and see if your mpg changes. Also see how you feel when driving in each mode.

Keep in mind, 'winter gasoline' is coming sometime. that will affect your tests (winter gas = worse mpg)

 

Also known as 'Normal' mode, at least on the 2010-2013 models. This is also the mode used for all EPA/CAFE MPG testing.

Perhaps he confused this with the cases of battery failure in prior generations that were run to battery exhaustion after suffering fuel exhaustion.

 

Not true. It will kick you out of ev, start the ice and charge the pack back up to 3-4 bars.

 

My error. I found that out. I never use EV.

 

I'd wager they could do the mpg testing in either normal, ECO or PWR and see only very small differences. Likely less than if they tested with the optional 215/45R17.

 

My friend in Prius, are you unhappy with '55-65 mpg' ?

If you want more distracting stuff to deal with in your driving, those buttons are a nit. What ever works today try each for a week and have a happy.

Now if you want to go for a bowling trophy mileage tank, that is something different. The rules are different BUT mastered if interested. You will need instrumentation like a Scanguage II, patience, and practise.

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, it would be small difference. But when the 2010 was released, its margin for getting a US EPA label of '50' instead of '49' was miniscule, so the mode did matter. The car must be tested in its default mode, so PWR could not be a default.

 

most definitely. you've missed 24 days and 16 posts since you began the thread.

 

The engine's doing nothing different, in all 3 modes. The main difference is gas pedal travel, and the car does not change that "automatically".

That said, I'm just fine with normal, find ECO and PWR pointless. ECO apparently makes some changes to vent system, and possibly cruise control as well, but I can't abide it's gas pedal (excessive) travel, give it a pass.