i know that the score doesn't really mean anything, but how do you earn 5 positive bars for breaking??! I can't for the life of me make improvements! I score well in acceleration and coasting but fail miserably at the breaks. I generally let off the gas well ahead of a stop and gradually push down to a slow stop. Is this wrong? Any tips from the seasoned pros?
I'd pay more attention to MPG than the score. I got 85.7 driving to work the other day, yet it only gave me 76 points. I don't even look at it any more.
I had the same issue (and I drive a Prius since 2009....); another user gave a tip and I experimented and it works: you need to really brake slowly and long. Essentially you push the brake pedal a bit more than regen will already do when releasing the gas pedal, and come to a stop. This is often not possible for a few reasons: - sudden braking necessary - not enough distance to come to a stop with so little braking - you simply forget to do it and break as usual Essentially the best braking is very slow, generating low constant currents. Braking with a full CHG area would lead to believe that is something the HSD likes, but clearly from the score one gets when doing that, not really....
If you go to the topic in this forum "Dashboard setup for economical driving" (sorry, can't post a link for some reason) if you setup your car to use the gauge on the right you can monitor regenerative braking. If it goes below the dotted line you are on friction brakes. It's a fantastic training tool.
5 months of driving, and only one time did I get the best braking "score." Like others have said, I don't think it's that important. I get more enjoyment by just driving my Prius like a regular car.
Generally, the longer you coast before applying gentle brakes, the better the odds of getting a 5 star score. Conversely, I live on a hill and never even touch the "go" pedal to get up to speed when leaving the house. Yet, it will never award me with more than a 4 star acceleration score in this circumstance. Go figure.
Thanks for the responses. I'll just keep playing with it. I know it totally doesn't matter, but I'm a little competitive and maybe OCD and like to get it "right", darnit!! BTW, I also get annoyed when it reprimands me to "maintain speed for better score" - yes, I would love to maintain speed, but when you are driving to work and there are stop lights on your drive, that's not really an option, but thanks for the tip, Prius! lol
Exactly. I think that "score" thing is somewhat of a gimmick. I think Toyota could have left that out.
Thanks! I was wondering what the dotted line meant..! I haven't read up on it yet, but the blue bar also confuses me..I assume it is some acceleration rating. I suppose I should read more about these things.
If you are increasing speed while off the accelerator I believe the car considers this coasting. So you score good/bad is when you are directing acceleration via the pedal... and I think that most of that score is the initial acceleration since the last stop.
Amen - I see no utiliy in the score. My mileage does not correlate at all with score. I bought the car for mileage, not as a gaming system. Now - if the score was sophisticated enough to pick out where you could improve mileage, consistently, and overall for your trip, then it could be a useful tool. But as it stands, it appears to be only a gimmick.
Had a chance to play more this weekend...and happy to report I finally got 5/5 but not consistently (yet!). The key seemed to be keeping the break measure above that dotted line, gently breaking and then a hard stop at the last second. ?? Seemed to work a few times, anyway. However, I did manage this insane trip to the store (lots of red lights!)...and I used up all the battery so the trip home was more average.
About the dotted line, I didn't know that and it is not mentioned in the user's manual. In Gen3 if you were braking more after filling the CHG area, that would mean "friction" braking. I have been driving the car now for 6000km // 3700mi and for braking I still don't get it what it wants us to do to give us a 5. Honestly I am not watching it much anymore I am more concerned about overall consumption which is easily around 58MPG, if not more, and on the highways at EU speeds, including traffic jams, and going faster when possible (around 150km/h // 90mph), I get easily 45-48mpg.
