Hello to everyone

Welcome, Yuri. Much of what works driving a Prius will also work in a standard car, though in a Prius you can do a faster delta acceleration without the milage hit. Look in the Knowledge Base for driving tips.

The Prius gets its efficiency from a relatively small gasoline engine and the electric system working synergistically. The electric motor provides instant torque for acceleration from stop, spins up the engine (referred to here frequently as ICE [Internal {Infernal} Combustion Engine]) before providing fuel, and recaptures kinetic energy (regenerative braking - acting as a generator rather than motor) that you turn into heat and brake-shoe replacement. The High Voltage Battery serves as the source and reservoir.

The Prius is mostly a low-emissions vehicle. The best way to have low emissions is to burn little fuel and do it efficiently. Enjoy your stay!

 

welcome to PC. I've had my prius less than a month, but still learning a lot. I thought just buying a prius would take care of everything, but there 're more ways to fully take advantage of hybrid car. I driving habit changed in a good way as well. I used to be a go go go driver, but now I'm more relaxed and don't care if someone passes me or not. I just really enjoy this quite and gas-efficient car.

 

Welcome aboard.

You're goinf down a slipperty slope. I would warn you to stay away ;-)
Next thing you know you will test drive a prius after which all other cars will feel old (I know it happened to me and I used to consider myself a car nut, now I feel bad driving anything else but the Prius (ok the Insight is nowadays cool in my book)).

Most driving techniques for Fuel Efficiency (FE) works on normal cars as well. The most important part being maintain momentum. Once you are up to speed try to keep it. Braking is the true wasteful exercise as it takes away all that energy (i.e gas) you spent getting the car up to speed. When you need to loose speed coasting is the answer. This let you use as much of the energy you put into the car as possible (while your gas engine is idling).

It's interesting that driving for FE is about as involving, frustrating and fun as "spirited" driving. I used to love cornering hard and accelrating out of corners. Now I love being able to coast to a red light just to have it turn green just as I get there ("look! no brakes!") and worrying about where I can find a good pulse and glide stretch.

It's both "a game" and it's both fun. Now that I'm more concerbed about the environment I can't enjoy the "spirited" driving as much (and the prius, while not bad, isn't a great car for "spirited" driving).

I hope you stick around!


For the prius this can be developed further into what we like to call the pulse and glide. I think oulse and glide works on normal cars as well but the Prius shines at it.

 

Welcome to the board. There are some pretty smart people here. I too am interesting in improving fuel economy in all vehicle types.

 

Why would anybody not drive a hybrid? All the mileage tricks in the world can't get the same mpg as a Prius. Just do it. You won't hate yourself in the morning. I'm not totally mpg crazy. I still have my trusty Impreza when I want to act fuelish. You don't have to go totally "cold turkey", but I find I'm driving the Impreza less and less.....

 

Welcome to PC, Yuri.

Warning: the Prius reaches out and GRABS you by the throat. Also, PriusChat is a genuine cult. Unfortunately, we're not yet recognized by IRS as a tax-exempt religion. :lol:

 

There are some great explanations you can find here on the Prius' internal workings. Lot's of depth of information on this site.<div class=\'quotetop\'>QUOTE</div><div class=\'quotemain\'>subarutoo: The other car that has caught my eye is the TDi Jetta or Golf. If the price of the Prius was somewhat lower, I would be very seriously thinking about making the switch from the Volvo.[/b][/quote]Please consider the total cost of ownership. The Prius may be higher in initial outlay, but if you compare the car's equipment (airbags, SKS, etc.) and fuel savings, plus any tax incentives for driving a clean car, the cost is not high. Maintenance consists of oil and filter changes; almost no brake wear, no frequent fluid replacements.

And some facets are intangible. The fact that you never feel a shift jolt is amazing, and calming, and relaxing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Jul 28 2006, 11:41 PM) [snapback]294210[/snapback]</div>

Welcome, Yuri, to the Prius Zen Centre!

OMMMMMMMMMMMMMM......

 

"subarutoo: The other car that has caught my eye is the TDi Jetta or Golf. If the price of the Prius was somewhat lower, I would be very seriously thinking about making the switch from the Volvo."

Actually I rented a Golf TDI in Europe for two weeks, and really enjoyed driving it. I didn't have the Prius then to compare it to. The Golf was fun to drive. Seat of the pants, I didn't know which car was faster. The Golf had a 6 or 7 speed shift-a-matic which was cool, and cornered a lot better than the Prius. MPG was about 48 for the Euro version TDI, not sure what US models get. I found out that that exact model wasn't available in California, and the Prius was. Car for car, I think they're pretty close, but after loving the Prius, I don't miss the VW. Past experiences with VW vs. Toyota, the Toyota wins on lack of problems.