Aggressive driver buys a Prius

I just joined the Prius family with a 2019 Prius LE. I'd been curious about them for years but it wasn't until I started getting serious about a car that would hold up better for my 40+ mile each way commute through Houston traffic that I gave Prius a fair look. Most of the time on the road I noticed the Prius drivers tended to stay off to the right lanes and only rarely took to the left lane and exceeded speed limits. I often wondered if it was just the Prius had no ability to hang with fast traffic. I talked to a couple of owners and they were just basic drivers so they couldn't really comment but I finally met a younger guy that had one and he told me the acceleration and the top speeds were just fine and even impressive from a commuting standpoint in most circumstances.

I test drove the 2019 LE today and before I even got out of the dealership parking lot during the test drive I knew I was taking it home with me. I got the sales un-pleasantries out of the way and listened to a customer service rep mumble her way through helping me get to know the car - she managed to accidentally describe more features that aren't available on the LE than getting me the meat and potatoes of what I bought. She didn't seem to have any knowledge of the car at all honestly. It's all good and I joked around with the staff to speed things along.

Once off the lot I took off on a 70 mile road trip to test it out. I was easily breaking away from traffic, passing, and noticing it's easy to draw attention to yourself if you have a heavy foot. Power Mode enhanced that by a bit. Eco Mode was more in line with how I envisioned a Prius to handle. I took some time to get acquainted with that and enjoyed the Zen like feel of the car. It goes to show, horsepower really isn't an indicator of true daily driving performance and efficient use of the horsepower on board is more important to driver satisfaction. On the other side of the spectrum - the brakes on this thing are really nice.

The stock stereo is pretty good for what I listen to. The sound stage has nice separation and a good amount of thump. I was hearing details in some songs that I didn't notice previously even through headphones. It looks like the LE doesn't really connect to the Toyota App but that wasn't a feature I even knew about so whatever.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming workweek and the daily commutes. The drive modes offer a lot of interesting piloting options and the brake assist and dynamic cruise control are hilariously terrifying so far. I'm going to try the parking assist today. Wish me luck! You guys have a great forum full of a lot of knowledge about hybrids so I'm glad to find this place.

 

That's exactly what I'm seeing now. Driving like I normally do, I am getting around 39mpg during this first 100 miles on the car. I know someone had asked what I was coming up from and it's a Toyota Tacoma. So obviously, anything over 20mpg feels like a win for me right now. LOL - that said, as I am getting the feel for this Prius, it's clear I will take more interest in the actual piloting of the car as the engineers intended. I'm still a proudly fast driver but watching the miles per gallon climb and the gas gauge staying nearly full brings a real peace of mind that I didn't know how much I was looking for

 

Yeah, with the commute I'm on, there are times when I just have to sit and wait and there are times when I have the chance to break away and get past some traffic so it's going to be lot of learn as I go. I stayed in Eco mode all day today because no one was out in the Texas heat and I wasn't in anyone's way. I've been doing the EV mode creep through the neighborhood when I pull into the subdivision and just exploring the car.

Yeah, but habitually I'm never pushing the pedal past a certain point of resistance so that eco mode really slows me down. It's a mental trick I play on myself that'll probably disappear as I get less fascinated with modes and just leave it in Normal and get used to pushing harder when I need to. I really like the modes though. I'm a gadget nerd

 

I had a really good time on the commute to and from work today. According to the individual trip diary my miles per gallon on the commute are above average but my overall is still around 46. That said, the responsiveness of the car is an absolute joy. The sensors all work like they should and I can feel the engine braking if I start closing in on someone. The side sensors tend to steer the car away from the hundreds of concrete dividers that line our always under construction roads. I really only had one incident where someone tried to close a gap just to keep me from coming over but I don't think that was anything to do with it being a prius or not, some people just do that. I'm curious if my average miles per gallon by the next fuel up are going to be closer to 50. Cool car

 

And after today's commute I'm at average 51.2 MPG. The individual trip logs seem to suggest a lot higher but they're so far above the sticker averages I don't know if they're accurate. I'm very used to the handling now and I seem to glide through traffic easier than I had ever anticipated. The Sensors all around the car are incredibly useful and I find myself dialing them in. The brake assist is really great and I find I can spend more time texting and not worry about the cars in front of me(kidding!)

 

The brakes are pretty tight but I just attribute this to being a new car. I've started using the (B) gear to slow down in traffic and save on brakes. I'm at 56.X miles per gallon 7 days in. I really enjoyed talking to my friend who has a 2013 and he's actually hitting 60MPG sometimes which gives me hope for the future of the car. I spent the entire week in ECO mode and was pretty happy but Friday traffic was horrendous and I just wanted to move so I put it in Power Mode and kept gaps closed. It's an amazing change in control sensitivity and I'm glad the option exists.