Trying to get the facts before I commit to buying, looking for some feedback about current owners opinion of the acceleration when going onto interstate highways, my wife is concerned that the car may not be able to get out of it's own way since it has such a small engine.
That was my wife's biggest concern. When we test drove it she floored it to see the pickup it has, it is not a TransAm, but it does have enough get up and go to merge on the freeways. More than adequate. Make sure your wife test drives it before buying.
Trust me, this baby has pickup. Have either of you driven it? The electric motor is out of this world. Just because it's good on gas doesn't mean it can't get out of everyone else's way, or get on the freeway.
You should have ample acceleration. I've never had a problem getting up to speed as quickly as I need to. Yes, the engine is small for a car of this size. But that's part of the beauty of this hybrid system: The motor kicks in when needed for added power. With the Prius' CVT, you won't notice the slight jolt that you feel with a conventional automatic transmission downshift. Instead it's more of a continuum, though a rapid -- and smooth -- one. For those accustomed to the jolt, it might feel like an ever-so-slight hesitation. Then you look at your speedometer and see that you're suddenly up to speed (or beyond). I call it "sneaky quick."
Yeah, I would say that it accelerates "adequately". Not exactly peppy but not a dog either. The electric motor does a good job making up for the small ICE and it's definitely not so sluggish that she will be putting herself in danger getting on the highway on a daily basis.
I used to own 2003 Matrix. It was terrible on up hill on freeway. Does anyone own Matrix? How does it compare to Matrix?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rfloyd7522 @ Mar 31 2007, 04:32 PM) [snapback]415601[/snapback]</div> We just picked up our 2007 Mag Gray, pkg #3 Touring last night. The acceleration is indeed "sneaky quick" as someone else pointed out here. Here's what I noticed: Most automatic transmission equipped cars in the US market have their acclerators calibrated so that if you press the accelerator pedal say 20%, the throttle command is actually greater, say 40% of throttle. This is done to make the car "feel" quicker off the line. This is felt as a lunge upon tipping in the gas pedal. Once you get that lunge done, the rest of the throttle travel does not add a dramatic amount of acceleration unless you have a big engined car. The Prius has a very linear throttle pedal. If you tip the pedal 10%, you get 10% power. 20% for 20% and so on all the way to the floor. A lot of folks mistake this for inferior accleration. It is not. The car is not a hot rod, but it is no slug either. You just need to get used to the linear throttle response. It is a bit subtle to some folks. So far we love this car. It joins two VW Passats and a BMW 540 in our driveway (we have teenage drivers in the house, need more cars).
That's what I noticed too when I got my loaner Corolla when my Prius. From standing still, it feels the accelerator pedal is too sensitive. I end up jack rabbiting and had to remember not to press too much. It felt like the engine has so much torque and power. It was really hard to control after driving Prius for so long (more than a year). I missed the precise control of the electric motor. I also tried passing on the highway. It did not perform as good as Prius and thought what happened to all those power I felt.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rfloyd7522 @ Mar 31 2007, 04:32 PM) [snapback]415601[/snapback]</div> I believe Prius 0-60 time is about 10 seconds and a change. Roughly dynamics of a minivan. Not snappy, but not slow either. It is fairly poor uphill, but you rarely enter highway uphill anyway.
Bottom line: The Prius delivers 110 HP when you floor it. (I can watch it happen with CAN-view). It's no muscle-car, but with the HSD gas/electric combination, that 110 HP is always available, unlike regular cars that can only deliver their full power in a limited RPM range.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rfloyd7522 @ Mar 31 2007, 01:32 PM) [snapback]415601[/snapback]</div> That's where the battery and electric motor kick in. If you think about it, 1.5 litres and 4 cylinder is inadequate for a 1,300kg (~2800lbs) car. It'd probably will take 20 seconds to reach 60 from a standstill. However, factor in the battery and electric motor (with instantaneous torque) and that drops to 10.5 seconds. Don't worry about the loud engine noise when you accelerate. You're making full use of the engine (while most people don't use they don't want to "floor" it and damage anything by revving, not to mention their engine is probably just as noisy at 5,000rpm. We're all made to believe that all the engine's power is between idle and 4,000rpm b/c any higher makes it's a boy-racer engine and it's noisy and will wake up the whole neighbourhood. Anyway, the thing is, take it for a test drive, ask the salesman if you could take it on the highway and do an acceleration test up the onramp. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LandCruiser @ Mar 31 2007, 03:03 PM) [snapback]415639[/snapback]</div> No, but my friend has an 04 XR. We both made it up the local mountain each with 3 ppl on board but I had to carry 3 pairs of skis, boots and poles while he only carried one snowboard + boots.
I had a Mini Cooper S that had some get up and go and I am not disappointed with the prius and it get up and go. No its not going to haul butt, but it will get up to speed with no problem. It will out do my friends Honda civic any day of the line. I have a two lane on ramp and I find myself passing the big suv’s to get on the freeway and they are hoofing it too, infact I laugh as I pass them listening to those huge v8’s roaring as I buzz by them. Now they do pass me up on the freeway though. I am going 55- 60 and they scream past me like they are trying to make a point sometimes. I have gone out with friends and been forced to drive 60- 70 mph to keep up with them but I still get great mpg and I have never had a problem keeping up and often find myself waiting on them to get up to speed. They don’t let me lead the pack because they say I am to quick of the line at lights and there truck burn to much gas to keep up. That is my personal experience with the prius and acceleration. The power to weight ratio as far as torque is concerned is great. Remember that trucks and suvs have anywhere from 200- 300 pounds of torque and a lot of weight to haul around the prius is light and with the ice and electric motor running at the same time you get (I think and might be slightly off on this) something like 280- 300 pounds of torque; you are going to move.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LandCruiser @ Mar 31 2007, 05:03 PM) [snapback]415639[/snapback]</div> The Prius replaced our Matrix (automatic). As for acceleration I think the Matrix was probably better from a dead stop but I totally agree with what you are saying about hills. I'm not sure why but the Matrix struggled on hills with a load or with passengers. The Prius is significantly better on hills, even with weight in the car. That being said, we are buying a '98 Subaru Legacy L wagon as a second car. I test drove it a couiple days ago and I have to admit that I kind of miss the pep off the line. Having gone so long without driving a conventional car I was jackrabbit starting from every light, and kind of getting a thrill out of it.
do not know about anyone else, but here in San Diego, where highway speeds (non-rush-hour) are 65-90 mph, I'm not the one holding up merging traffic on uphill entrance ramps ... in fact, I'm the one you'll see shaking a fist and waving my hand in a "get going already" kind of way at the cars in front of me. But, you know, maybe that's just my anti-SoCal driver bias speaking ... back in Chicago, you either wait until you're the speed of traffic to merge over or you frickin floor it ... Point is, I'M not the one causing traffic problems on hills. If I want to go 75 all the way up the hill, I go 75. If I want to pass someone who's going 60, I pass 'em. If I want to merge at the speed of traffic, I'll do it. The car is capable of all of these things.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rfloyd7522 @ Mar 31 2007, 04:32 PM) [snapback]415601[/snapback]</div> You're forgetting 1 thing. The gas eng. has 76 HP, the electric motor generates 40 HP. Now, if you mash down hard to merge with traffic you'll be amazed at acceleration with both eng. & electric power pushing 110 HP. Believe me, you'll see quite a few people look at you when they catch up to you later. I've owned 6 4 cyl. cars, and this one 'aint no dog". I also a a back yard mechanic since age 12.
Well our Prius replaced a 4.8 litre petrol Nissan Patrol with 200kw. The Prius 0-100kmh is the same as the Patrol (10s) The only thing that may slow you down is the traction control system, I shat myself the first time I tried to blast into a gap from standstill in the wet! Mark
The Prius has more than sufficient acceleration in the 45-85mph range for any kind of normal driving, IMHO. Twenty five years ago, a VW Rabbit GTI with 90hp and 0-60 in the mid-10 second range was considered "sporty". A Prius is faster and more powerful (though heavier) than that. A standard Rabbit only had 75hp and was much slower. That just shows how we've gotten accustomed to cars with much more power. The very first BMW M5 barely had half the power of the current 507hp model. The current Z06 C6 Corvette has 2.5x the power of the first C4 Corvette from 1984.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Apr 3 2007, 07:01 AM) [snapback]416935[/snapback]</div> And my Diesel Rabbit had - tadaaa - 48 HP Once you got it up to speed 50 MPG on the highway was easy though.
