I picked up the new Prius today at about 5:00. All I can say is WOW. Drove it home, pumped the tires and went for a shourt spin and to get some carry out dinner. Drove about 20 miles. and attached are the results both 1 min and 5 min segment screens. 20.3 miles 90.3 MPG This includes one stop to go in and get the food. All I did was just apply some basic P&G techniques and am getting started figuring out all the new gizmos. My first impression is that it is just as good as the GEN II fuel economy wise.
Some other thoughts. They bar type display (I don't know what it is called) is a great gauge for determining your glide. Also, the car seems to get into a glide very easily and the ICE shuts off quick. I am not sure if I like the 1 minute bars or the old 5 minute bars yet. It seems that the 1 minute bars are just too small of a time differential. For instance if you are doing a long pulse, then that 1 min segment will show a real low MPG and then several pegged MPG segments for the glide.
Nice going Jud. Love to hear more on how to use the new displays for P&G. Have you taken it on the MPG course in Fort Thomas yet? Wayne
I am going to look more at the display tonight. The first and last part of this trip was on the course, but most was on HWY 27 with stop lights and 35-40 MPH. It was just a first look, but initially it looks the Gen III is about the same as the Gen II. I was initially concerned that the larger ICE would make the pulses a much lower MPG and thus lower the overall, but it does not seem to be the case.
That would be the Hybrid System Indicator (HSI). I found it interesting that you sad it's easy to get it to glide. I had trouble in LA trying to do so.
lol.. ain't the EV button great? yeah so... just what we normally do in the Gen 2 with regards to gliding? Wayne noticed that if there was a slight sliver in the HSI, the engine was still on or you're in EV Mode (when we switched back to the Energy Monitor).
Hi Best, That P+G issue was one I was wondering about on the 2010. Some early reports indicated it was different. And the bigger engine changes things too. Looks like the transmission efficiency improvement, and exhaust heat recovery make up for the extra weight. Does it have the Instaneous Bar Graph still ? That is very handy for non-instrumented SHM driving.
Yes. You can see it in his pictures to the very left where there's a gauge that runs from 0 to 100 mpg.
It feels very much like the Gen II. The larger engine isn't much different. A major difference is glide is available up to 45 MPH instead of 41 MPH. The instantaneous MPG bar graph is on the right of the speed. It also appears to glide better with less drag. It may be just my imagination, but the glides seem longer.
Excuse the possible dumb question, but how do you know when the ICE has cut out. I guess the instantaneous MPG readout will be blank, but are there any other clues? I am itching to have a drive. Thanks
If you're still moving and the engine cuts out your instantaneous MPG readout will actually say 99.9mpg ... it's really infinity since you are moving w/o buring gasoline. There are readouts in the dash which will tell you when the engine is on and how power is being transferred at any given time. Most of the time they're accurate ... every once in a while in a slow driving situation it will say my engine's not on when it actually is, but this isn't very often at all.
You can't know for sure unless you have something like a scanguage that shows RPM. I run a scanguage and that is one of the displays I monitor.
