My lunch date with Blind Guy and the Blond

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by efusco, Sep 2, 2009.

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  1. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Many of you are aware of David (aka Blind guy) who's been an active participant here at PriusChat for the past several months. They live just a few minutes away from me up in Springfield, MO. But b/c of my general lassitude and various conflicts we hadn't been able to get together for me to take advantage of his invitation to drive his 2010.

    First of all, David and LaDonna were prompt for our date time at the chosen meeting place and their car was just beautiful. A Prius V with AT I believe and I would have liked to jump right in. But I had a plan and chose to stick to it.

    I had LaDonna take the front passenger seat in my car and we ditched David to the back seat...I need to do some flirting!:p:p Actually, I wanted LaDonna to have a good look at the MFD with CAN-View running so she could get a better idea of what's actually going on 'behind the scenes' while I hypermile. I gave a quick explaination of the hybrid stages and what's necessary to get into S4 nirvana. I demonstrated my usual acceleration, pulse/glide and anticipatory driving while pointing out RPM and fuel flow.

    After than we jumped in D&D's car and gave that a spin around the same route I'd taken my car...which was far too short. I fooled them into letting me drive more by pretending I didn't know how LKA and Radar CC work (ok, I really didn't know)...so we hit the highway and I played with those a bit too.

    After that they were more than kind enough to buy me lunch at my favorite local Vietnamese restaurant.

    Impressions:
    1)In 'normal' mode I found the accelerator response to be very similar to the 2G. When using my "normal" amount of acceleration I stayed within the 'eco' range on the display...but right at the end of it.
    2)Handling felt tighter. David speculated it might be b/c the car is newer, but I got the sense that it truely is a more precise set up. I didn't do any 'real' driving to test it out (the roads were wet and it was cool out anyway) though.
    3)It sure is cozy and comfortable to drive. I think it was a bit quieter as regards road noise.
    4)For my quick spin including some 55+highway drive segments and a quick use of the "Power mode" I got 52+ MPG. I'd love to have a couple weeks and a full tank of gas on my usual commute to see what I could do.

    Thanks again David and LaDonna...had a great time.
     
    #1 efusco, Sep 2, 2009
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  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    I picked up a nail this summer in my ZVW30 and since I was at Firestone, I bought the life-time alignment. Their test showed the steering has more caster (in fact it was "in the red".) Caster impacts steering stability, which means it tracks better than our NHW11 which is all but neutral. We really like the improvement.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #2 bwilson4web, Sep 2, 2009
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  3. octavia

    octavia Active Member

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    they took you out to lunch AND they let you drive the car.
    Why can't I get dates like that?
    ;)

     
    #3 octavia, Sep 2, 2009
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  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I'm pretty sure it was my legs that put me over the top!:D
     
    #4 efusco, Sep 2, 2009
  5. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    Sweet!
    I'm still waiting for DaveinOly to offer to let me drive his Pri III - after all, we're practically neighbors...
     
    #5 Rae Vynn, Sep 2, 2009
  6. cpatch

    cpatch New Member

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    Come down to San Diego!
     
    #6 cpatch, Sep 3, 2009
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Why don't you join us for our meet on the 27th Sept?
     
    #7 Tideland Prius, Sep 3, 2009
  8. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    Evan, i agree the handling is tighter but the greater turning radius is also noticeable causing a "plus/minus" rating.

    we did the "road handling acid test" on the 2010 when we got it a drove the entire hwy 101 loop around the Olympic Peninsula. it has several narrow winding passages which the 2010 did an excellent job of navigating, the most noticeable being the way the body felt going around curves. much less sway, etc. felt very solid and confident on even sharp curves.

    and Rae, have patience dear. we will be around your neighborhood again someday.
     
    #8 DaveinOlyWA, Sep 3, 2009
  9. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    In Vancouver, BC? I think we might be able to do that! :)
    I'll ask DH if he's up to the trip...
     
    #9 Rae Vynn, Sep 3, 2009
  10. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    yup. The thread is in the Local Clubs, Meets, Events subforum.
     
    #10 Tideland Prius, Sep 4, 2009
  11. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Oh, man... I *wanted* to do the Olympic peninsula loop last year
    but had to head south and east all too soon. Still got a good
    long coast run out of it, though...
    .
    _H*
     
    #11 hobbit, Sep 4, 2009
  12. octavia

    octavia Active Member

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    Now I'm going to have to look into that... Sept. 27 is my birthday! :)

    :) If I said... after driving all that way, I don't want to drive anymore would that make me fickle?
     
    #12 octavia, Sep 4, 2009
  13. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    Evan - did you spend any time in Eco?
     
    #13 HTMLSpinnr, Sep 4, 2009
  14. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Yea, a bit. I think it is nice for someone who isn't already trained as a hypermiler, but I felt more comfortable with the sounds and feel of the car in "Normal". Why do you ask.
     
    #14 efusco, Sep 4, 2009
  15. a priori

    a priori Canonus Curiosus

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    I started with the same feeling (or opinion) as Evan. I thought I'd never use (or "need") the Eco setting, because I had a couple of years' experience in my GenII.

    I started to experiment, and found that when I would push the Eco button while driving (steady speed, flat land), the instantaneous MPGs would increase. The MPGs would decrease when I turned off the Eco button. I couldn't really explain it, other than to suggest the RPMs decreased, perhaps, with (possibly) more reliance on the battery for temporary power. All-in-all, I've found that long stretches in Normal vs. long stretches in Eco showed differences in MPGs. Perhaps this is because I'm not really a hypermiler. Perhaps it is just the short commute.

    I don't know how to explain it, but the Eco button seems to provide better FE for me, so I leave it on most of the time.
     
    #15 a priori, Sep 4, 2009
  16. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    ECO mode does tone down the AC. is there anything else affected besides pedal response?
     
    #16 DaveinOlyWA, Sep 4, 2009
  17. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    It puts the climate control in RECIRC mode and never switches to FRESH AIR. However, if the A/C is off (still in AUTO and ECO mode), it'll switch to FRESH AIR.
     
    #17 Tideland Prius, Sep 5, 2009
  18. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    In my car, it does always flip to recirculate if you poke the ECO button. However, it will let you take it out of recirculate manually. At least once when I was paying attention to this, I saw it flip out of recirculate on its own, while still in ECO mode. Can anyone else confirm I didn't imagine this?
     
    #18 ggood, Sep 5, 2009
  19. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    LOL... in town there is NO FRESH AIR!!... cant believe how noticeable exhaust is when i am driving the Zenn... no A/C so windows open all the time
     
    #19 DaveinOlyWA, Sep 5, 2009
  20. MataOrtiz

    MataOrtiz Junior Member

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    Please excuse my lack of knowledge. Whats a Zenn? Is it exclusive to the west coast?

    P.S. There's a lot of water between Olympia & Grey's Harbor (primarily falling from the sky).
     
    #20 MataOrtiz, Sep 6, 2009
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