Ironic that someone else posted how wonderful the Prius heat is. I would think that the climate where they live is similar(Minnesota). One thing I really love about my Prius | PriusChat
and of course it's "the one thing" they "LOVE"! I can almost care less here in Nor Cal! lol.. freezing here is like high 30's!
Hey! I've just checked the climate in Minnesota - it's much colder there than in Poland. And I'm already frustrated with the outside temperatures (today's around 0°C = 32°F), fiddling with windshield defogger and cabin heating to get rid of the steamy windows
The engine runs to maintain a minimum coolant temperature, not to heat the interior. Heating uses some of the energy in the warm coolant, and it is possible that the engine would be forced to run to heat the cabin. However, considering that the engine is turning 70%-75% of the gasoline energy into waste heat, it is unlikely that a few thousand btu's used for heating would have much of an effect overall.
these are good for short trips, but after awhile, you're back where you started with the ice cycling. i'm sure someone will invent something eventually, but it's not an easy task. you can't create energy.
The predecessor of the Webasto thing has been installed years ago in mass production Soviet small and ugly Zaporozhets cars for the real hard winter conditions in Russia. AFAIK it was powered by gasoline.
American cars of the 40's and air cooled Volkswagen / Chevy Corvair Had a gas heater option. The thing burned gasoline and the late ones used by VW and Corvair were shaped like a miniture shop torpedo heater. These gasoline heaters produced instant heat and worked without the car engine running.
Question for all of you saying to recirculate the air... Why isn't this chosen automatically like it would be during the summer? Seems like there is a reason Toyota doesn't think that is the best option.
Good question. When I change to Recir, I noticed (appears to be) the fan blows twice as fast. So, it takes more energy to recirculate than drawing air from outside since the car is moving forward?
I don't think that warming up the cabin is the big problem here,it's more the windshield that takes far too long to get cleared . But maybe the gen. 4 offers a solution to the problem ! We all know what Auto and Eco means,but what about Fast ?
FAST means don't eat for a while, resulting in a slimmer you, which results with a decrease in overall surface area to keep warm or cool.
Sorry, I can't concentrate: fixated on all the dust that semi-gloss black surface attracts, and the god-awful wihite zone below.
Fast is likely the opposite of Eco in this case. I drove a 2015 Malibu as a rental recently (the one with the auto-stop system which shuts off the engine at stop lights). It also had an Eco/Fast system (they called it Eco/Comfort). I would assume that the Fast setting cools/heats more rapidly to get to cabin temperature at the expense of running the engine more (winter) or running the AC at higher power (summer).
Maybe the "Fast" setting closes the grill. We'll just have to wait and see,but I really hope Toyota has found a way to defog the windshield faster than in gen.3 . Even after driving ten minutes and defrost fan at full blast, the upper part of the window is still not fully cleared . Neither are the side windows . When iced and cleared up from the outside it fogs up from the inside within seconds once I enter the car to drive off . It's a saftey issue Toyota should take care of ! I
I just let mine run in the driveway for 5 to 10 minutes. Makes scrapping easier to. I don't care what this does to the world.
