How do I properly drive this thing?

I leave mine in the middle mode - not Econ, and not Sport. And then I go with the flow of traffic, everywhere, no matter the speed. Everyone commuting at 85 MPH today? That's fine - the car is aerodynamic enough to do that without worrying about the cost in gasoline.

I'm averaging ~41 MPG, which is about 18 MPG better than if I tried that with just about any gasoline-engine car. It's still saving me money without having to be a traffic hazard, and without having to act like I have an egg between my foot and the pedal. I bought the Prius to avoid that BS.

 

Can you post something more relevant to the 21st century rather than Ancient propogander

 

He does plenty of that.

But some occasional history about how we arrived at this 21st century stuff is still interesting.

 

Not relevant here

 

Nope, sorry. Internet filter here. If I try to post anything other than Ancient propogander it doesn't go through.

For others keeping relevance scores at home, when do I use B (post #1) ➡ in winter, driving in snow (post #33) ➡ is that a good idea? (#34, #35, #36, #37, #38) ➡ number of wheels with traction (#38, #39) ➡ one-wheel braking (#39) ➡ one-wheel drive (video clip at 2:46).

But PaulDM does seem kind of a latecomer to the thread.

 

The problem is that I can't find a way to go from B to D while rolling along at 45mph and going to N and then D (while rolling along at 45mph) seems all wrong. I think the problem is that my mind thinks the selector is somehow connected to the drive chain, when in fact it's just a 'request'. In my previous plug-in, a CMax, the change for downhill breaking was a button that you could only push when in D.

 

Don’t bother with N. Straight from B to D

 

Paul's right, but I think I see your confusion. As you said, there's no mechanical connection between the shifter and the transaxle. In fact, there is no change to any gears. You're simply telling the transistors that control the electric motors to change their power levels so the electric motors change speed. Passing the knob through neutral doesn't put it in neutral. You have to hold it there for a second or so and then it goes to neutral. But even if you did that, it wouldn't matter to the car. If you're in B and want to go to D, just do it like the manual says. It doesn't matter how fast you're going, no gears or clutches will ever disengage or reengage. (The only exception is Park, which engages a pawl to keep the axles from turning if the car is stopped or nearly stopped.)