Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

It's just a more efficient design. Somehow, it works out to the Prime getting 133 MPGe vs the PiP "only getting 95.
Looks here for a quick look

Or here for a deep dive.

 

The eCVT is slightly different between Prius and Prime. Not sure about the engine. In the Prime, there's a one-way clutch that lets MG1 help power the car in concert with MG2 when in EV. It adds 30 HP to EV mode. I can really feel it compared to the PiP. I didn't try driving in EV when I test drove the 2016 Prius. Anyway, I find that the engine likes to shut off a lot at steady speeds at least up to 60 mph and it stays off for a long time. I didn't notice that in the Prius I drove. Maybe some of you Gen 4 owners can chime in on that.

In two weeks of ownership, I've only driven about 50 miles in HV mode, so I don't have much of a feel for that yet. I need to get some longer trips in. I"ll probably end up deliberately driving in HV mode some in the next few weeks to make enough room to add more than a couple gallons when I top off the tank for our trip to AZ. I like to start trips like that with a full tank so I know what miles are commuting and what are traveling. But it's so stinkin' fun to drive in EV, much of which is free, that it's going to be like making myself swallow a live frog to put it in HV on purpose. Once I get more HV miles under my belt, I can try to describe it better. But with so little experience driving the regular Prius Gen 4, it's hard to make that comparison. I can, compare it to the PiP, though once I get more experience.

 

Pretty clever!! I didn't think of that. How is the strap holding up? I assume you're not lowering and raising the seat back every day, but I'd think there is still a possibility of some chafing going on. Interestingly, this one came with a strap just like the one in the PiP.

Apparently it's much more efficient than the PiP engine. Today, I did a dedicated HV drive back home from a meeting. I reset the trip meter when I started. This route is possibly the worst possible combination of high speed start and stop there is. This is with the A/C on Eco and driver priority set to 77F.


I finally drove enough HV miles to be able to see a little gap between the full line and the yellow bar. Trip B is the miles on this tank.

 

I tend to over-engineer. Being a self-taught welder, I prefer to err on the side of safety.

I should make one for the other side in case I need two.

 

Because I want to. And because, until I did that last HV run, it would have been under 1 gallon and would stay that way for another month or two unless I deliberately invoke the ICE.
And because I'm trying to get some commuting benchmarks for HV mode just so I know how efficient this engine is when used under my conditions.

That sure seems weird. I don't know why the MPG wouldn't be the same if the miles are the same. Mine both say 199.9 MPG because, for some reason, they put that limit on it. If it can read 199.9, why can't it read 999.9? It's not like they ran out of digits.

 

Only with an Advanced. Not available on Plus or Premium.

 

I'll try to remember to do that this weekend. Friday will be my three-week mark.