Which Driving Mode Do you use?

Honda Civic's have a sport mode; it's more of a traditional "power boost" mode, seems to change the transmission "profile". You'll also notice more slow down as soon as you lift off the gas, so good for winding roads.

 

By God, it's nice to know there's at least one SANE man in this man's Navy!

"Smoke and mirrors" is right! The phony "Eco" mode, and eliminating the spare tire in some models to supposedly save weight, and removing the back windshield wiper...
Toyota is just trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

I like my Prius, and you can't beat the gas mileage. I just think it's unnecessarily overly complicated, and there is a lot of "phony fluff" they could eliminate… And we will all save money.

-The Rookie

 

The Audi is probably much more sophisticated. But how many people actually change the mode?

Most people just get in their car, turn on the radio, and drive it.
They are more concerned with text messaging than they are with Drive modes. LOL.

 

I used Eco mode in my car for the first several weeks. For the past couple of weeks I've been using the Power mode. I haven't noticed a hit on my fuel consumption. I'm a very conservative driver but I think I'll leave it permanently in Power mode. I don't often need to quickly respond but when I do, I don't want to have to stick my foot in the engine to wake it up.

 

To be honest.
I've never quite understood people who...
A: Choose to own and operate a Prius Hybrid (Great Gas Mileage/Efficiency)
then
B: Choose to operate them exclusively in Power Mode.

I approached Power Mode, like EV mode from the standpoint that I considered it a very situation specific choice.
That is I ONLY punched the Power Mode when I was waiting to merge on a high speed freeway, or had time to prepare for a situation where I knew I wanted quicker acceleration pedal response. But that's it.

Toyota themselves warn your fuel economy will suffer using Power Mode.
My feeling is it's NOT a mode designed or intended to be a permanent operating choice.

And to me? If you chose a Prius? Why do you suddenly want "Sports Car" acceleration?

The Gen 4 is making that compromise more and more a moot point. But historically the primary reason people have chosen Prius is fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions.
I think this is changing with the evolution of Hybrids. BUT....

If you want to drive in "Power Mode" all the time, I have to think perhaps a Gen 3 or earlier Prius isn't the best choice of vehicle for you.

PS.
I use to mostly drive in Normal mode.
I found it to be the most "normal".
Good compromise between efficiency and a "standard" driving feel.

 

Good to hear another voice of compromise. It's very puzzling: everyone saying ECO, PWR, back and forth. News flash: Normal is in the middle, between those two extremes, lol.

 

My kind of girl!!

 

The way I see it is that the difference in modes apply under these conditions: 1) The throttle response is limited to varying degrees. 2) Acceleration while in cruise control is limited by mode.

So, if you are normally a careful driver, I'm not sure you'd see a difference. For me, the power mode is a bit nicer for acceleration on my mountain roads where the local rednecks expect you to get up to 60 (in the 55 zone) fast or they'll roll their monster truck wheels over your hatch back. No, it's not all that bad but if you accelerate slowly, you can get honked at, people will scream at you as they drive by and shake their fists, so .... okay... yeah it's that bad.

While I didn't purchase the car for the "sports car" mode (I have to laugh at that analogy), I didn't buy it solely for it's fuel efficiency either. I bought it because it was a fairly nice and well made car on the "cheap side" and because it was the nicest car I could afford in overall performance (which included long term costs.)

So far, I haven't notice an MPG difference in using the power mode over eco. I used eco for six weeks and learned how the car behaves. I drive the same in power mode but a couple of times each trip, the extra punch is most welcome.

 

Rebuttal:

Earlier generations must be different.

In the GEN4, most people report no difference, or very little difference in gas mileage when using the power mode. Nobody says we "speed around" while in the PWR mode. I drive normally and conservatively.

It all comes down to "pedal feel." You can accelerate just as fast in the eco-mode, if you want to shove your foot through the firewall.

I still think there should only be
ONE mode.... Go.

It's already been proven that you can get the same gas mileage in all three modes. That's why I think the "eco" mode is phony. It's just a Toyota marketing gimmick.

Respectfully submitted,
-the Rookie

 

I did not get as good of mileage using PWR. It was still above the spec, but was 5% less than my ECO numbers.

 

Of course it is. I think it is a bit more than marketing though. I think they can shave their standards ratings to their advantage because they can show that a certain number of people will use the wimpy modes. In any case, it's a gimmick.

 

Where have you been all my life?!

 

Just hanging out.

 

OMG!! Are you listening, fellas??!

That's a smart woman there!

 

And I will say it ONE more time…

I get BETTER gas mileage in the PWR mode. Only slightly, but I'll take it. About 4 more MPG.

(Or maybe it's that great Mobil Synergy gas I've been using! )

 

YMMV

 

Yeah. If I ever decided to hyper – mile, I'd probably get 80 mpg!

But I just drive normally, tooling along through the city… and Cruising the Coast.

 

Rookie!!

Report for retraining…

 

A lot of luxury cars nowadays have many, many modes, including much of the Lexus lineup.

You have throttle modes, you have suspension modes (Want stiffer suspension for sharper cornering response? Want softer suspension for a smoother ride? Just turn a dial and get a different mode, rather than having to switch which car you have, or change suspension components), you have steering modes, you have transmission modes (controlling the balance between efficiency and performance, and how sharp the shifts are), you sometimes have exhaust modes, etc., etc.

It means you can customize the car to your preferences, or even for different situations, really.

So, ultimately, the Prius's modes are a customization of pedal response. Pick a mode that you like, and use it. I personally like Eco, some people like Normal (I actually thought I'd like Normal, but I find that when I'm using the pedal, I either want finer-grained control, or I'm matting the pedal anyway, so Eco is better matched to my driving habits), some people like PWR.

Oh, and a lot of Toyota products have actually had a PWR button before the Prius got it, but those tended to be transmission mode selectors, telling it to optimize the shift pattern for sportier driving - upshift later, downshift earlier, to keep the revs up.

 

I wonder how many people truly use all those various modes?

5 percent?

And all of them are young guys under 30?

I think it's just a way for the auto companies to add a few more thousand dollars to the price of the car, and make it sound "sporty"…
but hardly anybody uses that stuff.

I can only speak for myself, I would probably play with all those things for a couple months. And then one day I would say, "what the hell did I buy all this for?" Doesn't help me in bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway, and I don't need it driving to Walmart!