Which models/years have the shift knob on the center console?

The Prius C has an almost conventional looking shifter.

it does not work any different than any other Prius, but the stylists worried that the other Prius were too confusing for entry buyers.
Every Prius has a single speed transaxle with a clutch which is always engaged. (the clutch slips if either the engine or transaxle comes to a sudden stop, it is called a torque dampner)
A Prius is always in D, to achieve R, they rotate the larger electric motor backwards, (it is called motor/generator2, its revs are proportional to wheel speed)
P is just D with a parking pawl preventing the wheels from moving. N prevents ether electric motor from receiving or generating power, with nothing to push against the engine can't move the car.

In B, (used for very long downhills) the computers add engine braking, cooling both the friction brakes and the battery.

So at no point does it ever shift, you are always in the same gear ratio. It is not a manual, as you do not manually change gears, it is not an automatic as it does not automatically change gears, it is not really a CVT as the gear ratio never varies.

Every car I owned prior to the Prius was a manual, I quit shifting into D at traffic lights after about 4 years.

You can get a c which wastes more space with a normal looking shifter, but no Prius has a normal transmission.

 

Some of the above is right, but seems to suffer from a confusion about what the "gear ratio" of a transmission is. It's one thing to observe that the Prius transaxle has a fixed set of gears that don't get shifted and whose tooth counts don't change, but to say on that account that the "gear ratio never varies" is to mistake what a transmission's "gear ratio" is.

That ratio for any transmission (whether it is even built with gears or not) is the ratio between the rpm of the input shaft and the rpm of the output shaft (or equivalently, just in the inverse sense, the torque at the input and the torque at the output). The point of any transmission, including in the Prius, is to match the speeds and torques most efficient for the engine to the speed and torque needed at the road. The Prius transmission absolutely does that, and continuously varies to find the exact ratio calculated by the HV ECU at any time. There's no inaccuracy in calling it a CVT—that's exactly what it is, and a very clever one at that.

All of the adjustment of ratio is done by precisely timing the flips of solid state switches in the two motor circuits. Those switches (sitting in the "intelligent power modules") and the computer telling them when to flip are, in a schematic sense, parts of the transmission, even though they're located elsewhere.

-Chap

 

To answer your question:
In addition to the Priussy (Prius C) the G3 (2010-2015) has the center-console shifter - although it doesn't really "shift" anything, and it literally can be replaced by some push buttons - in fact some owners do this.

You have a very interesting modality for car selection.
Why a Prius?
Seems to me that if you derive pleasure from actually driving a car instead of employing a cheap (or....to some...."green") transportation appliance then you might be better off getting a Corolla with a manual transmission.

Don't get me wrong.
I have 135,000 miles in a work car that's a G3, and it's proven itself to be reliable, AND efficient.
If you follow the instructions in the manual, you're just about DEAD BANG certain to get 200-250,000 mostly repair-free miles out of the car.

The only problem is.....
Priuses have a 10,000 mile Oil Change Interval (OCI) which many Prius Owners get confused with a 10,000 mile Oil CHECK interval.
that and some other things that you can read about in this forum............if you have the time..........can make getting a used G3 a dice-roll if you're looking for a 10-year-car.

But.....DRIVING ONE????
Priuses have electric steering that reminds me of playing an X-box. The seats are only comfortable if you own a chiropractic clinic, they have more blind spots than a political forum, the regenerative brakes are kinda interesting to get used to (but they will last 200,000 miles unless you drive like an idiot!)
Priuses handle like a pig on roller skates, except for the G4 (2016-) which some say handles much better, but at the cost of styling that some would generously call................interesting.

Finally......there are about 264 different things that will drive you INSANE at first, before you get used to them, and they're different for each driver. (reverse beeper......on the INSIDE of the car....non extendable visor.....mirror adjustment location....bifurcated rear glass....rear wipers that dont....felt-thin "carpet"....no sound dampening.......non-usable radio......etc.)


For all that?
They're DAMN good cars!
.......and I say that from the perspective of not having paid for one, and being a semi-retired gearhead.

I just want you to know................in advance..........what you're getting into.


Good Luck!
Let us know how it shakes out!!

 

M/G2 speed is absolutely linear to wheel speed, it never varies.
The computers spin M/G1 at a speed that forces the engine speed they need, it has nothing to do with wheel speed.*
The engine is run when M/G2 needs more torque than it has. The computers control engine speed with 'hints' from the accelerator pedal. it has nothing to do with wheel speed*. I get non owners asking how many RPM the engine runs at 60, the answer is between 1200 and 2400 RPMs depending on slope, (there is always slope) temp, moisture, electrical load, air speed, etc. I have a tach, I am used to looking at a tach, but it is not controllable by me.

*Above some minimum speed, varies by Generation, the engine must run, so that M/G1 does not exceed an RPM limit. Starting in Gen3 a second planetary gearset (called the Speed reduction gearset) was used to increase this speed.

 

I think we lost the OP, he is probably now searching for a used Mazda 3 or Corolla with a stick shift.

 

That is way better than buying a car he hates. If all cars are to him is shifting and feeling the punch, the Prius is simply not the right car. It is one impressive computer though.

 

The Gen 3 has the dash knob on a flying buttress, it is less like a shifter than a c, but less on the dash than other Prius.

 

No disagreement there: yes, MG2 spins in a fixed ratio to the transmission's output. That doesn't make the transmission "single-speed" though, because a transmission's "gear ratio" is what happens between its input shaft (connected to the engine via the torque limiter) and its output, and that ratio is continuously variable in the Prius, just as in any CVT. How it does that job is an electrical engineering tour de force, but the job is unchanged from the earliest transmissions: let the engine run in its optimal speed/torque ranges while matching to a wide range of vehicle speeds and loads.

That's not altogether wrong, but glosses over some of the nifty symmetry of the system: each MG is sometimes being "spun" electrically, consuming watts and producing torque, and sometimes being spun mechanically, consuming torque and producing watts. The difference is controlled entirely by the microsecond timing of the IPM switches closing and opening as the rotor magnets pass the coils.

When either MG is functioning as a generator, producing watts, it gets hard to turn (what I meant by "consuming torque"). The more watts it's allowed to produce, the harder to turn (energy is conserved: no free lunch). That is what forces the planetary gear to cease freewheeling and transfer mechanical power. It's MG1 acting as generator in low speed drive, sending power to the output via both a mechanical and an electrical path. It's MG2 acting as generator both during slowing and during high-speed cruise (the overdrive, sometimes called "heretical" mode, where it reduces torque at the output by sending watts back to MG1 where they come back in as higher output speed). Between all of these modes, nothing at all physically shifts in the transmission; nothing changes but the timing of switch flips in the IPMs. If the computer isn't driving the switches at all, no electrical power flows, the MGs spin easily and the gearset freewheels, transmitting no torque, i.e. "neutral".

Niels's animated video embedded in post 2 really is a good exposition. Between about 1:26 and 3:08, he is explaining why a transmission is needed, and why it needs a range of different ratios between input and output. Starting at 3:08, he's showing more and more exactly how the Prius tranny does that. He even gets to the "heretical" overdrive mode, starting at 5:45.

The one thing Niels missed, at 0:27, was that he shows a 1971 patent as the origin of the idea. He overlooked John Godfrey Parry Thomas's patent filed in 1908. Despite some differences, it's an absolutely recognizable precursor of the Prius tranny. The only big thing he lacked to make it practical in 1908 was technology to control it. He wrote that the fields "may be varied in any known manner", but there was nothing close to a computer yet that could do it by flipping switches with microsecond precision while the MGs spin in real time.

-Chap

 

Wow, another Brit inventor largely forgotten over here! Some heritage we have.

 

All in all the Prius has a reputation for causing confusion amongst all newcomers to the model. I'm not sure a Prius will really speak to an 'enthusiastic' driver. The latest one is nimble, but not truly fast. It is hugely idiosyncratically challenging, but very rewarding and challenging to achieve the best passive driving style. If your preferred driving style involves heavy use of throttle and brake, I don't think it will be the car for you....
.. unless you're willing to learn how to calm your competitive driving.

I'm not saying your wrong to drive aggressively, but the Prius can irritate the extremely impatient commuter behind the wheel.

 

I'm not impressed with the return-to-center shifter. It's confusing to the user, mute as to what "gear" you're actually in. Due to that, they introduced the beep-in-reverse, a band aid "solution".

Maybe it's just me, but more than once I've failed to equate the connection, that the beeping indicates the car's in reverse. Yup. So far, I've gone no more than a few inches in the wrong direction before I caught it, but not happy with it.

I like visual/tactile reminders that can't be missed. For example, if I'm going somewhere, have to take something along, I'll hang it on the door, make it impossible to forget.

The traditional automatic shifters were better in that regard: reverse was more of a reach, and you could see the shifter was in a different postion. I never screwed up with those.

The shifter in the Prius is more-or-less homage to the past now. I'm not sure what the replacement could be, but maybe with a rethink, about the functions you need (forward, reverse, neutral, engine-brake and park), and use of the hang-it-on-the-door principal, something better could be designed.

 

You got me at, "more blind spots than a political forum".....................I'm stealing that phrase................LoL

 

I bought my Prius because for me:

It provided a good solution to rising gasoline costs
Toyota's in my household go well beyond 150,000 miles (This family is stuck on Toyota)
The bells and whistles for the cost was worth it for me
And, believe it or not, Prius chat convinced me that it was a good choice.

Do I miss power shifting, tire spining, enging roaring fun? Hell yes!! But, with the money I have saved in gasoline, I will most likely buy a fun "toy" to work on soon, to build myself and enjoy. I have my eyes on mostly older VW's bugs ( 60's only) and Karmen Khia's. The platform for that engine is a fun build and really makes a difference when you change to a custom exhaust, dual carb and electronic ignition setup. In the meantime, my wife and I can enjoy taking trips to San Diego in air conditioned confort..............cheaply!!

 

AFAIK, all JDM automatic transmission passenger cars beep when you back up, there's a law that I can't find at the moment.



Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

We that beep inside or outside the car? With the Prius is on the inside to remind the driver they're in reverse mode.

 

The explanation about the beep-in-reverse was given to me by a friend of a friend who was driving us to a restaurant (after I folded myself into the back seat of her tiny kei car).

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

If you think about it, the backup beep is there because of the self centering shifter, it lets you know you are in reverse. I know that there is on the dash an image that shows what gear you are in, but who looks at that?