Which driving mode gives you the best mileage?

[windstrings]

While its easier to accelerate too hard in normal verses eco mode, its also easier to let up on the gas which stimulates the ICE to idling rather than staying revved up for take off.

I wondering if this is why my mileage is better now in Normal mode?

I've always liked normal better at high speeds than eco to accommodate for the subtleties of freeway driving.

[tumbleweed]

Originally Posted by windstrings

While its easier to accelerate too hard in normal verses eco mode, its also easier to let up on the gas which stimulates the ICE to idling rather than staying revved up for take off.

I wondering if this is why my mileage is better now in Normal mode?

I've always liked normal better at high speeds than eco to accommodate for the subtleties of freeway driving.

Good poll the results should be of interest, I voted for ECO but I must admit I really haven't used the other two much.

But from what I understand about how the different modes work I suspect that if you use the HSI indicator and drive to keep the bar in the same places it won't matter which of the three modes you use. My understanding is that the differencein modes is the sensitivity of the go pedal for the first half of it's travel, plus more economical AC operation in the ECO mode. If that's true, and if you discount AC operation, the results from the three modes should be identical if you use the same amount of power. The only difference would be how far down your foot is to give you that amount of power.

[windstrings]

Originally Posted by tumbleweed

But from what I understand about how the different modes work I suspect that if you use the HSI indicator and drive to keep the bar in the same places it won't matter which of the three modes you use. My understanding is that the difference in modes is the sensitivity of the go pedal for the first half of it's travel, plus more economical AC operation in the ECO mode.

Thats something I haven't accounted for is AC.. this time of year Im barely using it.

Also, yes the bar HSI indicator seems to accurately reflect status regardless of what mode your in.
You can keep the pedal in the exact same spot and go out of eco mode and the car will start to speed up and also the bar will go forward to reflect what the car is doing.

Apparently, the different modes determine how much voltage is sent from the gas pedal "

actuator

Actuator

" to signal how much acceleration is desired.

Almost like flipping between 3 different resistors.. but Im sure its much more complex than that.

[SureValla]

someone clearly lied voting for power...

[hptsang]

in the other thread, people said the Power Mode gave them even higher MPG compare to the Eco mode. I just got my car, so I still haven't really tried to use the power mode yet. But I did find a little bump on the MPG from using ECO mode to the Normal mode.

[windstrings]

For someone who has a trained foot, power or normal mode can be easier to save gas than eco mode.

Keep in mind that the more sensitive the pedal is "such as in power mode" the easier it is to disengage the ICE and go to battery or a mixture thereof when the gas is let off just a little bit, whereas when in eco mode, the pedal has to be dropped back quite a bit to engage the same process.

Of course on the other hand, acceleration can be much harder to manage without ruining gas mileage when in the more sensitive modes, unless the foot is trained well from years of driving the prius.

Eco mode is easier for most who are new to the prius, but for those who have driven a while, they may find normal or even power mode may get a tad better mileage.

[Gasitman]

Originally Posted by SureValla

someone clearly lied voting for power...

My car is in power mode 90% of the time and I still get 50+mpg. I just watch the display and keep it out of the dark orange area if not accelerating from a stop.

From what I was told, it just manages the gas pedal and how much you have to push. I could be wrong, and I am sure someone will correct me.

[windstrings]

Originally Posted by Gasitman

From what I was told, it just manages the gas pedal and how much you have to push. I could be wrong, and I am sure someone will correct me.

Thats my understanding, it merely manages how much pressure does what with the pedal.

The MFD display seems to be accurate regardless of what mode your in, so whether in Eco, or power, if you can get the MFD display to respond the same in both modes based on how you feather the pedal, the car will respond exactly the same in both modes.

[ken1784]

I think it depends on who drives Prius, Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde.

A conservative (Dr Jekyll type) driver likes ECO mode and an aggressive (Mr Hyde type) driver likes PWR mode.
I have no data, but I would like to see the mpg results, such as Dr Jekyll drives in PWR mode and Mr Hyde drives in ECO.
Maybe, Pulse in PWR and Glide in ECO mode cause the better results.

Ken@Japan

[windstrings]

Originally Posted by ken1784

I think it depends on who drives Prius, Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde.

A conservative (Dr Jekyll type) driver likes ECO mode and an aggressive (Mr Hyde type) driver likes PWR mode.
I have no data, but I would like to see the mpg results, such as Dr Jekyll drives in PWR mode and Mr Hyde drives in ECO.
Maybe, Pulse in PWR and Glide in ECO mode cause the better results.

Ken@Japan

I think you nailed it!

What happens when your both.... Monday morning and Fri afternoon headed home is

Mr. Hyde

Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde

and Sat afternoon is Dr. Jekyll!

I do think its much easier to find the sweet spot of (no gen, no power) when in eco mode.... unless I"m striving for that, I prefer power or at least normal now that I"ve had time to play with it a while. I'm getting about 55mpg on power mode and I'm just driving with the flow of traffic pretty much.