Going from a 2005 Acura RL to a 2006 Toyota Prius

[troe]

I hopped into the Prius and was literally blown away! I knew that this was going to be it. I still can’t believe that I’m driving ones of these cars! Let me just say WOW again! I gunned it out from the low, and couldn't stop starrring at all the little arrows. I driven now only about 110 miles in 2 days as well as pretty much got the glide thing going for me, so you can say that I'm a happy camper. I live in Fort Lauderdale, FL and wanted to know if there are a few of us out there that can help me with all the mods? I’ve been reading around and am slowly getting the courage to do the rear view camera always on, but the video and the EV modes are just a little too much for me. I’ll keep reading on, but let me know! I’m always down to hang out!
[/quote]

Welcome from a fellow Floridian. Hope you love the car as much as I love mine. I am up in Panama City, so a long way from Ft. Lauderdale, but happy to see you made the choice you did, I had the same type of buying experiance, tried a HCH and TDI, then got into the Prius and it was over, had to have the car. Good Luck

[etyler88]

Drop the higher octane gas! It will not help in anyway. Not better MPG or health of engine.

[tyrael]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Jul 13 2006, 08:13 AM) [snapback]285548[/snapback]</div>

Strange, the Camry is faster than the Prius.

Constant acceleration = you can't feel it.
[/b]

Well, what I meant by the constant acceleration was not a bad thing, but a good thing. I love it! Still trying to get used to the CVT tranny, but the Camry just didn't feel right. I didn't drive the one with navigation so that might have turned me off, but for what you got, the Prius was the better buy. The rear seat is definitely not for 3 peeps in the Prius while the Camry seem to provide just a little more room, but the trunk didn't fair well with me at all. I was appalled with the space that was available. Not good at all. I plan to move again and thought of the storage capacity. When I move in a couple of months (hopefully back to San Diego) I'll report back on traveling cross country.

[naterprius]

The seats DO fold down in the Camry Hybrid, they just don't do much good!

Definitely use the low-octane fuel. The Atkinson cycle engine is plenty happy with it. I run 85 octane here in the Denver area. (Like 87 octane at sea level).

Nate

[kimgh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Jul 13 2006, 05:13 AM) [snapback]285548[/snapback]</div>

Strange, the Camry is faster than the Prius.

Constant acceleration = you can't feel it.
[/b]

Not according to Newton:

F = mA

(means you CAN feel it... :-) )

[ceric]

I was probably one of the early few people who test drove RL when it came out because I was #1 on my dealer's waiting list. Coming from BMW 540iA (DOHC V8, 290hp/324lb), the RL's SOHC V6 300hp/265lb didn't impress me at all. The AWD, though very high-tech, can't be appreciated by most people who don't drive aggressively or under bad weather constantly. Its lack of low-end makes it sluggish when starting off. You have to rev the engine up high to feel the power. The AWD added about 200-300lb (compared with TL), which slow its down to 6.8-7.0sec (0-60mph). At $50k MSRP, though fully loaded with bells and whistles, it is too expensive for a sedan with small interior volumn (not much bigger than TL or Accord). Needless to say, I bought the Prius at 50% of the price and have been happy with it. Prius is not about performance. It is a fun, commute car that you actually look forward to drive everyday.

[NuShrike]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kimgh @ Jul 13 2006, 09:21 AM) [snapback]285665[/snapback]</div>

Not according to Newton:[/b]

According to Einstein and Relativity, constant acceleration is indistinguishable from gravity. Does your current constant 9.8m/s^2 acceleration feel fast?

So we've been trained to think that only changing acceleration beyond our normal experience of 1G (shifting gears, elevator accelerating/decelerating, etc) equals 'power & speed' and anything else is 'sluggish'.

Can you feel the thousands of Km of speed of the rotating Earth as it whips around the Sun, or the speed of an elevator in the middle of its ride?

Anyways, I remember buying an Altima from Maroone Nissan a few years back. Not too bad a place overall.

[kimgh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Jul 13 2006, 12:58 PM) [snapback]285776[/snapback]</div>

According to Einstein and Relativity, constant acceleration is indistinguishable from gravity. Does your current constant 9.8m/s^2 acceleration feel fast?

So we've been trained to think that only changing acceleration beyond our normal experience of 1G (shifting gears, elevator accelerating/decelerating, etc) equals 'power & speed' and anything else is 'sluggish'.

Can you feel the thousands of Km of speed of the rotating Earth as it whips around the Sun, or the speed of an elevator in the middle of its ride?

Anyways, I remember buying an Altima from Maroone Nissan a few years back. Not too bad a place overall.
[/b]

I meant "feel" as in feel a force.

You're mixing constant acceleration with constant velocity. I sure do feel the 9.8 m/s^2 in the seat of my pants when I'm sitting. That would also be true if I were in an elevator in space accelerating at 9.8 m/s^2; that's what Einstein meant.

Your other two examples are (at least to an approximation) constant velocity situations, which of course you can't "feel", you can only perceive if you can notice something moving with respect to your frame of reference.

All this is a bit confused by the fact that we call cars that can accelerate quickly "fast" cars. What you feel IS the acceleration, not the speed (velocity).

[NuShrike]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kimgh @ Jul 13 2006, 02:19 PM) [snapback]285813[/snapback]</div>

You're mixing constant acceleration with constant velocity.[/b]

I'm decidedly Not. Fast cars feel fast because they have large varying acceleration due to the gear shifts. The HSD gives pretty much a flat acceleration curve that can equate to feeling 'sluggish' when it's not really slow. There's a big graph of it somewhere.

I'm not certain of elevators, but due to rotation and revolution in a uniform circular motion, the Earth is under constant acceleration, not constant velocity. Velocity is a straight line, which is neither. But close enough approximations of constant velocity as you said because the direction of the vector moves so slowly.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kimgh @ Jul 13 2006, 02:19 PM) [snapback]285813[/snapback]</div>

All this is a bit confused by the fact that we call cars that can accelerate quickly "fast" cars. What you feel IS the acceleration, not the speed (velocity). [/b]

Agreed!

[Rancid13]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(etyler88 @ Jul 13 2006, 06:13 AM) [snapback]285569[/snapback]</div>

Drop the higher octane gas! It will not help in anyway. Not better MPG or health of engine.
[/b]

This is true. The Prius was designed to run on 85 or 87 octane. Anything higher and you're basically just wasting $$ and not doing something 'better' for the car.