Definitely, not a performance car

Have you tried holding the brake pedal, flooring the accelerator of your Prius and then releasing the brake? Or shifting to neutral at a stop light, flooring the acclerator, and then shifting into drive?

The Prius is not a performance car and it's probably the most difficult vehicle to transform into one. :wink:

Mo' debbly :_> If you want something electric that can beat the shirt off a Porsche, Ferrari, or Corvette, you need a T-Zero from AC Propulsion.

:wtf:
:silly: :jester: :lolup: :lolup: :lolup:


:roll: Well I guess that depends on what your definition of performance is :!:
:computer: :wave:

Wait a minute...

In the first place, do the methods of "popping the clutch" or "revving with the brake on" even work the Prius' hybrid transmission?

I.e., until you get to <X> MPH, you're going to be using the electric engine -- revving the ICE up isn't going to do diddly for you, right?

interesting question for us car guys. ifind that although i cant squeal 8) 8) the tires that "smiley" is a great stealth attacker. most folks think its a dog but under the right conditions its very quick. does not waste time down shifting and will get off the line ok. none of which is expected by non prius owners. i hope this has not upset my morre traditional prius owners but this is aimed at car guys who are used to some "snap" off the line. do not be surprised at the steady conservative but ok aceleration. ive surprised quit a few traditonal vehicles

sorry guys but in a "drive by wire" car, all those things you do will not generate any more performance.

holding the brake down and gunning it in neutral tells the car you dont want to go anywhere. it isn't a mechanically controlled car where the brakes have no idea or even care what the driver, engine or car is doing. The Prius has 6 on board computers sharing information on the feedback they get from the controls your are manipulating. Conflicting feedback will most likely lean towards the safest route or stop.

also, i dont know what you drove before but the Prius has good power from a standing start up to the limit of the electric motor.

Just out of curiosity, I have tried holding the brake pedal, flooring the accelerator and then releasing the brake. I have also tried shifting to neutral at a stop light, flooring the acclerator, and then shifting into drive. Nothing happens; it is a strange feeling unique to this car.

With all due respect to jamarimutt, the Prius is indeed a performance car. It's just not a muscle car. It has excellent acceleration from a stop, without any special tricks. It accelerates from 75 to 80 (for freeway passing) very rapidly. And I consider mileage an aspect of performance.

Except that they don't seem to be selling them, and given that they have not updated their web site in a year, it looks to me as though they never will.

Yah. I begged 'em in 2001 to offer a hybrid version, but they wanted to be purists. What a wasted opportunity.

OK, maybe not the Prius, but how about this Toyota hybrid?

now you're talkin' !!!!!!!!!! hubba hubba

BTW, IIRC it gets something like 32 mpg at normal highway speeds.

Maybe that can be done on the <'03's, but it doesn't work on the '04's. The ICE won't start at all. It feels like a little torque is applied to the drivetrain as the suspension winds up slightly. I think it helps launch slightly and seems to bring the ICE online a tick sooner.

Flooring it in neutral and dropping into "D" won't do a thing.

It looks like torque standing a hybrid isn't possible, well, until someone hacks it.

I guess we'll have to wait for something like the Volta.

http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/future/volta.html

That's a combination I haven't tried, but will this morning.

Overall, I'm satisfied with Prius grunt off the line when taking the car's design goals into mind. Even now on a wet surface I'll get some momentary wheelspin accelerating from a stop through a 90° turn until TRAC kicks in.

Low-end torque feels adequate, but a little more high-end horsepower combined with a quicker CVT lockup would be nice. Until then, I'm adapting my style to the car.

I approach drives as competitive events, but not for speed or time. Instead, I try bettering the mpg from last time! It makes for smoother, slower, more relaxed drives, but there's always that nice midrange "burst" (OK, pop) of speed available if needed.

Understand. I was using the "old fashioned" ECT torque converter analogy to the mode with least slip, not knowing what else to call it.

I am very pleased with the Prius' overall performance--my post was directed at owners who seem to want to have it both ways: excellent fuel economy plus options to make the car go (perform) well above what it was designed to do. You can modify most other cars (if not all) to make them accelerate substantially better but not the Prius.

The person who sold me my Prius said outright "this car cannot be altered"; he was right and I like it.