how to handle 6%+ climb on 2012 Prius

I am curious as to how people handle those kinds of climb on prius? do you use eco mode or use power mode?

I have 6%+ hill i have to climb everyday while returning from work... So far i have been using eco mode and my speed slows down to 35MPH due to climbing... even when i push accelerator hard and HSI is all the way right on red power range but still it wont speed up...

Should i disable eco mode just for climbing the hill and enable it or use pwr mode to climb the hill.

Yup.......that's what I would do. Choose Powermode and keep speed. I don't know how it affects gas mileage, but there must be an efficiency thing in the design if they gave us Powermode as an option. I have heard that you can get poor mileage if you are putting the vehicle in the Powermode range of the energy bar if you are still in ECO Mode. Anyone know if that's true?

If I understand correctly, the setting of the mode buttons makes no difference. It only controls how far you push the pedal to get a certain throttle position.

I just took my first long trip over a mountain pass and just put cruise control on for most of it (60mph). climbed 5k feet in elevation and round trip got an indicated 56.7mpg

I suppose it only affects how far you push pedal for throttle, but if you want to feel like you are driving up a hill instead of pulling a car up a hill you will want power mode. Plus it doesn't change mpg that much. Just my opinion

I just leave it in ECO mode full time, ignore the HSI display, press the pedal, and go for it. Mine has no problem climbing 7% grades at full highway speed. Even 10% at 12,000 feet climbing Pikes Peak was not a problem, though the speed limit was slower.

If yours cannot reach and hold the speed limit with the pedal floored, regardless of ECO/Normal/PWR mode setting, something is wrong.

Steep climbs are not the place to game the HSI display for best MPG. At steady speeds the car does very well by itself. The games are most effective on flat, near flat, and shallow descent roads.

Thanks fuzz1, i will try today and see if i can push pedal hard... i am on my first tank so i was taking it easy...
Let me check today and see otherwise i will take it to dealership for checkup...

so did my test and pushed pedal hard and i was able to climb at 41MPH... also if i press accelerator hard on plain road to accelerate from 10 to 30-50 MPH just to follow the traffic i feel vibration in the car... probably engine working hard... not sure if its normal or not...

I just hold it just before the red zone and be patient.

I'm trying to imagine a grade where you floor the gas pedal and cannot go faster than 41mph. When you say you pressed hard do you mean you pressed the pedal as far as it would go?

I actually thought a question of the same situation to my self earlier today, and this actually helps. My main problem where I live is driving against heavy winds fairly often. As far as hills and slopes, I try to step up my speed, to get it over with, then continue with max MPG save possible after achieving the top. Same with entering a freeway, basically "gun it" to a fair speed then hit ECO again.

That may fix your anxiety of the hill but it is not the efficient way to do it. You're better off reducing your speed and holding throttle position steady until you start to crest the hill. It is painful but speeding up the hill or gunning it is definitely more wasteful than just going poli poli (slowly slowly in Swahili).

If you can't get over 41 mph, one of two things is wrong.

1.) You are trying to maximize fuel economy, and refuse to press the accelerator pedal down far enough to shut the MG's off and use only the ICE.
2.) Refer to suggestion #1.

Believe me, everyone on this forum that hypermiles, totally understands that. It's pretty much a sin to get past the PWR section and go full ICE only. It might even be a sin to some to hit PWR section. Haha.

In my situation, I make a right turn at more than 90 degrees so basically starting up a grade like that from 5-10 mph, which makes it impossible to gain any speed before climbing. My choice way to handle it, is to look at the road, not the display and select the PWR mode button. It allows me as someone else mentioned to feel like I'm climbing the hill in a regular car, and for the time being getting up it is all that matters.

If you have any road length before your climb, watch for law enforcement and gain a little momentum so you can have a nice head start on your climb.

Alternatively, check out google maps click on the terrain button and see if there is any possible way to go around the mountain, and not over it. This is often not possible, but in some cases the extra miles to avoid the climb are just miles, not much spent fuel.

Actually Brett, when you are deep into the power section MG2 is helping out some to give you the extra power.

oops

Thank you for the correction, don't wanna spread wrong info.

I thought the MG's stopped because when you go wide open it feels like something shuts off and the ICE is just buzzing away under the hood.

Or do they stop at wide open throttle? That's what I meant I may have typed something wrong.

A few misconceptions here!
First, the "eco", "normal", and "power" mode selections DO NOT change the power of the car! How many times do we have to post that!? "Eco" does cause the A/C cooling system to run less "aggressively", but that's about it! If you floor the accelerator pedal that's the only difference. In "power" or "eco" mode the HSI produces the same power to the wheels. All those modes do for the most part is remap the accelerator pedal response, so you can have more control when a little power is all you need or for hypermileing. And that only over the first half of the pedal travel (approximately).

Secondly, the HSI is an INTEGRATED system. You can't separate the MGs from the ICE. They work as a "team". If needed, and if possible, MG2 will provide some power to the wheels. REGARDLESS of anything else.

I too am struggling to imagine how you can be limited to 41 MPH with the throttle floored! I have climbed an 18% grade hill and Pearl accelerated up it, easily surpassing 50 MPH and still accelerating. This is far steeper than your wimpy 7% grade!

Perhaps there is some power limit built in to the system for breakin, though I haven't heard of or seen it myself.

Thanks for suggestions guys... really helpful... I am going to do few more tests... only reason i was not pressing pedal all the way was that i am on my first tank and engine is just breaking-in... I will try pressing it all the way and see if i climb faster... might set cruise control as well to see if that keeps it stedy at 45mph

That is the answer, you just aren't pressing it far enough.

Even during break-in, there is no reason to take it so easy that it can't maintain the speed limit while climbing.

Actually you can achieve the best brake in results and MPG by tying oxen to the Prius while going up a hill. It's in the owners manual you just have to look for it.

That's a funny yoke.