My v5 is new (2 weeks and about 400 miles only). We've had a Gen III 3 for a couple of years so I am used to the pulse & glide method of driving to increase fuel economy. But I was having problems doing the same with the v5 because the pulse seemed much harder -- the car is heavier and it takes much longer to get to speed. So much so that by the time I got to speed, my glide time was often cut short by traffic getting in front of me or running out of road (stop sign or traffic light). My first tank was 45.5mpg on the computer, 44.1 calculated on fuelly. So I decided to try using Power Mode for the pulse. After 1 cycle of commute (about 35 miles total), the computer was showing 54.7mpg (I had to take a photo to one-up my wife's mpg numbers in her Gen III!) This is US gallons (California spec car with tire pressure as delivered by the dealer) at about 70 degrees, mostly flat driving, about 28 miles highway (65mph avg) and some city miles. Using Power Mode for the pulse seems to deliver much more torque to get to speed. This helps keep pace with traffic as well. I noticed that with Power Mode, I could engage the glide much sooner and the longer the glide, the better the mpg numbers. I will be interested to see how these computer numbers match up to the calculated mpg when this tank is done. Has anyone else noticed this? I've read that Power Mode only modifies the pedal sensitivity, but I feel the torque response of the car is much better in Power Mode. Perhaps I just don't push down the pedal hard enough when in Eco or normal modes to get this response out of the engine (Having been trained to not push the gas pedal too hard). But I think I am going to switch to Power Mode as my normal driving mode and squeeze those glides as long as possible.
Several conversations about PWR Mode getting better mileage. I use it all the time. Makes the car more fun to drive and I get better mileage and get to jack rabbit start much to consternation of the lifted F-150's in back of me, left looking asleep at the wheel.
When using pulse and glide at an average of 65mph, what speed do you pulse up to, and how quickly? Do you put the acceleration/power indicator into the yellow/orange area? Then when you glide, how many ticks do you keep on the power indicator? What speed do you glide down into before pulsing again, and how long is a typical pulse/glide cycle in terms of time? I tried this technique in PWR mode yesterday on a flat highway around 70mph, but found my cycles were so short it was making my driving look very erratic. Went up to 75mph and tried to glide down to 68mph or so, in a cycle that seemed too short to be useful, like a minute or two only.
I'm just experimenting with "power mode + pulse and glide" and I have noticed some strange behavior. If you glide in power mode (it is hard but not impossible) the mpg climb like crazy up to about first 180-miles. Looking at the computer calculation I would be hitting about 566-miles per tank (about 10.5gal) but after the first 180-miles, I've noticed that the mileage starts to go down . Now at 233mi on the odometer the overall mileage on the odometer (till empty) will be 561-miles. On the first 180-miles I was able to gain about 3-milea or over on each trip, after 180-miles distance I'm loosing about 1.5-miles per trip each time. The driving patterns is the same.
My commute has moderate traffic with speeds between 55-70 mph. There are mild uphill-downhill sections. I use the downhill sections to glide, keeping the power indicator at zero bars or 1 bar at the most. I have to admit that the pedal is very sensitive and it took some practice to find the right pressure level to get it consistently. I have to check the indicator to know when I hit it, it seems impossible to hit it otherwise. It also seems harder to find the spot on the Prius v compared to the lift back. I find the mileage improvements come from the city parts of my commute, where I can pulse up fast to 25-35 mph and then glide most of the way (or ideally all of the way) to the next stop sign or traffic light. Traffic has to be light enough to do this. It also helps to know the route well! This is where the power mode helps the most, to get to speed quickly so that the time of the glide is many times longer than the pulse. I'm not sure I trust the computer mpg number fully, I still have to get to a fill up to calculate the real mpg number.
