Is it ok to run the the PWR bar in eco mode ?

Superdrol, it won't hurt the car to be running it anywhere on the bar in any mode. I drive 80 miles round trip a day (90% freeway) and try to keep the bar in the ECO area, between the C-O (under the "ECO" icon on the HID) for good mpg. I've also found out that just driving in normal mode still allows me great mileage. Sometimes I prefer to use "ECO" mode only when in the city or on the highway using air conditioning because I heard it minimizes A/C compressor usage.

 

It's ok to run into the PWR bar in eco mode. Power mode is only good for aggressive acceleration with light pedal press. In Eco mode you just have to press the pedal harder to get the same aggressive acceleration. Try the normal mode for city before you jump from power to eco if you've driving in power mode all the time.

 

He may have been talking about a break in period for the car. Usually if you just drive it like a normal car you'll be fine.

 

I heard from a guy that that will totally kill your Prius and void the warranty. In fact, to be on the safe side and protect my investment, I never take it over 31 mph.

 

WOW that fast
mm, I just keep mine in the driveway and just look at it

Just drive it and enjoy it
Dont over think it

 

Exposing your Prius to the oxygen in air will void the warranty. You need to get your Prius out of the driveway and into a tank of dry nitrogen. As a bonus, your tires will be automatically Nitronized.

Tom

 

That's why I keep my Gen II in a Hyperbaric Garage, it's pressurized with Nitrogen.....
My wife however, keeps passing out when she tries to back the car out of the garage....
I keep reminding her that what the O2 mask is hanging by the garage door, she just never listens...

 

The PWR red zone is only telling you that it is not very fuel efficient to drive in that zone. It DOES NOT tell you that it's a "dangerous" zone that will reck your Prius. It's just common sense, man. If it's so dangerous that it's physically hurting the engine, Toyota will not even let you do that. They'll loose $millions and $billions of warranty work if the red zone is damaging the engine.

It is only not good to stay in the red zone (kinda flooring it) for pro-longed period during the 1st 1000 miles or so rough-in period of a new car. This applies to all cars and not just the Prius.

After the rough-in period just drive the car like a car, not like a toy. It's a toyota, not a toy, not a game called "the king of mpg". So many new Prius drivers got sucked into this addictive game of trying to get higher and higher mpg from their Prius that it turn them into total whimps.

Look, if you drive any other car at such slow speed crawling along you'd still get higher mpg than the others. There's no pride in that. What you should be really proud of driving the Prius is if you win most of the red light race and you still get 50+ mpg. Beat them in both fronts of performance and fuel efficiency, then you're the real winner. Beat them only in mpg and looses performance to even the lowest whimps, then you're just kidding yourself.

This is what I've been telling you guys all along: The ECO button is the Prius killer button. It is training all new Prius drivers to be whimps. I mean, just ask yourself, if you don't dare to drive your car over 31 mph, then why buy a car? Just bike or walk. Geez. You are showing the world that the Prius is a SUPER-WHIMPY CAR, and you are becoming a tailgaters magnet. You are inviting the whole world of drivers to HATE/SHY AWAY from the Prius, making sure they'll never consider buying/driving a Prius.

YOU ARE DOING THE WORLD A HUGE DESERVISE BY MAKING THE PRIUS A BAD NAME

 

Hee hee! You guys are nuts! Thanks guys/gals!

 

This is why sarcasam needs a font.

 

I agree with you that sarcasm should have a special font. He missed that.

but i also agree with his rant that hypermiling in urban areas gives the Prius a bad name. In my first month of ownership, I got honked at a few times for trying to maximize the MPGs of my new toy. Now I just put it in ECO, go with the flow, and still get 51MPG! Can't beat that!

 

I didn't miss anything. I was just fake ranting also. I was hoping somebody would fall into my trap and start "fighting" with me.

Now you blew the cover and take ALL the fun out of the whole thread, man!

 

In my experience, hypermiling this car doesn't really make a huge difference, other than pissing everyone around you off. If i drive like a grandma i get about 52, if i drive normal I get 50.1, and if I drive like a jackass i get 48. Thats an acceptable spread!

I personally love passing people going up a mountian pass in my Prius. I blows their minds! You make it all up on the way back down so floor it!

 

Oh, would it were that the stuffy folks in the design department had given the 'ECO' and 'PWR' buttons the names you just have!

 

LOL!!! Jeckel and Hyde buttons for sure. :focus:

 

I hate those EV, ECO and PWR buttons. They're flat and have no feel to it like having dots for the blind. Not that I wish they'd design the Prius for the blind to drive (that'll be nice, eh?), but the fact that those button are so far down and away from your line of sight you'd have to pull your eyes away from the road and that's dangerous.

Why can't they make it like an automatic gear shift with EV, ECO, STD, and PWR slots that you can make the gear knob stay there?

 

With regard to "they said the red zone is bad", most of these statements turn out to be incomplete. Remembering the end of the sentence is the key. Like, "Going past the red zone...can be bad for your gas mileage". This reminds me of the story of the lady who wore out her clutch because the dealer told her to avoid using first gear. We eventually worked it out that he must have told her first gear wasn't necessary...when starting off down a hill.