Whoa. Past a year with this XW60... The actual fuel economy has been, well duh, amazing. 65+ is quite easy, and I'm probably not taking advantage of the more hardcore, nickel-hydride-era tqs yet. Currently 62.4 mpg indicated. Things I like (hopefully not echoes from the 11- and 9-mo updates... but that's being near 60 for you): -- Jesus, this seat is far better than I expected for a Prius. Nice subtle yet effective bolstering, for the oft maneuver around jerkoff ICE-only heaps around me, seeing a Prius and figuring 'well I'll pull in front of him and slow way down, *that'll* teach him a lesson'. Um, not with the same power-to-weight of a 3rd-gen Supra, you won't Have them wrapped in Skechers (steadyyy ) memory foam seat covers... which surprisingly haven't fallen apart yet, quite the opposite actually. May buy another set tbh, before they disappear in this ongoing covid-era scorched-earth of product quality / value in this country... -- my last car, the 10th-gen Civic hatch, needed alignment every 3 - 6 mos, on 40-series tires. The XW60's remained quite stable over a year (just got it looked at last svc & didn't need it -- so yay 60-series tires on Maui), as well as handles with the same precision now as from the showroom. Tires will need to be replaced late next year probably; the OEM Toyo Extensa IIBs are a rather pink-eraser-like 300 B A UTQG (vs. the Civic's Continental Contipro Contact's 500 AA A). -- was a bit down seeing juuust this side of orange-peel in the OEM paint on delivery... but apparently not faring too bad with all the rock-flinging lo-profile knobbies on every lifted pickup here. Helps I gap a bit which reduces the closer-I-am-slower-you-go douchery... but have heard some pretty hard hits from one or more of these on the front clip... and so far, only two actual breeches of the clearcoat, in a year. Have applied at least 30 weekends of ceramic sacrificial ablative coating to the car to protect its unfortunate silver-flake paint (one day, I'll actually get a color *I* want, buying a new car ). But helps the OEM paint's pretty durable, esp compared to the Civic's. Things I don't like: -- what on earth is in the dash buzzing? Intermittent, but when it's on, Christ-on-a-stick it's obnoxious. Make my Prius lightweight, Toyota engineers... but don't slap plastic labyrinth HVAC door actuators in it with tonnes of clearance to make them work before they dry up their lube and shatter, like in late-2010s Lexus RX350s (which btw, take 10 hrs of shop time to REMOVE THE STEERING WHEEL / CLADDING PLUS ENTIRE DASH AND ALL COMPONENTS INCLUDING THE STEEL BAR SUPPORT AND CENTER CONSOLE, to replace one stupid broken plastic tchochke... which btw is accessible from the passenger footwell but unitised for no good reason but profit). Rather low-rent sound I'd expect in an Echo, not an XW60 (and probably the same system in the $35K Prime wailing like that, a giant dragonfly center-mass about a foot deep under the dash). -- have been seeing a tendency for the shifter to just shift when it wants, despite very intentional push-to-side-then-forward for R. Just R, never D. Not slamming on the shifter either, so wondering if it's an adjustment issue I need to address at the dealer. Disappointing if it is... because if it went out from working fine off the dealer lot to intermittently ignoring me in 13 months... it's gonna do it again. -- who decided I can't open the door and drive at walking pace? Need to see the white line if I'm going to park straight, Toyota -- call off your klaxon bloodhounds pls. -- parking sensors, especially the rear ones, squawk when trees are 10m away from me, or people are walking across the street, or when nothing's there at all. This is esp jarring, when the system decides to intervene, by mashing the figurative brake pedal to. the. wood. Happened twice now, once in traffic (thought the lady behind me had tapped me, until looking at the pristine bumper and her metal plate holder that defo would've scratched me), and once in an empty parking lot. Give me an OTA update for this, for eff's sake -- TPSes are getting less accurate over time vs my JACO ElitePro electronic tire pressure gauge (top product in a Project Farm YT review)... but that's not a Toyota problem methinks. Still get best mpg / performance compromise F 38 / R 40, so see no need to change it... just can't trust the TPS readings anymore. More later
To your problems with the shifter: Pay attention to if it only happens just after you've started the car, or if it happens at other times as well. If it only happens just after start, it's you and not the car. I've noticed the gen5 takes a fraction of a second longer to be ready to shift compared to the gen3. It took me months to retrain my muscle memory to give the car just a little bit more time to finish its startup routine before trying to shift, and I still rush it every now and then. If you're only having the shifting problem immediately after startup, you're probably doing the same thing. Just slow down your startup routine the tiniest amount and your problem will go away. For those coming over from a gen3(maybe also a gen4 - I don't know), another tiny difference is the brake pedal and starting. Either you need to press the brake pedal just a touch harder, or the time between pressing it and then pressing start needs to be just a little bit longer. In any case, I had my timing down just perfect after 13 years in a gen3. That timing is just the tiniest bit too quick for the gen5(like a third of a second too quick) and I had to do a bit of relearning. This wouldn't apply to someone coming from a non-hybrid or a non-Toyota because everything would be different in those cases.
I agree with this, and I find it very annoying. There is also a similar slight delay in opening the back doors.
This!! I thought I was going nuts. I changed my routine to: get in car, press the power button, put in seatbelt, put my phone in wireless charger, then shift. Those two activities ensure all the startup chimes are over, and the car will actually shift the way I want it to. On most other cars I would turn the power button on last.
LOL All you have to do is to wait until the READY indicator stops flashing before you shift. It is the same in Gen 4. Otherwise, you will have to turn off and turn on again. You need to give the cats under the car enough time to get out before you drive on.
Not every time. And also, my shifter issues do indeed happen just after starting, but was already aware of the READY indicator needing solid for it not to bork me. It also happens during parking after a drive (need to place my car quite accurately in its space for aggravating reasons I won't belabour you all with) and every single time I need to shift into R, not D... it randomly vetoes me. So probably need to mention this to the dealer next svc, as it's just annoying now and not showstopping. Once it is tho, same day. -- Qestion: for any of you w/ XW60s: how long did your 12V battery last? Did you notice any difference in life betw. a normal ICE and your Prius? Oh -- just remembered from today's drive: have noticed in NORMAL mode, not only is the pedal much more sensitive to throttle application (intentionally of course)... but once you get the hang of it, is significantly better at mpg, betw. 40 - 55 mph (got two 90+ mpg sorties this week... vs. 2 - 3 in 10 mos in ECO mode. Also, both records were set with heavy passing >60 mph and some cruising above 60 mph -- deleterious to mpg in ECO mode. Guess this XW60 still has surprises to share. Caveat: getting higher mileage in NORMAL, at least ime, means staying in its sweet spot -- which is distinct if overlapping to its spot in ECO mode. Found so far that a slog at 45 - 50 mph, with lots of gentle speeding up / slowing, seems to favour NORMAL. ECO, which I'm much more accustomed to, is easier to control (as gain in the pedal is much dialed down from NORMAL or SPORT). really doesn't like throttle application into the Power range, and tends to penalise you for it. Guess a logic that keeps you in EV mode more of the time, dings you trying to access acceleration past granny levels, far more than NORMAL.. which seems to handle small amts of Power range well, until past 1/2-way on that part of the dial, then punishes you. Otherwise, its significantly greater regen seems to work for routine driving (here at least) more than against. Oh last thing -- another set of controls w/ annoying delay: the touch controls on the steering wheel, esp the L joypad. Welcome to CAN busses wiring everything in your car.
OK, it sounds like you might have a malfunction. To extend the life of your 12-V battery, you might want to invest in a Noco Genius and occasionally plug in for a few days to replenish it, as the car otherwise does not keep it fully charged. Regarding the fuel economy in the eco vs. normal modes, come on now, you need to have several tanks of data in the exact same conditions to be able to have the slightest scientifically meaningful conclusion.
The eco mode has a bit more delay in terms of when the power kicks in on acceleration, so they're probably just overcompensating more often in eco mode, and might be pushing the car ever so slightly more than they realize and it adds up over time? That's my guess. I know that whenever I switch between my old ICE car that has an analog throttle and the prius, I tend to forget the difference and end up either feathering the old car way too much for the first minute or two of driving, or I rev the prius up by accident. On the READY mode thing with the shifter, it really is as simple as the car taking a smidge longer to actually be ready. There's a small delay between when the light comes on and when it lets you shift. Maybe they got the timing ever so slightly wrong when doing the car's software, or, OP just has muscle memory that makes him think it get ready faster. All the little startup dash lights go on, then the startup chime turns off and there's still half a second before you can shift. So if you're in a hurry, the audio cues being slightly off can trick you.
The OP said he was getting better fuel economy in the normal mode than in the eco mode. The OP also said that the shifting issue had nothing to do with starting the car and also happened after the car was driven and parked and still in the READY mode.
I missed that second bit, that's my mistake. So yeah if thats the case, get the car looked at under the warranty for sure. On the first point, ECO and Normal don't really change the way the car uses fuel, so much as it changes the throttle response, from my understanding, along a power curve. If someone is overcompensating the throttle in eco mode because its less responsive at the start of the curve between 0 and 100 power delivery, then they could be inadvertently asking for more power in eco than in normal because of how the early part of the acceleration curve feels to drive. The power curves are the same at some point, but since normal is more linear, maybe for them, they find it easier to control. I think that ECO mode is really good for lead footed drivers who need a worse pedal response at the low end of the curve to keep them from jumping from a stop every time, and hurting their fuel economy especially. But for everyone else it takes much more getting used to.
Correct about the eco mode: It only changes the pedal–throttle mapping, with the 0% and 100% throttle points being the same/fixed but requiring more pedal input for any point in between them. If you are using the eco mode, you should also use the eco guide, which shows you if you are within the optimal throttle region. In my Gen 4 Prius Prime Limited, it is both in the meter display and head-up display. That will help you make the best out of the eco mode, but yes, the acceleration will be slow.
Wow, wasn't aware this topic had created this buzz... well let me update you as I'm not here very often. -- I've love to lab test the fuel economy and say 'I've been getting *this* mpg under 10 / 20 / 100 fillups with exactly *these* conditions. But hold on -- no one can in the field can do that. And why would you? Field testing is field testing, I'm not taking the car apart every time I fill up to satisfy some boffin's definition of satisfactory data points. I fill up at the same pump, same ground level (so the tank's filler isn't at a different angle thus tripping the pump nozzle differently), same octane, and stop at first trip of the nozzle's shut-off. Here's some mpg data from over the last two months, recorded on my phone: 250909 -- 427 mi / 6.86 gal = 62.245 mpg 250917 -- 362 mi / 5.42 gal = 66.789 mpg 250924 -- 290 mi / 4.68 gal = 61.966 mpg 251002 -- 388 mi / 6.02 gal = 64.452 mpg 251012 -- 468 mi / 7.45 gal = 62.819 mpg I do not know, those numbers seem satisfactory to me. And reflect I don't mind passing douchebags getting in front of me, then pathetically trying to Valsalva 28 mpg out of their their ICE crossovers, by slowing below my speed -- my indicated 62.5 hasn't budged since Sep, but actual pump measurements do properly temper the red mist (apparently like the 24th of Sep) -- yeah, shifter problems haven't gotten any worse since posting last, but given I had awareness of the problem and could try to compensate for it, the fact it hasn't improved much is also telling. Have some maintenance the dash is telling me about at 15K, so will talk to a svc writer about it then (probably this week, thanks all for your advice). -- I do get better mpg in Normal mode. In fact had gotten two 99.9 mpg post-sortie readings lately (99.9 is the highest it'll display; could've been higher? Which is mind-boggling), but only managed to get a shot of one of them: This had never happened in Eco mode, not once. Best iirc was in the 80s... I don't count any trips less than 5 miles, as there's no way for the ICE to run long enough to exit warmup phase (open loop, or whatever Toyota engineered in an Atkinson ICE to perform the same function). This is why mpg for the first sortie to breakfast in the morning, is always ~10 mpg less than my return trip home (one-way = 8 mis) -- the ICE has sat overnight, and needs to properly warm up to give best mpg -- this means time in operation, consuming fuel. There's one other in the 90s and several in the '80s. If I got one 80+ mpg sortie in Eco mode, I'd be ecstatic. Can only speculate as to why Normal mode for XW60... where I live... the 89 oct fuel I fill it with... tire pressures I maintain... permit such vastly different sorties, esp up into Prime-like numbers. Elevation chg has a lot to do with it and which direction, but the rest it almost seemed like Toyota gathered data on how real people (esp us Wild West 'Murrkins) actually drive, then engineered a near-200-bhp-total-output HEV to thrive in some version of that. Most of my best sorties ≠ feathering the throttle for most gentle acceleration (as you'd do in an ICE-only vehicle). Grandma-style this XW60 doth not tolerate, outside that warmup 5 mis -- otherwise get going / get best mpg, apparently -- oh -- I use Eco mode whenever the A/C in Normal mode's cooled the interior down enough, and don't need Normal's throttle response (such as parked at a stoplight). This depletes the main battery less when I'm not moving and ICE isn't on. Switch back when going again. Obvi don't use this mode anymore otherwise, expecting some kind of mpg advantage. Don't see any other use for it, except perhaps if you want to extend front tire life a teensy bit longer? I'll leave that to someone else to test. Never use Sport anymore either, unless I want to lose a couple tenths. The performance advantage is simply not worth the mpg loss in an HEV Prius for me. I want passing performance with few downsides, I'll buy a Prime or BEV. --- Thanks for all input! A bit weird getting out of the throttle gently and still accelerating the same as in the Power band... plus sitting at ~62.5 a couple of months with plenty moments of full throttle (only a few seconds, always -- never more, or you can lose a tenth or two). And I never have to plug in at Target, the site of one of the only charge stations on island that's not either full capacity or broken. And Toyota's late-2020s / early-2030s new HEVs are supposed to be even more impressive, holy smokes. Back in more than a bit
Inflate your tires to 43/42 psi. You will easily gain another 5 mpg. The factory specs are only for the ride comfort, not for the fuel economy and tread life. I average at least around 67 mpg in my Gen 4 Prius Prime after subtracting the BEV kWh use, around 78 mpg at 55 mph, 72 mpg at 60 mph, and 64 mpg at 65 mph.
