TCH and Prius Comparison question

I can do essentially the same with the Prius. My commute is further than yours, approximately 20 miles one way, and I'm averaging 55 mpg per the display.

 

The Prius will operate in EV up to 45mph (stealth mode) when the engine is warmed up. However It will not maintain that speed in stealth mode. It will slightly decelerate at a very slow pace. You can accelerate up to 47mph using ICE, let go the gas peddle to let the engine shut off then re-apply the accelerator gently to start using the battery to maintain speed. By that time the speed will drop down to about 45mph. It will gradually decelerate to about 39 or 40 in a 1.4-1.7 mile range. By that time, the battery indicator will show 2 bars and the ICE kicks on to recharge the battery. The longest I've driven in stealth mode is 3 miles before the ICE kick on to charge the battery. I start out with 7 bars and maintain 25-30mph. As almost all PC users will tell you, don't drive in stealth mode unless you have a plugin Prius. The engine will use more fuel to charge the HV battery and drive the vehicle.

 

Although battery-only acceleration is slow, it's quite controllable if you keep throttle to the left half side of the throttle bar and I've found that on flat it will get you to about ~40 or so. I was doing it yesterday (nobody behind me so lack of acceleration was ok) and it was up into 30's easily then greatly slowed down. However, then I got to a small downward hill and could eek it up past 50 and still the MPG were in the "100 mpg" zone as the ICE was not apparently running. I haven't read enough about this stealth mode stuff people talk about, though to know precisely past 45 what the ICe is doing.

 

Rickop, The Prius operates the same way. In the new G3 Prius use 45 mph rather than the 38 mph you, and I in my G2 Prius, experience. By the way, there is an asymmetry in the speed engine cut-off point that is useful to be aware off: If you are gaining speed starting below 38 mph, you can reach 41-42 mph before the ICE will spin, whereas if you are slowing down starting from 42+ mph, the shutoff occurs at 38 mph.

Cpraudio: While it is true that routing energy through the battery incurs conversion losses, driving while the ICE is not spinning saves about 2 kw (a lot!). If we take the conversion losses to be 15%, EV driving at less than 2/0.15 = 13 kw power draw is net beneficial.

Practically, don't use EV to go up a hill or accelerate, but keeping the ICE off with a light touch on the fuel pedal when possible is great for overall fuel economy.

 

Execuse me, but if you already have a vehicle that gets 45 mpg, why are you talking about trading for a Prius?
Do you just want to lose money any way you can?

 

Teakwood, why did you buy a new 2010 rather than a used G2 ? All those thousands of dollars down the drain, and likely not a single mpg to show for it.

 

I believe Teakwood is writing about is the TCH is only 2009
the amount of lose trade any car in a one or two is huge
I would keep the TCH for another couple of years and look at the 7 new hybrids( that only from toyota) that will be out at that time

 

we have an 08 tch and i know what you mean. i can keep it in electric more than my 08 pri. not sure about the genIII, but, does it matter? we get 40-45 in the tch and 60-65 in the pri. you'll probably get 65-70 in a genIII!

 

sounds like a lot of if's, and's or but's here. i agree on the trunk tho. we take the camry to fla. and it's plenty room if you have the back seat and are packing a lot of small things and soft luggage. but the pri is great for 2 x 4's, plant material and all kind of large items!

 

rickkop, I agree with the sentiment above, it's almost an impossible collusion of events to transpire that do NOT have you losing money for this venture, replacing a TCH (toyota camry hybrid, for those not sure what that acronym is--I wasn't) with a new Prius.

Regarding capacity, I don't know if the TCH has any towing capacity (The Prius has ZERO), but even if it doesn't, I bet you could get a class I hitch (they exist for the Gen3 and must for a TCH) and then when you need some extra capacity one of those cages that goes on the back that people pull coolers and things onto--even with a classI hitch they have 150+ lbs capacity, i.e three suitcases. Or a roof rack with one of those torpedo-looking containers. Granted, the hatchback design of the prius is helpful, but there are ways to get your desired capacity without replacing the vehicle.

I have seen the TCH trunk and it almost made me bang my head on the ground, it was really a pathetic little joke, but there are ways around its capacity. It's a real shame there is no camry wagon, but man Americans have as much as admitted that their fragile self-esteem will be obliterated if they are caught in one, so there aren't many left.

Capacity aside you'll be throwing money in the toilet replacing it with a Prius. Even if you sold it and got a Prius just the cost of registering it/taxes if you run those numbers over the next several years with gas at, say, $2.80/ gallon you'll never make it up.

 

And I would certainly like to see many more good hatchback type of cars introduced that don't necessarily have large wheels and tires (CUV's, SUV's, etc...) It has been far too difficult to find good 4 door, 5 seat small-mid hatchbacks with decent cargo room and that fit well over 6 foot drivers. And they need to look decent too, not dorky (i.e. Kia Rondo, ugh)

I can see why many opt for trunks - they want to keep stuff back there and don't want it flying into their head in an accident. Rear seat pass throughs are OK, but nothing like a hatchback for versatility.

 

You can keep stuff from flying with that "trunk cover" the Prius comes with. We took ours out the first week and haven't used it since; it's just collecting dust. I think most don't go for hatchbacks simply for the appearance reason. Something I liked on the Mazda 6 "sedan" made a few years ago is that it looked like a sedan but when you lifted the trunk it was completely attached to the rear-window and served like a hatchback. Very nifty addition and no drawback to it at all. Now when you lower the seats you have quite a lot of capacity, so it was a hatch that looked like a sedan.

 

What's a TCH?

 

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toyota camry hybrid