Okay, on these hot days, "auto" mode is good .. to a point. Actually, the air conditioning is indeed, "Climate Control" when it's in the auto mode (automatically changing fan speed, for instance, as the car cools). It would seem though that one should be able to change, for instance, from the 'cool air in the face' mode to the 'cool air on both feet and face' mode without shifting the system out of, "auto" mode. In, "auto" mode, from what I can see, the only variable that we have control over is selected temperature. If we want to change anything else, the system immediately switches from being a climate control system to being a simple air conditioning system. So, the question is: is there any way to change the defaults for climate control in the Prius?
Since I'm still waiting for "the call", I don't have a Prius to test this on. However, I think that when you change something like the direction the air blows, that function becomes a manual function and all the others stay in auto mode. If you press "auto" everything reverts back to auto mode. There are some features that the dealer can set, like, do you want the air conditioner compressor to come on when you press the defrost button (this speeds up the defogging by drying the air).
auto mode ive never taken my prius off the auto mode since march and find that on beautiful drives like the natchez trace i still get about 60 or so. on the highway i get between 47 and 57. not too shabby. i sometimes think that switching it from this to that gains very little . fred from nashville
I recall reading, and I believe I have done this in practice, if you select a vent position you do indeed go out of full auto mode, however the temperature control will still try to maintain your selected temperature at the fan speed you have selected or the system has defaulted to (low). You can increase the fan speed to get the desired result. I will verify this during my morning commute. This is somewhat of a pain in the *ss, however this is how every auto climate system I have ever been exposed to works, from a 1986 Corvette to a 2000 Grand Prix and a 2003 Cadillac CTS. The GM vehicles at least work this way, which I always hate because I want the heat out of both the vent and floor heater outlets, as this warms the car quicker. I have heard people complain about this since the late 1980's but I have yet to see one that addresses the default air outlet positions. The only change is the 2000+ versions allow you to keep temperature control if you change from the default, but you must manually control the fan.
