Acceleration from a dead stop?

I've only had my car a few weeks, but it does to me feel slower to respond to the accelerator peddle. I still think there is a delay between pressing the peddle and the car moving off. What I can't work is if this is an illusion, i.e. because the engine (when it's on) does not change in pitch (rev up) there is no que that you can hear to know that car has responded.

I would follow the break-in advice. If you are not accelerating hard then I think that your less likely to need to brake hard, not an expert but I would guess that it's more important to break-in the brakes gently - obviously with either acceleration or braking don't put yourself at risk.

 

just stomp on the gas, it's good the MPG honest

 

If you need to just push it to the floor when merging. Unless your battery is really low the gas does not rev too high.

One thing about the Prius is that the accelerator response is very linear. Push it down just a bit and you get a consistent very small amount of acceleration. I have not driven an Accord myself but most of the "normal" cars I've had to drive I notice are considerably more jumpy than the Prius; push down a little bit from a stop and you get a jump of acceleration that quickly gets you up to about 15MPH before the response becomes more linear. I much perfer the response of the Prius, espeically for driving at low speeds around a parking lot.

 

Just like most normal cars, Honda has most of the throttle action of the Accord at the start of the stroke. This makes a car feel much more powerful than it really is.

Tom

 

I want to add something with this statement: if the split second startup makes a difference to your driving, then you need to rethink how or where you drive. A good driver should never put themselves into a situation where the timing is that tight. Granted, emergencies can happen, but don't make a habit of it.

Tom

 

Think about this a bit. Would you want your brakes to have any type of delay when applied? Of course not. I don't see much difference. I want to stop and go when I choose.

 

If a small delay in your brakes causes a safety issue, you are following too close. I stand by my original argument.

Obviously we all want these systems to respond as fast as possible. What I'm driving at is that it is silly and irresponsible to deliberately push things to the limit. I'm not implying that you drive in this irresponsible manner, but a lot of drivers do. I assume you are smarter than that, since you have demonstrated the good sense to purchase a Prius.

Tom

 

After you're past the break-in interval, floor the gas all you like :_> But do keep in mind that the anti-slip will engage and stop power to the drive wheels whenever they break loose from the driving surface.

 

I would term the go-pedal response as "slow bottom", i.e. if you
want oomph it's all out at the other end of pedal travel. As
opposed to your typical pig-dog throttle setup that's usually
way too twitchy and really hard to feather in many cars.
.
The by-the-book number is about 10 seconds for 0 - 60, and
most people have found that to be true.
.
I will agree, and deliver my standard rant, that if you really
find yourself thinking you have to accelerate your way out of
trouble, you are doing something wrong. Braking, yes, punch
it, no. Think carefully about that and spend a couple of days
driving around and looking differently at the situations around
you before you try to respond.
.
_H*