Habits Learned While Driving A Prius

I have found that by driving in ECO on my Prius, when I jump into my other vehicle, Chev. Avalanche, I lurch forward because I press down too much on the gas pedal. I've been trying to drive in normal mode and learn to moderate my gas pedal inputs and achieve the same mpg's as ECO. I love the PWR mode because it's so much fun but it impacts my mileage too much to use it all the time.

 

Tom, when my Prius was in the shop for 7 weeks getting the hail damage fixed, I had similar relearning experiences while driving my wife's Altima. Then when I finally did get the Prius back it took a bit of remembering/relearning on it as well.

Her V6 Altima (hot rod) has an extremely sensitive throttle, just opposite the Prius. That was fun, and jerky on starts for a while.

 

Yea, my kids hold their necks and pretend whiplash every time I drive my wife's Honda Accord. It is only a 4-cylinder but it has a very aggressive accelerator compared to the Prius in normal mode.

I do the same with the keys. I look for the power button on the dash

 

Yeah, habits get to be a real bear when 50 is getting bigger in the windshield!

Fortunately, or unfortunately....although my G3 is a daily driver for me, I also drive my 09 Sierra daily, since the G3 is a company car-----so I have to stay current in multiple vehicle types.
I can't say that I'm as enamored with the [sic] SKS as you are, since I still have to juggle old-timey metal keys for my offices, and my old school pickemup truck, and my house...etc. I am glad that people 'like' this feature in the Prius.

Since I always have to carry a big wad of keys around everywhere I go (think: High School janitor) one metal key for the Prius wouldn't be much of an imposition for me---as a matter of fact it would be an improvement over the somewhat bulky key-fob thingy that I always have to make sure that I have im my pocket before I drive away.

Since I always have to load/unload test equipment before I drive, and the "smartness" of the smartkey only works for the driver side door, I have to fumble for the keyfob and unlock the car before I load stuff into the cargo area or passenger seats. Sometimes, I'll touch the driver door and unlock the car, and then walk to the back to load cargo----but like I said, it's a non-optional 'option' that I can live without.

Throttle discipline hasn't been much of an issue for me when I change from the G3 (which I always drive in ECO) to my 300+BHP truck---but I will say that I enjoy driving my truck, and especially my motorcycles(!) much more after driving the G3 for a day!! It's nice to have a full bag of acceleration at your disposal when you want some! The Prius driving experience has also taught me to relish in the ability to fully see what is behind me when driving a non-Prius, and I enjoy the ride height of my truck much more these days!!!

So far, I haven't caught myself shutting down the truck before putting it into park---but I still have a couple of years left on the sunny side of 50, so that day is probably going to come!

There are a few things I really like not having to think about when I drive the Prius, like how much real estate I need when making parking lot maneuvers. Parking is a little easier too. Filling the gas tank is a lot faster!!

Like many things in life---it's mixed bag....

 

That's what I noticed whenever I drove a rental non-hybrid. I hate it because it is so hard to control power precisely. I am used to electric motor precision.

All those "jumping forward" power disappears on the highway. Passing power response seems so much less than Prius.

 

I've forgotten to get the key out of my pocket for the Lexus, but no difference in driving experience because I drive both frequently. I drive in Normal mode and only use the PWR mode when I'm in a hurry.

 

Automakers often falsley tune throttle response to be very aggressive, to give the driver a feeling of more power than is actually present. Virtually all cars are like this, and it's more prevalant in lower power output engines. It doesn't have anything to do really with precision per-se on the control that Prius has of the motor.

I much prefer the linear "honest" resopnse of cars like the Diesel smart, or the Prius - where it's far more accurate. People jump in and think "Man, this thing is slow!", but they're just not used to havign to use more than 1 cm of pedal travel.

-Iain

 

Actually, the Prius is not bad from zero to about 10-20 mph. I suspect that this is because when you yank on the throttle, the electric motor kicks in---and electric drive is all about having torque.

Zero to 60?
Well....
09 GMC = 6.2 sec
10 Prius = 10.1

The "Man, this thing is slow!" factor depends on who is sitting in the driver's seat. FWIW, I don't find Priuses to be dangerously slow, and they certainly have enough grunt to get you and your family from point "A" to point "B" even if there's a stretch of interstate in between.

I've heard that, unlike some vehicles, Priuses aren't governed at 98 miles per hour. This means that if you had the stones (or the stupidity) to do so, you could eventually reel in one of those 6.2 second trucks on the interstate and pass them up.
Personally, I'm into the 'winning at the gas pump" race.
Throttle response???
That depends on what you get used to, but then I grew up with a cable connecting my right foot (or hand) to the motor---so my feelings on the subject are a little biased.

 

Whenever my car is at the dealer for service, I have the same experience with the loaner (when it's not a Prius). It's amazing how much relative acceleration even a little 4 cylinder non-hybrid car has.

 

I am talking about this. Try that with a throttle controlled internal combustion engine with torque converter.

Prius: Precise control while driving up a ramp (using electric motor)

 

I think you'd feel differently if you had SKS on all 3 doors. It allows you access to anywhere in the car without removing the fob from you pocket since you can reach the front door handles when standing next to the back doors. Unfortunately with 2010 Toyota made a power play to try to push people into package 4 just to get the 3 door system. The price difference between package 2 and 4 is just too great so most people go with package 2 or 3. This was a big difference from Gen2 cars where you could get SKS, backup camera, VSC and other features in package 2 for only $575.