New Here, Got My Prius v Two Last week

Welcome and congrats! First rule, it's best to get up to speed briskly then take advantage of the techniques you'll find here like pulse and glide, stealth mode and the rest. No need to tick off fellow drivers!

 

Welcome to PriusChat and congrats on your purchase!

In addition to the advice provided by Erikon, you might give the "Power" mode a try to help you get up to speed quicker.

 

So, my old next door neighbor from 4 years ago sends me an email that he just bought a v to replace his old Nissan sedan (This, one week after I bought mine. We had 2-G2s while we lived there and I guess my enthusiasm for these cars rubbed off! )

Anyway, we get together Friday night for a little primer over dinner, and he mentioned the same thing about acceleration (as well as "the car takes quite a bit of time to turn on after you hit Start"). Ugh.

With all the new stuff Toyota's had to cram into their manuals to cover all the bells and whistles since these first came out, it's a lot easier to overlook, amongst the library of materials that now come with the car, "Hybrid Driving 101" basics: settings, indicators and driving techniques. I imagine one could spend months culling all the great advice on this board into a book just on the later! (hmmmmm!)

Having said this ... for all you new Prius G3 & v cruisers out there:

PWR mode will provide you with quicker acceleration (i.e. finer/quicker acceleration control from the pedal, but probably the "gas pedal" you're used to if you've never driven a hybrid).​

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ECO mode, a lot lot less, but this mode makes it easier to keep those HSI bars on your dash (see Instrument Cluster, p. 203) in the ECO area and out of the PWR area (easier to "hyper-mile" and save bucks at the pump). You don't need to switch PWR mode ON if you suddenly find yourself needing more power. Depressing the pedal (albeit, farther) will get you the same acceleration from the car as if you were in PWR mode.​

Using neither ("Normal" mode, for lack of a better word) is a compromise, and you can go back and forth and in between at will whenever you want while driving, accelerating, braking or at a stop. "PWR Mode" or "ECO Mode" lights up on the far right of your dash display to let you know your current selection. If neither are there, you're in "Normal Mode."

As for my neighbor's consternation that it takes quite a bit of time for the car to turn on after you press Start, I just had to smile. And now he is, too.

Enjoy the new car, Shemarien! And welcome!