The Most Informative 2010 Prius Review I've Read To Date

[Seamaster73]

http://prius3.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/10-months-driving-in-the-future-a-prius-2010-review-2/

[FourFourTwo]

Excellent article.

[Jan&tone]

Fantastic article, it should be compulsory reading for motoring journalists, unlike the plonker in todays Sunday People who rubbished the Auris hsd as 'only' getting the same consumption as the diesel version.... Obviously he wasnt trying!

[jw67]

Fascinating article

[Chris Dance]

Very good article. I agree with what Jan&Tone said about journalists.

[sjrainsford]

That's a good write up!

I like that he's taken a slightly more technical angle on it. I'm guessing he's done a lot of investigation into how it works and like that he's tried to simplify it a little for the reader. Many motoring journalists don't really come from a technically biased background so can often only ever write up about a car from a drivers point of view with little understanding of what's going on under the bonnet.

We all know the Prius has it's flaws. I knew about them before i purchased mine. But what I think is important is that they're moving the game on. Ultimately the internal combustion engine is old technology and the technology needs to be developed to replace it. But what better way to do it than by using the new technology to compliment the old!

It's the only way to bring electric vehicle technology down in price and into the mass Market. All we need to do now is get rid of the influence that oil companies have!!

[r04drunner1]

+1. Brilliant article.

Definitely a great reference point for people who are thinking about buying a Prius.

The English was pretty good too for somebody coming from a German speaking background. Gut gemacht!

[capnbirdseye]

Excellent review with a fair bit of it valid for GenII as well, one little misconception:-

quote: you can slow down to distant traffic lights while averaging a nice 0 L/km (like all other cars) end quote:

which of course is not strictly true because all other cars just drop to idle speed whilst descending hills and coasting up to a stop but still consume petrol, I would imagine that all those little idling episodes add up to a considerable amount of fuel wasted per tank

[Cyker]

Huh? What do you mean? Almost all modern cars use no fuel if you just let them coast in-gear above a certain RPM.

I do it all the time in my Yaris D4D and I reckon is one of the biggest fuel saving tactics I have, esp. going down the A10!

As soon as I see a red light ahead, I just lift off and let my Yaris coast in 5th or 4th; The big win is if you can time it with the light change and just fly past the impatient BWMs and Audis that shot past you and have to accelerate from a standstill while you're already doing 30mph

On a good day I can make it from J25 to the GCR without having to stop once and with minimal braking, which saves a lot of fuel vs having to brake to a stop, idle for a bit, then accelerate from a stop at every light!

[capnbirdseye]

maybe I got it wrong

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Huh? What do you mean? Almost all modern cars use no fuel if you just let them coast in-gear above a certain RPM.

I do it all the time in my Yaris D4D and I reckon is one of the biggest fuel saving tactics I have, esp. going down the A10!

Was that NO fuel or very little fuel?

With the Prius it cuts the engine completely and uses the HV electrical system to power brakes and steering etc. I'm pretty sure in a normal car the fuel is cut to low amounts, but not completely even when coasting in gear - otherwise surely the brake servo would run out of charge and the power steering would get heavy?

Perhaps someone from Toyota (Parts King?) could confirm for sure one way or the other?

[acetip]

Huh? What do you mean? Almost all modern cars use no fuel if you just let them coast in-gear above a certain RPM.

I do it all the time in my Yaris D4D and I reckon is one of the biggest fuel saving tactics I have, esp. going down the A10!

Was that NO fuel or very little fuel?

With the Prius it cuts the engine completely and uses the HV electrical system to power brakes and steering etc. I'm pretty sure in a normal car the fuel is cut to low amounts, but not completely even when coasting in gear - otherwise surely the brake servo would run out of charge and the power steering would get heavy?

Perhaps someone from Toyota (Parts King?) could confirm for sure one way or the other?

hi grumpy

he must mean coasting whilst engines running surley.cos as you said he would loose his brake servo assistance also power steering AND his steering lock may operate in some cars. very dodgy.

[DrCez]

Huh? What do you mean? Almost all modern cars use no fuel if you just let them coast in-gear above a certain RPM.

I do it all the time in my Yaris D4D and I reckon is one of the biggest fuel saving tactics I have, esp. going down the A10!

Was that NO fuel or very little fuel?

With the Prius it cuts the engine completely and uses the HV electrical system to power brakes and steering etc. I'm pretty sure in a normal car the fuel is cut to low amounts, but not completely even when coasting in gear - otherwise surely the brake servo would run out of charge and the power steering would get heavy?

Perhaps someone from Toyota (Parts King?) could confirm for sure one way or the other?

My understanding is that modern engines can switch off fuel injection completely if coasting fast enough to keep the engine above idle speed. Here's a quote: not a reply from Toyota, but Wikipedia so it must be true ;)

"While coasting with the engine running and the transmission in gear, most cars' engine control unit with fuel injection will cut off fuel supply, and the engine will continue running, being driven by the wheels"

Coasting in the Prius/using the HSD must be even more efficient because the only engine "drag" is artificially generated by the motor/generator plus it can be removed by feathering the accelerator slightly.

Really liked the the article linked by the OP btw, thanks for posting the link

[capnbirdesye]

Huh? What do you mean? Almost all modern cars use no fuel if you just let them coast in-gear above a certain RPM.

In reality it's the 'above a certain RPM' that makes all other cars not comparable to a Prius no matter how you may try to justify your statement so my earlier post is basically correct because the average engine will shut of fuel only above 1500 rpm ( some cars 1750) so your engine will have kicked into life long before you finally stop at the lights so the reviewers 'like all other cars' isn't really correct regardless of how you look at it

[Doesn'tExist]

Very good article and very well written!

And I agree with capnbirdesye, you may have the illusion but lets not be delusional about it you can't keep a normal combustion engine free running on no fuel sure you use less when coasting, perhaps even nothing under some conditions but not for long as it will be braking on the engine if the connection with the wheels keep those pistons going up and down ;-)