I Picked Up My Gen 3 T4 Today

[Dacre]

I picked up my 2010 Gen 3 T4 today - I'm like a kid on Christmas Day!

I drove it the 33 miles home from the dealer - mainly motorway - and averaged 65 mph and 66mpg.

I've been reading the manual so have got my head around most of it but I'm sure there will still be plenty of questions I will be asking over the next few weeks

[ph47mf]

you need to tell us (me!) the general ownership experience as i am looking at one as well.

[Chris Dance]

Happy motoring Dacre. Most folk are only too willing to help if you have any questions. Prius is the best car I have ever owned. I hope it will be for you as well.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I drove it the 33 miles home from the dealer - mainly motorway - and averaged 65 mph and 66mpg.

Now you see we're not making it up :)

You managed 66 mpg out of a petrol automatic! Good eh? :)

[Dacre]

I drove it the 33 miles home from the dealer - mainly motorway - and averaged 65 mph and 66mpg.

Now you see we're not making it up :)

You managed 66 mpg out of a petrol automatic! Good eh? :)

I'm very happy with that - I was getting between 33 and 38 mpg on my 300C

[cbcdesign]

I drove it the 33 miles home from the dealer - mainly motorway - and averaged 65 mph and 66mpg.

Now you see we're not making it up :)

You managed 66 mpg out of a petrol automatic! Good eh? :)

Its not really an automatic though, its CVT which is in my opinion not really comparable to either a manual or geared transmission system.

In fact I think of CVT as a third class of transmission system in many ways.

[Jan&tone]

In fact I think of CVT as a third class of transmission system in many ways

Why?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Why?

I didn't get it either for the reasons as follows;

A Manual - You change the gears

An Automatic - You don't change gears.

Surely does it matter whether the automatic changes 3 gears, 7 gears or none? You put it in drive and away you go. No more messing about in traffic, no more hill starts and no more £800 bills for a new clutch at 80k miles.

[r04drunner1]

Its not really an automatic though, its CVT which is in my opinion not really comparable to either a manual or geared transmission system.

In fact I think of CVT as a third class of transmission system in many ways.

Beg to differ.

As others have said, "automatic" = the car automatically changes gear ratio for you. Which is what the Prius eCVT does.

The idea of a CVT is that the car is ALWAYS in the correct ratio because there are infinite ratios to chose from. So in that sense CVT is a third class - it's mechanically superior to the other two!

The Prius eCVT is an odd ball though, unlike the old DAF/Volvo CVT with continuous belts, it uses a planetary gear system with ratios effectively controlled by the computer. Hence the "e" before the "CVT": it's electronically continuously variable (or "effectively" continuously variable) rather than mechanically continuously variable.

Granted I can think of a couple of potential annoyances with the Prius system compared to a standard automatic. Although, to be fair to the Prius, I see them as differences (or "features") rather than disadvantages. It's just they might be annoying to somebody who wants to stick to standard manual / automatic gears. (Pun not intended )

First, you have very little manual override in the system. On most standard automatics you can manually select a gear (via the Jaguar J-Gate for example). Or, on some models, you can use flappy paddles to change gear - effectively turning an automatic into a clutchless manual transmission, getting the best of both worlds. You can't do that on a Prius, only being able to chose P (Park), D (Drive), neutral, R (Reverse) and B (Braking).

Second, under hard acceleration the eCVT keeps the engine at high revs. Which means you get a constant buzz (or "moo" noise). It's one of the less pleasant features of the Prius; it's normally a pleasantly quiet car in other circumstances let alone in the silent so-called "stealth" mode.

[sjrainsford]

Its actually a nice and simple system in the Prius too as in its most basic descriptive sense its just a differential in reverse.

[Tchantchès]

Here you can find how it works. Here also.

Have a good reading.

[cbcdesign]

In fact I think of CVT as a third class of transmission system in many ways

Why?

Because the others transmissions have gears with ratios whereas CVT doesn't have ratios in the sense that multi speed manual and automatic transmissions do. It's different to fixed ratio speed transmissions in many important ways.

[Jan&tone]

In fact I think of CVT as a third class of transmission system in many ways

Why?

Because the others transmissions have gears with ratios whereas CVT doesn't have ratios in the sense that multi speed manual and automatic transmissions do. It's different to fixed ratio speed transmissions in many important ways.

I beg your pardon, I misunderstood your comment. I thought you meant third class as in inferior rather than a third separate class of transmission.

Clear now!

[cbcdesign]

Ahh, I see. No, having seen the You Tube video on the gen 2 Prius Transmission I thinks it's a rather elegant piece of engineering and one of the things that makes the Prius such a brilliant car.