I wanted to find out how much fuel I would waste by driving Power Mode mode compared to Normal mode. Since, I kept a Trip info on my 1k road trip to Los Angeles last month, on my recent 1k trip to LA, I was on power mode. Below was my First trip info (cut & pasted from another Thread) Here's my first 1k miles Road Trip info (orange is 2nd Trip): Road trip FROM/To: SF/Bay to LA Hwy Terrain: Flat to 4100 Feet climb to Flat Load: 2 Adults, 3 Kids on 3 Car seats and Luggage in the trunk Time of day: Mid-morning Sunny Sky Total Miles: 367 AVG MPG (computer/actual): 38.6/37.44 37.0/36.0 Driving Style: Normal with A/C on doing 75-80 MPH flow of traffic FROM/TO: LA DRIVING Hwy Terrain: Mostly Flat Load: 1 Adult no wife & Kids with empty trunk Time of day: All day clear sky Total Miles: 371 AVG MPG (computer/actual): 43.3/41.2 41.1/40.3 Driving Style: Normal with A/C on doing on 5 - 45 MPH during LA stop and go highway traffic to no traffic traffic doing 70 and above MPH highway flow of traffic. Road trip FROM/To: LA to SF/Bay Hwy Terrain: Flat to 4100 Feet climb to Flat Load: 2 Adults, 3 Kids on 3 Car seats and Luggage in the trunk Time of day: Night with Rain Storm over Tejon Pass Total Miles: 337 (reset the trip ODO before Tejon Pass) AVG MPG (computer/actual): 35.8/32.6 36.8/34.24 Driving Style: Normal with A/C on doing Mostly 75 MPH and above except 20 minutes idle on stopped traffic due to freeway closure then 45-60 MPH at Tejon Pass. Road Trip Overall AVG MPG is 39.2/37.0 38.4/36.0 On my Second Trip to LA, the conditions were identical. This time, all throughout the trip, I am in Power Mode, AC on, no Hybrid gas saving driving style and no MPG AVG monitoring. So, I drove this car like I would normally drive my gas-only powered cars. So my question is now answered. On a 1k mile road trip, I wasted an average of 1 MPG by driving my V in the power mode. That's less than 1 Gallon of gas wasted in a 1K mile road trip. I really liked and enjoyed the throttle response in the power mode. I wonder how much Gas I would waste driving on power mode on my daily 80 mile round trip commute.... Stay tune.
If you want the best of both worlds drive in the power mode but use some of the techniques like gliding etc.
I, too, just recently discovered the Power Mode. Not only did it make a huge difference merging into traffic but allowed me to overtake cars very easily. The one hitch - HILLS! Going up this one big long hill (on my way home from work on rural road) - it was better on Power Mode but still could feel that the car still lacked power to get up the hill. On Normal Mode on this hill, I stay on the slow lane to get out of the way of the faster cars otherwise I get dirty looks from the cars trying to overtake me. I'm thankful that I don't live in a very hilly area!
Just a reminder for those new to the various modes: All Prius modes have the same available power. In other words, you cannot accelerate faster or climb hills better in power mode, unless you are unwilling to press on the accelerator pedal. Power mode puts more of the throttle response in the beginning of the accelerator pedal travel, but all of the modes even out at the end. If you floor the accelerator pedal, you get the same response in all modes. Tom
