I'm just wondering if anybody had the experience of testing out the third generation in cold weather. I'm talking about -20°C. How does the new heat exchanger in the exhaust pipe work versus the old system of a thermos for the engine coolant. Does the heater inside the cab put out more heat than the old generation and what about warm-up times. Does anybody have a preference for the old system? To me it seems that the old system would work better for people in warmer weather, but when you live in extreme weather it's probably worse than not having it as there is twice as much engine coolant for the engine to warm. I'm asking people maybe in Alaska or the Yukon.
I bet the new system has more to do with manufacturing economics than anything else. I would think maybe the bigger engine may produce more heat though, but that's just a guess
I can tell you all, that the heater in the new Gen III is great compared to it's previous models. I had a Gen I, so am comparing to that. It heats up rather quickly and produces warm air in a few minutes. Not HOT but warm, and by the time I get it on the highway in 10 MInutes I am turning down the temp because it's TOO hot. This was on a 28 Degree F night. I set it to high initially and then back it down. This Heat Exchanger may be the best thing that Toyota did. So far I don't think I will be cold when the snow fly's! And from the 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid I traded for the 2010 Prius V, I can already tell I will be much warmer. After 30 minutes in the Honda Civic I was never as warm as 10 minutes in the Prius! Winter won't be as bad since I won't be chattering in the seat!
The thermos is mostly useless in -20 deg weather. It cools very quickly, so that after an overnight rest it's just around freezing temp. Has very little affect on warmup. Don't even bother trying to warm up a Prius without driving it. It takes forever. But drive a few blocks and it's toasty warm (the cabin air, that is, that's blowing out of the vents). I don't think anyone has had -20 deg weather yet (Alaska?). We still don't have our permanent winter snow yet (yea, it's late!). Lowest I've seen so far is about -10C. But Pearl is a GII, so I'll let others describe the differences they've seen with their GIII to the above.
Well it was 7F this morning, 45F in my garage. I had heat flowing in about 5 min. Saw maybe about .5 mpg off of my regular commute this morning (dry, no snow or ice, 52.5 on the monitor). Still haven't put on the studs yet as there is no snow!
Bleh. We've had a good run so far and will have another this week! I swear I'm the only one that went through that brutal winter of 03-04. All my friends that are here got off easy.
