Well my wife and I just drove a 2010 Prius V with nav (no ATP)! I loved it, the driving position is MUCH better than the previous car. My wife liked it...she loves her '04 but I got her thinking about the possibilities...to me its a no brainer...she's going to be tougher. Silver one that was sold at Fitzgerald Toyota in Gaithersburg. I hated to think of someone's poor new Prius being test driven by all these yahoos...there was a line! Limited to 5 miles...but still. Anyways one thing I noticed is that the throttle on this car was EXTREMELY heavy. Almost to the point where you might wonder if the brake was on...which it wasn't. ECO mode, normal, PWR mode, EV mode didnt seem to matter, it was just very heavy as compared to our 2004 which is pretty light. Those of you with 2010s that have come out of Gen IIs...did you feel the same thing or is it this car?
I just drove both for a total of about 5 miles x's 2 on the Gen II and Gen III alternating back and forth to get a good feel. So a total of 4 drives. The throttle response feels very slow in ECO mode, but in the regular and PWR modes they felt better than the Gen III. I got 43-45 mpg's on the Gen II and then 49-52 on the Gen III using the same basic route and testing the acceleration. :rockon: I love the Gen III and I hope that helps.
ECO mode has a very slow throttle response. It takes more than 5 miles for the driver to adapt. You can tap the ECO button again to return to standard mode or use the Power mode for "rocket" acceleration. I use ECO for flat city or highway. Shift to standard or power for hills.
I'm wondering if maybe this car was stuck in ECO mode...I'll plan on driving another one. I loved it. Wouldn't trade the Lexus for it, but if the wife will allow it the '04 will be on the lot, no question.
