Car Blogging-Prius
I got to drive a Prius the other day, for the first time. I’ve been curious for a while now about the technology, and about whether it was an easy switch to make.
After driving it for a bit, I’d have to say that, at least in the case of a Prius, it’s not a smooth switch to a hybrid. It really takes some getting used to. In fact, I actually started to get used to the weird feeling like it was stalling whenever you stopped at a red light, and it switched from gas to battery power. I might have even gotten used to just how light it felt as we were driving around and how odd it is to have a park button instead of a park on the gear shift. What I don’t think I’ll ever get used to is just how little power it had! Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big SUV, V-8 kind of guy. We have two Subaru’s in our family, a Forrester (lightweight SUV) and an Impreza so it’s not like we’re blowing people away with the engine power, but there’s enough there that I can step on it and get up to speed merging on the freeway, or turning out into traffic, as quickly as I need to. I didn’t feel that in the Prius. I felt like I was in danger of getting run down by other vehicles on the road as I put-putted along trying to get up to speed. That’s not a good feeling.
So techies and early adopters, is this a hybrid thing, or just a Prius thing? Any of you own a hybrid? What are your thoughts? Do you expect the technology to get better and eliminate the lack of power, or are we headed to a future of driving around in golf carts? 
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
how strange! was it a brand new Prius? I’ve driven a couple at different times across their first 40k miles, or so, and each time it put my Forester’s acceleration to shame. it’s been awhile, though, but I don’t recall a stalling sensation, either. I guess I’m saying that I don’t think they’re supposed to do that.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I have been driving my Prius for a month and a half. The silence is something one quickly gets used to.
As someone who has been driving a Volvo Turbo I have not had any problem adjusting to the power shortfall you cite. I do no sense it.
I took the car shortly on I purchased it on a very steep highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and then another one leading towards the Dead Sea. Going up hills was never a problem at cruise control setting of 90 KPH. I also was able to accelerate to 100 without any problem.
I have had no problem entering or changing lanes on highways at this speed.
Perhaps your foot is too heavy on the gas (or mine too light)
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Charlie, I can’t really say what condition the car was in, or how new it was, it was a rental. So it’s possible that the lack of acceleration I was feeling was due to a problem more than something that is normal for hybrids. The silence is just a weird feeling when you’re sitting still and the car stops making any sound, it’s not at all unlike what it sounded/felt like when the oxygen sensor went out on my car and it would stall if you sat at a red light in drive.
I’m guessing based on both of your experience that it might have been something specific to that car as opposed to hybrids, or the Prius in general.
Thanks!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I bought my Prius new during the labor day weekend. In the few months that I’ve been driving it, I have not sensed the lack of power you describe.
To be sure, there were a number of things that took some amount of getting used to. The cutting out of the engine at stop lights for instance was probably the main thing for me. Other people have said that they like it - as do I, now - but it was hard for me to get over that unpleasant instant of “oh no, the engine stalled” at first. It still unnerves me when I notice it, but as time passes I’m noticing it less and less.
The only thing that I noticed in the “get up and go” category was that when you’re stopped with the ICE off, there is a definite shifting-gears attribute when you start off again and the ICE comes back on. The CVT doesn’t have discreet gears of course, but there is a definite decrease in acceleration power for an instant as the ICE draws off torque to start from the electric motor. This gives much the same feeling as you would get in a normal car going from 1st to second.
As in a regular car however, the effect is momentary. Once the ICE turns over and starts outputting it’s own torque to the gearbox you quickly get your acceleration back. I haven’t had any trouble accelerating to keep up with traffic, even on one freeway onramp that I use on the way to work that is just about the worst case I can think of for a gutless car. There is a light that forces drivers to stop at the beginning of the onramp, then the ramp itself is short, steeply uphill, and forces you to immediately merge onto the freeway proper (else you wind up exiting the freeway again as the “onramp” quickly becomes an “offramp”).
Worse, since the onramp starts out lower than the level of the freeway itself, you can’t actually see the traffic until you are halfway up the ramp. Your only hope is to get up to speed quickly enough that you don’t have a large speed differential between the cars (and trucks!) closing in at freeway speed (typically 65MPH+ at this particular section of road) from behind and yourself trying to merge with the flow. I figure if the Prius can handle this situation then it should be able to handle pretty much anything I’ll ever need it to do.
Note that I notice the above “shifting” feeling only if I’m going for quick acceleration from a stop with the ICE off. If I keep my foot out of it coming out of the stop as most Prius driver are wont to do, or if I’m in “glide” mode with the ICE off at speed, and only go for a bit more acceleration than the generator can provide then the ICE revving up is barely noticeable.