Plugin Prius Question

[johalareewi]

Have replace my gen3 prius with a plugin prius.  Charged it up and the EV range says 10 miles.  I  was expecting a bit more when fully charged.  is this normal?

[Sagitar]

That's not an unusual range prediction on mine. I don't think that I have ever seen a prediction of more than 12 miles. Remember that this is not an absolute figure. It is based upon the way that the car has been driven and uses a figure based upon what has actually been achieved. So if you accelerate hard and drive at the top end of the EV speed range you will get less miles for each unit of electricity and the next time you charge it the range prediction will reflect that level of efficiency. I often arrive home with some "electrical miles" remaining, having already done more miles that were predicted at the start of the journey. But conversely, I often run out of "electrical miles" before reaching the predicted range. It all depends upon the terrain and the driving style.

[QuantumFireball]

10 miles sounds normal enough. As said, it is based on previous driving and not particularly accurate - it's often referred to as a "guess-o-meter". Even if you turn on the fans (no AC) your range will reduce significantly. I usually get an estimation of 9.0-9.5 miles, but my driving involves a lot of hills and stop/start traffic.

Also, after 3 years your batteries will have lost some capacity, maybe 5-10%? It's hard to tell really.

[johalareewi]

Thanks guys.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

You'll normally smash it, and it'll be lower if the ventilation system is active.

TBH if a new car to you then do a Battery pull to reset everything. It'll relearn your driving etc, and first full charge will probably should nearer 12.5-13 miles!

[johalareewi]

It said 11 miles this morning.  I see what you mean.  FYI  after 2 days my commute mpg is 100 (gen3 was 70 last week) so nice improvement.

[QuantumFireball]

14 hours ago, MEP's Yaris GS said:

TBH if a new car to you then do a battery pull to reset everything. It'll relearn your driving etc, and first full charge will probably should nearer 12.5-13 miles!

I don't think there's much point in doing this - it will adapt to your driving habits/conditions pretty quickly. You're not going to gain any actual Battery capacity. It could actually make ICE fuel consumption worse temporarily depending on what exactly gets reset. And won't you lose all the trees and flowers from the "Plug-in Effect" display? Very important :)

[PeteB]

Using the heated seats in the winter will affect the EV range too.

Not quite the same, I know, but it took my Gen 4 Prius about 4,000 miles and 7 refills before the estimated petrol range started getting sensible.

Initially it was predicting around 850 miles per tank (2 litres smaller than the Gen 3), but it's now estimating a little over 600 miles which is about right unless I've done lots of very short journeys.  Currently, even though it's not a plug-in, it's reporting exactly 50% of the time 'engine off' since new (now just under 5,000 miles on the clock).

[barrycoll]

Can you comment on whether the ride/noise/handling of the car is noticeably different on 17" wheels Pete, or is your experience limited to the 15" that you own?

I wonder what the breakdown of 15"-17" orders are on the G4???  Do most non forum purchasers go for bling or a spare wheel?

[PeteB]

2 hours ago, barrycoll said:

Can you comment on whether the ride/noise/handling of the car is noticeably different on 17" wheels Pete, or is your experience limited to the 15" that you own?

I wonder what the breakdown of 15"-17" orders are on the G4???  Do most non forum purchasers go for bling or a spare wheel?

Hi Barry

I've driven a Business Plus on 17" wheels twice.

I can't comment on the handling, they're both more than adequate, but my perception is the ride is slightly better on the 15" and they are slightly quieter.  Either way, the ride quality is the best since the Gen 1, which was very comfortable.

Unlike some, I thought the Gen 3 (on 15" at least) (and Gen 2 and 1) were fairly quiet but the Gen 4 is much quieter than any of the others.  Somewhere there's a diagram of the amount of sound deadening materials in the Gen 4 compared to the Gen 3 and it's an awful lot more.  The front windows are also laminated, with a sound absorbing layer between two very thin sheets of glass.

17" wheels are bad news on lots of fronts IMHO, but if you want exemption from the London Congestion Charge (I've got it!) or you pay benefit in kind tax on a company car, 15" are essential (4% extra for 17"!).

[johalareewi]

I have another plugin question.

The plugin headlights are those LED ones.  Nice and bright but when I load up the boot, the headlights point up a lot and blind oncoming traffic.  On my gen3 I had a thumbwheel control on the dash with which I could adjust the trim level of the headlights to compensate for heavy loads in the boot.  The plugin doesn't seem to have one of these so how does one adjust the level of the headlghts?

[PeteB]

They are self levelling, which I believe is a legal requirement for LED headlights. The PiP also has headlight washers too.

[PeteB]

1 hour ago, PeteB said:

They are self levelling...

or on reading your post more carefully I should have inserted "supposed to be"!

[johalareewi]

I thought they were (supposed to be) self levelling but they don't appear to do a very good job.

[johalareewi]

The PIP had its first long run over the weekend which allowed me to compare it with the gen3 over the same route.  MPG wise the PIP was better but the gen3 was way better at going downhill. Going downhill in the PIP it seems like B mode is on but I also noticed on the energy flow screen that the PIP is charging even when the HSI is not in the charge zone.  In the gen3, when the HSI was at the switch over point between the charge and ECO zones, there was no electricity flow either way and the car would freewheel down hills.  I can't get the PIP to do that.

[barrycoll]

As a pedant, dear Alan, I have to say that your 2013 Plugin, is really a 2013 Plug In.....assuming that you are not of the generation that has a mobile phone permanently in your right hand????

 

[QuantumFireball]

7 hours ago, johalareewi said:

I thought they were (supposed to be) self levelling but they don't appear to do a very good job.

I've only noticed it doing anything resembling self-levelling when turning on the lights. I haven't done too much night time driving yet, but have got flashed a few times - though most of the time it looks like the lights are at a low enough level (not shining inside other cars).

[MEP's Yaris GS]

On 10/10/2016 at 4:57 PM, QuantumFireball said:

I've only noticed it doing anything resembling self-levelling when turning on the lights. I haven't done too much night time driving yet, but have got flashed a few times - though most of the time it looks like the lights are at a low enough level (not shining inside other cars).

It'll do it when the lights are turned on, and load in the rear changes (ie passenger(s) getting in or out).

 

[johalareewi]

I have noticed the lights going up and down when switched on, but with a full load in the boot, they can end up too high.  Will mention it when it goes in for a service.

[johalareewi]

Hi. Another PIP question.

Now it is getting dark and the headlights are on more, I have noticed that when I fire up the front windscreen washers, the headlights would dim for a second.  But only the first time after the car had been started. Subsequent screen washes didn't affect the headlights until the next time the car was started.

When I investigated, I found that the LED headlamp washers do a very quick sub second wash when the windscreen washers are used the first time after the car is started.

Is this normal for the PIP?

[Harters]

I think that is pretty much standard on cars with xenon/led headlamp washers

All my previous Audis I've had with xenon headlamps would wash the headlamps the first time I used the windscreen washer jets with the headlamps on, then I think it would do it again if I squirted the windscreen for a 4th time. 

Like you noticed when they are blasted with the jet it's really noticeable in the strength of the beam. 

[johalareewi]

Just found it in the manual, page 351...

+ The headlight cleaners can be operated when
The “POWER” switch is in ON mode and the headlight switch is turned on.
If equipped, the headlight switch is in the “AUTO” position and the headlight
is on.

+ Windshield washer linked operation
Only for the first time when the windshield washer is operated with the
“POWER” switch in ON mode and the headlights on, the headlight cleaners
will operate once.

 

 

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Yes, perfectly normal operational behavour.