izzy eckerslike
master brummie
Have any of you gone all electric or are driving a hybrid? I've been driving a Prius for over 10 years, a 2nd hand Gen 2 and now a Gen 4 I had from new.
It's a lot more powerful than the Gen 2 and also far more economical. A 1.8 engine boosted by an electric motor coupled to a seamless sun & planet gearbox give very powerful acceleration regardless of Prius milk float jokes.
I can easily get over 80mpg on a long trip but less on the return. It's all to do with the lie of the land, if you start off at the top of a long shallow hill then you might get 120mpg going down but 60-70 coming back up.
Some of the recent adverts for hybrid vehicles ( not plug in) say that you will be in electric mode 50% of the time, that's very misleading, what it should say is the engine will be off 50% of your trip which more or less what happens. You take your foot off the accelerator and the engine instantly stops so you can coast up to junctions, islands and along slight downward inclines which also adds charge to the battery. The engine continues turning but not firing in the cylinders so when it turns back on it's seamless.
It's a lot more powerful than the Gen 2 and also far more economical. A 1.8 engine boosted by an electric motor coupled to a seamless sun & planet gearbox give very powerful acceleration regardless of Prius milk float jokes.
I can easily get over 80mpg on a long trip but less on the return. It's all to do with the lie of the land, if you start off at the top of a long shallow hill then you might get 120mpg going down but 60-70 coming back up.
Some of the recent adverts for hybrid vehicles ( not plug in) say that you will be in electric mode 50% of the time, that's very misleading, what it should say is the engine will be off 50% of your trip which more or less what happens. You take your foot off the accelerator and the engine instantly stops so you can coast up to junctions, islands and along slight downward inclines which also adds charge to the battery. The engine continues turning but not firing in the cylinders so when it turns back on it's seamless.