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Posted by Michael Pardee on July 16, 2006, 11:59 am
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> my wife owns a 2005 prius, & really is enjoying; we live in central
> arizona, & have a few "hills" around here.
> it seems to me ( & i don't drive it often) that it used to be that we
> would descend a "big" hill, and, if transmission left in "d" we would
> accelerate w/ gravity - also, when letting off the "gas" pedal, we
> would free-wheel, or pretty much "coast"
> now, after she took it to prescott for her 5k checkup, it seems that
> letting off the "gas" there is no longer any "coasting" at all!
> on "big hills" we still pickup speed, so, coasting is pretty obvious,
> and the "b" will hold us pretty nicely...
> am i wrong? did i just imagine that letting off the pedal there was
> free wheel, even on flat ground?
> for those of you in az, the "hills" i'm talking about are copper
> canyon & flagstaff down to lake montezuma (both on i-17)
> thanks for any insight into the matter!
> jeff
Greetings from Flagstaff!
I think your memory is playing tricks - our 2002 has always had more
lift-throttle drag than either of the automatic trannies in our garage but
less than manual gears.
I just use the brakes lightly for the grades each side of the Verde Valley.
The battery is just about "full" by the time we reach the bottom and the
charge gets used quickly when going up the other side. I'm pretty sure the
friction brakes are never used in that stretch. Same thing from Sunset Point
down to Phoenix - although it looks like Sunset Point may become part of
Phoenix in 10 years or so :-(
It takes some willpower to use the brakes for those long descents. Old
habits die hard, and I'd never drive a conventional vehicle that way -
downshifting is so much better. In hybrids, "riding the brake" is better for
all but really long grades. We had to use "B" on some of the mountains in
Colorado.
Mike
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