Why I have come to love the Prius

[flacvabeach]

I'm a classic British car fanatic who drives a 1969 Morris Minor 6cwt utility van on a daily basis. It took me a while to warm up to the new-fangled idea of hybrid cars, but now that I have some training and service experience under my belt, I have developed an admiration for the technology, especially as applied in the Toyota Prius. As most of you know there are a myriad of applications of so-called hybrid technology, some as simple as using the generator as a motor to supply a little more zip and perform auto-stop. Toyota, in my opinion, got it right in the Prius. It's an amazing integration of gas and electric power to make it go and make it stop, all of it so transparent to the driver that they decided to show a little movie of what's powering what as you drive down the road. Fascinating stuff. But the crowning glory to me is the transmission. it's usually advertised as a CVT and, if you're like most techs, you cringe a little when you hear that. Special fluids, start clutches, metal belts, shuddering as you accelerate and the near certainty of limited life make you think seriously about the value of this supposed innovation. But the Prius CVT is a completely different animal that uses a principle that can be a little hard to grasp. It's a planetary gear that is in constant mesh with no slip/friction components involved. What prompted me to post this is a neat website I found that describes the operation of the tranny in detail. It's at http://eahart.com/prius/psd/ and it even has a little widget that let's you "shift the gears" and see the results. It's no wonder that, since they improved the traction battery starting with the Gen2 in 2004, these little guys are just about bulletproof and it's not unusual to find them humming happily along at 250,000 plus.

[alfredauto]

I've got a 2007 on my lot, 55mpg makes me happy. Its a tight fit for me 6'2 250lbs or i'd keep it.

[Junior]

That is a pretty interesting page, I'm going to do a little more reading there when I get time. We do a lot of service on hybrids especially Prius, including rebuilding Gen1 batteries with gen2 cells and civic/insight IMA pack rebuilds. It's pretty good business and there is no one else in the area doing it. I've only seen one trans failure on a Prius and that was due to the HV motor overheating so they are quite bulletproof.

[flacvabeach]

Junior,

 

You might want to check out http://www.thehybridshop.com/dealer-opportunities/