toyota prius very slow gear change

darklordsbane

Hi All
We recently bought a 2006 toyota prius, I like it but my better half doesn't,
she drives it far more than I do so even though it's our family car when the bills arrive the rest of the time it's her car,
it is the first automatic we have owned so we have nothing to compare it with,
it seems to be very slow to change gear especially going up hills, is it the way we are driving it or is there a knack to get up the gears quicker,
my dad has had automatics for years (not prius) in his cars you accelerate, release the pedal and accelerate again to make the gears change quicker, this doesn't seem to work in our Prius,
Anyone else have this issue and if so how do you get around it, if it doesnt improve she wants to sell it and go back to gear shift cars.
any help greatly appreciated
Happy new year to all
Dlb

unkel

Prius doesn't change gears!

It uses a CVT gear box, which basically has an infinite number of gears

Very different to the conventional automatic gearbox in your dad's cars

Besides that, what car is she used to? Prius is not particularly slow, unless the battery was empty and the electrical motors couldn't assist

colm_mcm

There aren't any gears so to speak, it's a CVT transmission. it can run the engine at any RPM at a given speed.

Chippy01

As unkel and colm mcm have previously stated, the Prius has a CVT 'gearbox', which is nothing like a conventional auto 'box.

Take a look here... http://prius.ecrostech.com/original/PriusFrames.htm
In the 'Contents' column on the left, click on 'Understanding the Prius'. You'll then get another list explaining the drivetrain, etc, in detail.

Sobanek

that's what you get for buying a Prius instead of a Golf TDI

650Ginge

I have a Prius and as said above it doesn't have gears. If you just push the go pedal to the floor it will look after it. You don't get 100% of the power you are requesting via the pedal unless you push it to the floor, mostly you get 70% of what you are asking for, the idea it will save you fuel.

What did you drive before the Prius maybe it is not powerful enough to meet your needs?

pred racer

650Ginge wrote: »

If you just push the go pedal to the floor it will look after it.

i find this works for most motoring problems