Hacker News Reader

Comment by vladvasiliu | Hacker News Reader

Do all Toyotas do that? I'm pretty sure that my dad's Corolla will rev the engine when I press the gas if the engine is already running.

I'm also surprised for the first few minutes when I drive it how little "engine braking" it has (my habit is from riding a big motorbike).

View on HN

Depends on the configuration. If they are equipped with a CVT+electric engine on the shaft, then that's the case: they rev to the sweet spot (which on gas engines is 4000-5000 rpm on acceleration? Depending on expected engine load I assume) and the speed is controlled by hydraulic force applied on the CVT.

With other hybrids: depends on the generator they have installed, but it matches the consumption in amps by the engine in order to "go" if it is not directly coupled with the transmission, or they just downshift to accelerate with help of the electric engine.

I am assuming a lot here: Toyotas (specially RAV4) mount CVTs among others, assuming pure electric generator by the ICE or coupled to it... So it depends a lot on specific configuration.

Even CVTs will rev the engine if you floor it, no? They typically allow for wanting to be in a few sweet spots. I prefer to keep it near the max efficiency speed. That said, my wife is a bit more aggressive and spends more time in the max power mark. It has a predictable change on the MPG reported by the vehicle.

I know for a fact you can neutral-drop a prius.

I know it's not exactly the same, but I was a teenager and curious, and you can rev them and shift into drive with some heel-toe finesse. Not sure if this works on the newer ones, this one was an early 2010s model.

Thank you for performing the experiment I didn’t even know I wanted to know the results of before now.

I performed many experiments on that family prius and with complete honestly, my experiments weren't even in the top ten worst things that car survived.

Trees, multiple motorcycles, final destination esque road debris, an accident that should have totalled it if not for an insurance mistake, leading to repairs worth more than the car. Three teenage drivers and two adult drivers with heavy feet. Not to mention many many hardware store runs hauling various sacks of yard materials, baby trees, lumber, etc.

My favorite times were rallying on compacted un-plowed snow. The thin tires and light weight meant it absolutely shredded.

It's my opinion that the Toyota Prius is one of the greatest vehicles ever built and they should be respected and feared.

That's an amazing testimony to its grit. I could stand to hear more of those stories over the appropriate beverage.

Dunno. My both Priuses did it and the company was specifically using the Yaris Hybrid.

Both will rev on neutral, but when the gear selector is on Drive there is no link between the pedal and RPM.

And on Brake it's even the opposite: above a certain speed, you press the accelerator and the RPM decreases to remove engine braking.

They're programmed to rev in situations like that, because people are used to it. Under normal operation, RPM is decided by power needs. If you start accelerating on the freeway, for example, the engine might jump from 1100 RPM to 3000 RPM with just some pedal, while a manual transmission obviously changes very little.

it's possible that the engine rev is just the speakers. a lot of cars are doing fake engine sounds.

The dash has an RPM gauge which moves. Also, the noise is horrendous, not sure why they would have chosen that when they could have used a nicer-sounding tone. This is a tame small car, not something you'd buy to impress your friends.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com