New PHEV owner - few questions

[maby]

...

But no brake lights to warn those behind that you are slowing! And brake pads are cheap too.

I'm firmly of the opinion that using the brake pedal is better except where you want to hold speed back on a long descent, exactly as you would use a lower gear on a conventional car for engine braking.

BTW changing down a gear to slow and hold the car back is no longer taught by driving instructors in the UK, they say you only change down a gear to go faster! You can imagine the discussions with my kids when they were learning to drive and I had to sit with them. :roll:

I'm with you on that - only use the paddles to control speed on a long downhill.

 

[Neverfuel]

W.r.t. B0 - B5 keep in mind: You can make B5 behave as B0 (as in coast) by operating the go-pedal. But you cannot make B0 behave as B5 (as in max regen) by operating the brake-pedal.

In lower B settings, the maximum amount of regen force is limited compared to higher B settings. Even when you push the brake pedal. So, unless you want to drive around as a moving road block, you will be using your friction brakes more often and longer when using lower B settings and thereby waste more energy.

Which is why I use the B3/B5 gear stick settings to act as an engine brake first (like changing down on a normal car) to slow down so that when I eventually use the brakes I am getting max regen and minimum brake wear. :mrgreen:

As I said - as many different answers as there are PHEV drivers :lol:

But no brake lights to warn those behind that you are slowing! And brake pads are cheap too.

I'm firmly of the opinion that using the brake pedal is better except where you want to hold speed back on a long descent, exactly as you would use a lower gear on a conventional car for engine braking.

BTW changing down a gear to slow and hold the car back is no longer taught by driving instructors in the UK, they say you only change down a gear to go faster! You can imagine the discussions with my kids when they were learning to drive and I had to sit with them. :roll:

I didn't teach my eldest to drive, he went to a driving school on an intensive course and passed in a week. So the first time I sat in with him, he was a qualified driver. He put the car into neutral and coasted up behind stationary traffic. It frightened the life out of me to think that he could pass his test like that. Of course we had a chat and now he uses the gears, at least if I am with him! :?

 

[Claymore]

One of the changes with the MY16 is that it illuminates the brake lights if using Regen B4 / B5.

JimB

 

[jaapv]

W.r.t. B0 - B5 keep in mind: You can make B5 behave as B0 (as in coast) by operating the go-pedal. But you cannot make B0 behave as B5 (as in max regen) by operating the brake-pedal.

In lower B settings, the maximum amount of regen force is limited compared to higher B settings. Even when you push the brake pedal. So, unless you want to drive around as a moving road block, you will be using your friction brakes more often and longer when using lower B settings and thereby waste more energy.

Which is why I use the B3/B5 gear stick settings to act as an engine brake first (like changing down on a normal car) to slow down so that when I eventually use the brakes I am getting max regen and minimum brake wear. :mrgreen:

As I said - as many different answers as there are PHEV drivers :lol:

But no brake lights to warn those behind that you are slowing! And brake pads are cheap too.

I'm firmly of the opinion that using the brake pedal is better except where you want to hold speed back on a long descent, exactly as you would use a lower gear on a conventional car for engine braking.

BTW changing down a gear to slow and hold the car back is no longer taught by driving instructors in the UK, they say you only change down a gear to go faster! You can imagine the discussions with my kids when they were learning to drive and I had to sit with them. :roll:

I didn't teach my eldest to drive, he went to a driving school on an intensive course and passed in a week. So the first time I sat in with him, he was a qualified driver. He put the car into neutral and coasted up behind stationary traffic. It frightened the life out of me to think that he could pass his test like that. Of course we had a chat and now he uses the gears, at least if I am with him! :?

Makes me think about the first time I was in a 747 doing an engines-idle airport approach. Scared the wits out of me when the engines cut out in mid-flight.

 

[anko]

And I thought you were a photographer ...

 

[jaapv]

Not my doing - the 747's captain Actually quite brilliantly - he only powered the engines up to give reverse thrust on the runway.

 

[06blade]

Thanks for the responses everyone.
Took the car back to the dealers today. Service guys couldn't even find the camera at first.

Appears the camera was hiding behind the number plate. It's now been fixed into its proper home, and working just fine !!