I have just got a 1998 3dr Petrol Rav4. I notice that the engine noise is quite high pitched, is this normal?

Mike

1: If stopped, and the engine is running, you will notice it.<br><br>2: The electric motor is virtually silent. The gas engine is noisy, kind of like all gas engines.<br><br>3: Overall, the car is quiet. Quieter than a Camry

Go rent one from your Toyota dealer for a day or two. That should help with your "research." Betcha end up loving it. ;-)

Question 1) When you stop at a red light, the THS decides (as it always does) whether or not the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) is required for anything, such as warming up the catalytic converter, topping off the battery, producing heat for the heater, or running the a/c. If not needed (which is the most common state when at a red light after the car is warmed up), the ICE will shut off, and the resulting sound will be silence--as noisy as when parked in a parking lot.<br><br>Question 2) When accelerating (except when accelerating only slightly, as when inching slowly around a parking lot), the ICE will come on and you will hear your engine. The electric motor makes no noise I have been able to detect when it is operating alone. Sounds like a golf cart.<br><br>Question 3) Two engines does not equal double noise, since one of the engines is silent. The only time I hear significant engine noise is when accelerating hard or maintaining speed/accelerating up a hill. It has noise benefits in general because of improved insulation and aerodynamics, reducing wind noise.

yoyohybrid said on 2/9/02 7:02 pm:<br><br>&gt; I am doing some research here on the Prius. &lt;<br><br>Hopefully you've also gone to <a href=http://prius.toyota.com/ target=new>http://prius.toyota.com/</a> , and checked through the FAQ over on the Yahoo!Groups site (<a href=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/ target=new>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/</a> ), and looked through John1701a's pages (<a href=http://john1701a.com/ target=new>http://john1701a.com/</a> ) as well as Graham's site (<a href=http://www.channel1.com/users/graham/MyToyotaPrius/PriusFrames.htm target=new>http://www.channel1.com/users/graham/MyToyotaPrius/PriusFrames.htm</a\ > ) Those should answer most of your questions.<br><br>Of course, the best thing is a test drive. See if you have a Prius-certified Toyota dealer near you with a Prius (perhaps a demo or TRAC vehicle) that you can try. Try it, you'll like it. :) <a href=http://prius.toyota.com/buy/LocateDealer.asp target=new>http://prius.toyota.com/buy/LocateDealer.asp</a><br><br>&gt; Question 1: When you are stoping at a red light, will you still notice some noise from the running engine (say because it is recharging the battery)? What I am trying to ask is that in general, will you notice the running of the engine when you stop at a red light? &lt;<br><br>You might notice a slight vibration in the steering wheel, or you might hear the engine running. Usually at a red light I hear all the trucks running around me, and not my Prius.<br><br>(P.S. I hear my engine running more often at stops because it is heating the emissions components (in winter), or is running the AC compressor (in summer), and not because of battery recharging. (brake regeneration usually does much of the battery recharging for me, or else the engine will be recharging with excess energy not used in propulsion/heating.))<br><br>&gt; Question 2: When you accelerate the car, if the car is being powered by the motor engine, will you hear the engine noise as loud as the noise produced by the gas engine, or are they producing both the same loudness? &lt;<br><br>2 engines? No, the Prius only has one gasoline engine. It has 2 electric motors (which IIRC only one is for propulsion, the other for battery use). Check Graham's site for more info.<br><br>If you are stopped at a QUIET intersection (I rarely ever find one that doesn't have a noisy car near me), or say in a parking lot, you do kinda hear the electric motor. There is a barely-heard high-pitched whine, which I'm told is the sound of water pumped through the inverter (electric motor) unit for cooling.<br><br>If accelerating or going uphill, you do hear the gas engine as being quite loud. Remember that the Prius is standard with a CVT (continuously variable transmission). The sound of the engine RPM is equivalent to the load being put onto the engine. If you are used to a standard (manual) transmission or a normal automatic transmission, you are probably used to a steady engine RPM sound as being equivalent to the speed that you are going, and so the CVT in the Prius will concern you a bit if you are used to driving by sound. (For example, the Prius engine shutting off at a stop sign makes many new to Prius people think that the engine just stalled on them and they g