This particular display is really only interesting to me when I want to know the state of the battery or when the rear while drive has kicked in. It’s really a gimmick from the early days of hybrid. The newer Toyota Hybrid system is cleverer I believe and the Yaris I had as a courtesy car had a B setting which stands for battery recharge, which you can engage on downhills instead of braking. I presume it is like engine braking and doesn’t light up the brake lights. On mine I flip the stick over to manual and engage a virtual low gear to recharge rather than using the brake pedal, but only on long downhill sections.
So the display is useful if you want to know the state of the battery and the engine mode to try and optimise things. But in reality, that is missing the point of the car and 99% of the time I just leave it to do it’s thing. It is very clever and the newer generation Toyota system is even cleverer.
I have to say I love the hybrid concept as a stop gap to full electric and I have pretty much convinced myself, pending a test drive, that I will swap to a Jazz or Crosstar in the next 9 months. One of the huge advantages Honda has for me is that along with Nissan they are the only dealerships in Halifax, my nearest town. I can run the 4 miles home from there. Toyota is over 10 busy miles away in the next valley, and that makes a huge difference.