I know our car is pretty peppy but anyone know how fast does this thing goes? I know it's kind of silly to care about how fast your hybrid can go but it would be nice to know. Whats the max speed it can go? the speedo says 160 but I doubt it. How fast is 0-60mph, I found very different sources. And How fast is the quarter mile? Just a thought and would be cool if some of you guys already know.

 

I think most standard economy vehicles have some kind of speed governor chip set around 105 MPH or so. Toyota had a modified Prius hit 130 MPH on a controlled test track.

 

Car and Driver tested the NAH:

Top end: 118 mph (limited by govenor) - Noted that it was very twitchy at over 90 mph

0-60: 7.4 sec

1/4 mile: 15.8 @ 90mph

http://www.caranddriver.com/assets/d...san_alt_ts.pdf

 

Car and Driver is dead wrong. It isn't "twitchy" over 90. We took ours up to 110 mph... and it was smooth all the way. It actually felt like a hot rod. Obviously, this is a "don't try this at home" anecdote.

We didn't take it over 110. Typically that is where most cars have the auto shut off... and when it didn't shut off there we didn't want to take it up any higher for safety reasons... not that driving 110 mph is the most sensible thing I've done this month.

 

Car and Driver also reported their observed fuel economy for the NAH at a dismal 23mpg - one mpg less than the non-hybrid Altima. Just how hard would you have to beat on the car to reduce the mileage to that point?

 

We can't make that happen under the worst driving conditions. We've done several freeway drives of late averaging 80 mph... and we still came in about 35 mpg per tank. These are not firm numbers because we simply haven't been through enough miles/tanks to really make a reliable estimate... but I think Car and Driver really lost some credibility with their 23 mpg statement. I read it after we bought the car and it scared me to death. In experimental driving... we gunned it and did quick braking... basically BAD driving for a hybrid and we couldn't remotely get near 23 mpg. I think our worst tank yet was about 34 mpg... and those were under rough conditions. Saying they got 23 mpg really killed Car and Driver for me as ever considering them a credible source again.

 

I'm not sure what they were doing. They reported something like 33 mpg with the Camry during their tests which is basically the same set up. Maybe the Altima is tuned a bit more towards performance but certainely not 10 mpg's worth.

I've been getting over 39 mpg over the last 800 miles but am driving with a light foot until I finish the recommended 1200 mile break in.

 

I've got to get down and crunch the numbers, but we seem to be getting 36+ with NO effort... just driving it like a normal car. This includes driving it "normal" in the city and doing 400 mile road trips. We still aren't to the 5,000 mile "break in" point... so I'm getting pretty impressed with the MPG... especially from the standpoint of not having to "try" to get good mpg. I had a lot of fun when we first got the car trying to learn to hypermile... but so often you need to run errands or do things and you just don't have time to think about it. I like the fact I don't feel like I need to beat myself up for losing mpg when I need to drive more normally.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ3pV...eature=related

Here's a video on Youtube of a guy drag racing a hybrid! Seems like its pretty fast.

 

RIDICULOUS. As you can see from the graphic below, we have the worst mileage possible and it is over 31. My wife does not know the meaning of hypermiling and could care less if the electric engine ever came on. Also we have a couple of fairly long and steep grades in our daily commute, which is what I attribute most of our our relatively poor mpg performance to.

It still beats the heck out of the 19 mpg burning premium fuel we were getting with our '99 Acura RL.