I am three days away from ordering an '06 Prius. Most of the time it will be used for the usual suburban driving but once or twice a year it will be used for a trip from Colorado to Illinois. and back. Can the Prius handle sustained 75-80 mph speeds with 4 adults in the car. It seems it could be difficult for the 76 hp gas engine to handle this hour after hour. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

My prius does well at high speeds, but your MPG will fall below 50 at these speeds. It can handle continuous grades at 85 with the only symptom being a little engine noise (higher rpm to generate the required horsepower). Enjoy this great car.

JeffD

ps - I have done several round trips East Coast - Chicago (900 miles) with 3 adults in my prius. The Pensylvania mountains are not the rockies, but they are a reasonable test.

 

I had no problems in the mountains with my Prius. I travelled from western Illinois to western Montana, and only had to slow down below 50mph on the really steep climbs.

 

It's not the mountain driving that I am asking about. Northeast Colorado and Nebraska interstate speed limits are 75 mph and when you have 1000 miles to drive none stop we tend to want to drive the speed limit. Mountain driving doesn't concern me...we go slow and look at the scenery.

 

While by no means hot rods, I think you will be impressed with the pep of these vehicles. We don't have a Prius but I am sure they similar in this capacity. We have taken our HCH-I (smaller engine than the new HCH) up the rim of the White Moutains in Arizona on a number of occassion with two adults, 60 pound pouch and luggage. As mentioned in a previous post, you'll hear a lot of engine noise because you'll get some high revs but they will go up the hills at any speed you choose.

 

When I bought my 03 Prius, I had to drive 818 miles back home. I broke up the trip into 2-3 hour segments driven at cruise control set speeds. This let me plot MPG vs MPH. This will give you a lot of insight about how to get optimum performance. Be sure to factor in the wind speed and direction.

There have been some discussion of 'drafting' with various experiments and safety concerns. My personal point of view is following trucks often sacrifices the paint on the hoods and risks windshield cracks. But there are some savings in fuel economy. With a new car, I'd probably want to protect the paint and just enjoy the ride.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

75-80 MPH equals about 42 MPG (more if the wind is with you).

We've driven to Oregon and back (3,000 miles roundtrip) as well as Arizona and back (2,500 miles roundtrip) at those speeds with 2 of us and camp gear and one blind pug. No problems doing the speed limit or mountain passes. Engine noise goes up as you climb (increased RPM) but the going down the other side is pretty quiet!

This is a great car.

Also, locally, we've carried 4 adults, one 2 year old in a baby seat, 4 bikes on my bikerack, and a baby cart (not sure what else to call the 2-wheeled tow-along cart for a bicycle?) in the rear cargo area, up 2,500 feet elevation and back with full A/C (90 F + summer day), and still got 49 MPG! This is really, really a great car.

 

What is "headlite EV mode"?

 

Simple answer: Yes, this car does just fine at sustained highway speeds fully loaded.

The hybrid system is aptly named, "Hybrid Synergy Drive". The vehicle is not relying on electric propulsion or gas proplusion alone at any given time. The full resources of the system are always available and the onboard computer systems decide how to mix electric and gas power to maintain ground speeds. The car is fully capable of driving electric only, but usually only at low speeds or on very level or on slight downhill surfaces. At highway speeds the vehicle is using a combination of gas and electirc power at all times depending on speed and torque needs.

Welcome! Keep reading this and other Prius boards and you will learn a lot about how all the technology works.