Passing in a Prius

[David Beale]

OK, I'm officially impressed!

Just got back from my first highway trip, 600 km on secondary highways (down to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and back). I traveled at 105 km/hr (about 67 MPH) most of the way. Got to pass a few trucks. When I used a little more than my usual gentle throttle, the car took off! I'd say, with a "normal" battery (2/3 of way to top in blue), it out-accelerated my previous vehicle, the anti-Prius (2001 Pathfinder), which while heavy at 4400 lbs, did have a lot of power (240 HP, 265 lb-ft torque).

Further, those worried about varying speed at breakin need not. The engine RPM was constantly changing, even though I used cruise most of the time. I saw 4700 RPM up one steep hill, and got 4950 once for a few seconds. On level ground the system kept the engine around 2200 RPM. I even saw mileage changes from wind! Amazing. I averaged about 4.8 l/100 km (49 MPG US). Not bad with only 600 km on the car. Well, just over 900 now.

Oh, one other thing. I had my GPS in the car, and the speedo and odometer were dead on!

It's love.

[Frank Hudon]

if you took 21 to 9 and over I'd say your mileage and all the other paramaters are about dead on for that road. I try for 4500 or under a bit passing but have been known to hold it on the mat till done. Taking 13 over to the Toon I got 4.7 with the 2k4 and 4.6 with my Classic. Interesting to watch the RPM on what looks like flat ground and see the fluctuations and know that the ground isn't really flat. Then there's the wind, a whole other book could be written on that aspect of this car.

[onlynark]

how do you know your rpms? Your using some tool like scanguage right?

[ZA_Andy]

I'd second that comment about passing.

I picked up my 07 package 4 on Saturday, and on Sunday went for a drive in the mountains to try it out - including a run on I-64 in West Virginia. Plenty of power to pass traffic, and at the end of the 300-mile run, it still showed 50.1 mpg! Very impressed with how well the car drove and how responsive it is.

Now I'm commuting to work (25 minutes each way) the mpg is slowly rising and I'm feeling pretty good about my choice of car!

[Frank Hudon]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nark @ Jun 5 2007, 08:51 PM) [snapback]456295[/snapback]</div>

how do you know your rpms? Your using some tool like scanguage right?
[/b]

I run a MiniScanner on my current Classic and a CAN-view on the wife's 2k4 and Dave is using a Scangauge11

[David Beale]

Yes, Scangauge II. The only "depressing" thing is I will not need to carry my GPS any more. I have always used it to set the cruise and watch the -actual- mileage. Don't need it in this car.

The Scangauge is great. You set it up to display continuously four parameters (out of about 18 to choose from). I currently watch:

fuel consumption - l/hr*************battery voltage (12V one)

engine RPM**********************coolant temp. - deg C

Family members are always ribbing me for all the electronics I carry on longish trips - amateur radio (scanning "other" frequencies as well), GPS, Valentine One radar detector, and of course the Scangauge, added last year after reading of it on this forum. Most of it is installed using velcro so I can hide it when stopped. No sense loosing a window over a $180 Scangauge. The window probably costs more!

[Frank Hudon]

on my MiniScanner I watch RPM, ICE temp, Regen amps, and BSOC. That on the main page, second page is O2 outputs and throttle input settings HV battery voltage. More on the other 4 pages. On the CAN-view it's HV battery voltage, amperage, ICE rpm's, ICE temp, thermos temp and throttle graphing.

[subarutoo]

Our Prius beats the heck out of our outback, 2.5 automatic, on every kind of acceleration, from stand-still, to highway passing and hill climbing. The Outback gets 18, the Prius, 50mpgs. Those afraid of highway or passing power need not worry. Cheers!