My Prius Weekend Activities

[priusham]

On Saturday my youngest daughter and I drove all the way across Michigan (200 miles) to watch my nephew's CCHA college hockey game. The headwinds were 40 to 50 MPH! My Prius was pretty severely buffeted by these strong winds.

What was worse is that at 70 MPH, I was showing only about 44 MPG into this wind! I guess that's the equivalent of driving about 110 MPH.

On I-69 north of Lansing, we were passed by an '04 Tideland who was driving well over 80 MPH. I didn't notice the other Pri come up along my driver's side until they were ahead of me and they were not looking or waving. Sheeze.

Bought gas in Big Rapids, Michigan and paid a whopping $2.10 per gallon. On Sunday, I saw gas as cheap as $1.95 closer to Detroit.

The 3.5 hour drive back home was made much sweeter with a Ferris State victory over #4 ranked University of Michigan. Even so, I stopped at a rest area for about an hour and a half and caught 40 winks in the Hotel Prius. My daughter was sound asleep but claimed a couple of loud daddy snores woke her up. The Pri was very comfortable to sleep in and the weather was fine. I had considered, but did not run the engine for heat.

Sunday morning I attended a ham radio flea market and gave 2 tours of the Prius.

As Sunday was Halloween, my wife and I patrolled the neighborhood a couple times with the Pri staying mainly in stealth mode. Man, that is so cool. 8) We had exceptional weather and I kept the window down. It's very enjoyable to hear - nothing but tire noise.

We silently rolled past a cluster of children and heard, "That car runs smooth!" That was followed by an another child who exclaimed, "THAT'S AN ELECTRIC CAR!" My wife and I both got a chuckle out of that. Those kids are s-m-a-r-t!

Hope your weekends are Pri-Fun-Filled too.

=p=

http://www.w8kc.com/priusmileage.htm

[wb9tyj]

Encountered the same wind scenerio here in Indiana, as well. We took a trip so the South-Central part of the state. Into a SW-W wind gusting to 50mph, the mileage average was approximately 44.3-44.9. Upon return, and going in a "downwind" condition...the prius would sure "glide"...much better ...mileage up to 48.4-51.1 and a much quieter ride...Additionally, didnt have to fight the wheel as much, as the prius has a tendency to get some mild to moderate turbulence with a wind of this magnitude. Will hopefully rectify that situation with tire replacement soon. Finally, the winds have backed down around here and we are in for a wet few days...