Grip levels

That was one of the first videos I watched, before I bought my Prius. Good one.

 

I've had my Gen 4 for 4 weeks today - I'm happy with the grip levels, and would put them on a par with most other cars I test-drove. She sits nicely and relaxed at motorway speeds (100/110km/hr) which is as fast as you can drive in this country (and retain your licence).

What I do notice is, as mentioned above, is the steering feedback, which is nil, makes her feel less capable than others. Probably the best car I've owned in that respect was my Focus Diesel 6 sp manual which had very good chuckability, partly because his feedback from chassis and steering was so good. His successor, a Fiesta Diesel was almost as good, but with less torquey motor. With Samantha, a couple of times I've thrown her into a tighter situation to try her limits, she's done ... better than I expected. It's going to take a bit more time to familiarise myself totally with her abilities.

 

All cars you mention are not really comparable with the Prius - which is not meant, as you said, to be thrown around the track.
Regarding engine braking, you can get it by either driving in B, or by setting the car in PWR mode - PWR supposedly (and I still have to try it) forces more engine braking when it detects you are driving sporty (using the sensors and gyroscopes used for stability). But I think there much better cars to do "fun" stuff around corners rather than a Prius. Actually if I want to have fun, I drive a go-kart in a closed track - I can do what I want there with practically zero risk

 

She sits nicely also at 150km/h // 90mph or more (with 17" 215/45 wheels that is...).

 

110 is what? about 70 mph? That surprises me with cars like the HSV GTS coming out of Australia.

My highest speeding ticket in any car was 118 mph (about 190 km/h) in a 75 a long time ago. When I saw the patrolman turning around so I stopped and waited for him. I had shut it down pretty fast because I figured there was some emergency. As he walks up you could still smell the hot brakes.

"Any idea how fast you were going?"
"No sir, the speedometer only goes to 85..."
"I clocked you coming over that hill at 118."
"ok...."
"speed limit is 75"
"crap! I forgot about that, I'll slow it down"
"well I'm going to have to write you a ticket..."

He goes back to his car and does his thing, meanwhile I start going through my wallet and glove box, trying to gather any change I had to pay the fine.

"$90?!?"
"Yep, I wrote it as a speeding ticket."
"This is insane"
"I could write you for reckless..."
"Thank you officer, I'll slow it down..."

I had to mail in a check, the injustice of it all.

This was right after Montana instituted the speed limit again. Before that I had only ever driven under a reasonable and prudent law, which I never got a ticket for. Prior to that, as I was growing up, the national speed limit was 55 mph but in Montana if you exceeded that it was a $5 "wasting of natural resources" ticket. You just paid that to the patrolman and it didn't report to the insurance, so my dad always kept a few $5 bills in the cars. So when I got stopped I was expecting at worst a $10 - $15 ticket, because inflation I figured. I was seriously pissed about $90 for several years... oh the blissful ignorance of growing up in Montana.

 

You drove 118 MPH in a Prius??? Why?

 

no... this was years ago. I'll edit the post to be make that clear. my bad. I think the fastest I've been in the prius is 90-ish. Fast I've been in a car is 135ish, fastest on a bike is around 150ish.

 

Recently, near where I live, there was some road construction going on in a residential area with narrow streets. As I was approaching an intersection ( a 2-way stop, with me being the one to stop) I stopped, and looked to my right. However, vision on my right was completed obscured by this behemoth of a truck and a construction crew. There was a guy with a sign (you know, he is supposed to give you the ok to proceed due to the big truck blocking my vision). Well he was chatting up a breeze with his coworkers, so and I proceeded through the intersection................and before I knew it this car was coming from behind that blind area right at me! I tried breaking, the car slowed but it did not skid, forcing me to steer hard left. Doing this cause the other car to miss me and I rolled to the left and parked on the side of the road to catch my heart back that I left somewhere back at the stop sign. At first I was mad that the car never just stopped, but then I realized that if I had come to a completed stop, a collision would have occurred. Rolling hard left and not loosing any traction save me. Another great moment in owning a Prius.

 

In the uk there's a good chance you would be banned from driving doing that sort of speed.

 

I'm not sure I would feel safe driving my Prius at speeds in excess of 80. It's not exactly a sports car!
I wouldn't last 5 minutes on the German Autobahn!

Hopefully, I'll never have to drive that fast. When I'm on the freeway, 70 mph is usually tops for me.... in the far right slow lane... and I'm still getting run over! I've come to the point where I absolutely hate driving the California freeways. (Maybe it's a sign that I'm entering my Senior years.)

 

I drive in amongst the trucks in the far right lane. I set my cruise control to 60. I'm just not in a hurry.

 

In Australia, that would have earned you "(41km/h or more over speed limit) 8 points and 6 months suspension $1,137 fine".

I haven't had a fine for 44yrs - hoping that the lousy C/C on Prius doesn't induce one.

Even a minor infringement (less than 13km/hr over [8MPH]) will give you $162 + 1 demerit point. We've got the same or lower speed limits as we had on the much poorer roads and with much poorer cars 45 yrs ago.

It's just money-making for the Govt - they say for safety reasons, but if they were really concerned, they'd teach people to drive better than they do - you can get a licence so easily here.

 

I have driven the Gen3 at max speed (111mph?) for a good 30mins on a German Highway - it was fun and never felt unsafe (with 17" wheels that is) - brand new really flat tarmac. I only do that if traffic allows and very rarely in any case.
Generically I drive around 130km/h // 80mph (real, not speedometer) which is allowed in most EU and often 140-150km/h // 87-93mph if traffic conditions allows that.

Traffic on German highways (often only 2 lane) make constant speed driving quite difficult as there is always driving slow, much slower than the advised speed as they forget they are on a HIGHWAY with OTHER PEOPLE (120km/h // 74mph) often blocking traffic or creating dangerous situations, or the never ending caravan of trucks.

I feel the Gen4 will do pretty well at max speed too, didn't test it yet because I want to break it in properly first.
But I think this will not be much of an option for me, because of:

• fuel costs
• environmental conscience
• safety in general
• and last but not least, road noise allowed to get into the car (even this time Toyota hasn't done a good job at all...)

 

Thanks pakitt. I think only one time, I briefly hit 80-85 mph. I got got caught up in fast-flowing traffic and couldn't change lanes. Didn't even realize I was going that fast. My Prius actually felt pretty solid at that speed... but I felt "unsafe" because of all the other nuts on the highway.

 

There are some very strange city streets and roads in my area. They can look perfectly smooth, and in great shape with nice pavement, but as soon as you turn onto them the cabin noise increases about 50%. Various kinds of pavement have a huge affect on how much road noise enters my Prius cabin.

Many of the freeways have grooves cut into the concrete, so that may be the reason for the increased tire noise at highway speeds. But I can also hear other cars and trucks very loudly... like there's no sound insulation in my doors; or the windows are too thin. Whatever the reason, it's loud.

Veteran Prius owners have told me the new Gen4 is much quieter than the previous Prius models. I'm sure that's true. This is my first Prius, and I'm sorry to say that this is the loudest car I have ever owned (except maybe my 1970 VW Bug with the custom exhaust.) The Prius is a great car with fantastic gas mileage; that makes it easier to live with the road noise. Somewhat. (Ear plugs in glove box. )