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How's the car at 70-80mph?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Potential Buyer, Feb 22, 2005.

  1. Potential Buyer

    Potential Buyer New Member

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    Hi guys, I just registered here. My current car is a VW Jetta, and at 115 HP, it's comparable to the Prius' 110 HP. But I've heard the Prius is not so great for highway driving... I drive 70-80mph on the highway and am wondering how the Prius handles that. Can it even go that fast? And, without A/C on, what's the fuel economy at those speeds?
     
  2. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    the prius goes 108. you can get up to 90 pretty easy at 100 you get 25mpg still. around 70-80, you would get over 30 but below 50. i can cruise at 70 and average just under 50. well.. that's about 70 to 74mpg. so you should average in the 40s for mpg.

    without a/c.. doesn't change anything much. not unless it's blasting. i live in the S.F. bay area of california, so i never really use the air.
     
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Assuming you don't live on a hilly area or where the hwy is straight up the road's actually going up, you can get pretty good mileage. At 60ish, the instant fuel economy gauge is showing around 4-5 L/100km.. that's abt 47-58mpg. On the whole average, expect about 50. I've only taken it on the highway twice though and that's only to the nearby town. I've yet to take it on a long trip.
     
  4. Kyle Pehrson

    Kyle Pehrson Member

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    At 70 I will get 53, At 75 I get 48-50, After that I don't want to know what the gas mileage is just want to know where the cops hiding. ha ha At 80 it drops off to 43-45.
    What is the fastest any one whats to admit to going in their Prius?
     
  5. Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor New Member

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    47/46 Miles to the Gallon at interstate speeds of 70 to 75.

    The MPG's at 55 are vastly better, about 11 to 12 percent more overall, say 52, 53 MPG.

    So, its a tradeoff, and if you travel interstate, you pretty much need to keep up with traffic. Not doing so is not that healthy.
     
  6. Potential Buyer

    Potential Buyer New Member

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    Thanks for the quick replies, guys. It's good to hear the Prius is not limited to city driving, even for getting good mileage.

    V8CobraKid: I've read elsewhere that with A/C on, one routinely gets 28mpg flat when doing highway driving. Is this really not true?

    Kyle: V8CobraKid probably takes that award, since he said he's driven it at 100mph. :)
     
  7. LeVautRien

    LeVautRien Member

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    I would have to totally disagree with the statement that the Prius isn't good for highway driving. Driving along the LA freeway system, I probably average 75-80 regularly. The mileage isn't stellar, but I've recently been getting almost 45 mpg. As far as getting to 75-80 goes, it's totally effort-free. I've gone as high as 94 myself, though only for a short while, and again, almost effort-free.

    Some do complain about the handling at those speeds, though, since the Prius is a little more twitchy at freeway speeds than most cars, but that issue seems to be tire-related moreso than the Prius itself. I simply got used to it within a few weeks and I'm sure to give anyone who drives it a heads up on the fact that they're a little more apt to drift if they get too careless.
     
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    A/C and 28mpg? I doubt it unless it's either searing hot outside or frigid cold.
     
  9. Potential Buyer

    Potential Buyer New Member

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    OK, good. All these posts are very reassuring.
     
  10. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    There's a very good chance you won't be disappointed. Continue to browse this forum and PriusOnline for information and answers and feel free to ask anything you want. There are quite a large number of knowledgeable people willing to share their knowledge with you =)
     
  11. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    yeah.. i win. the car gets about 15mpg with a "dead" battery going 108mpg.. or maxed out
     
  12. heliotropehead

    heliotropehead New Member

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    I drove to New Orleans and back over the weekend(12 hours) at 75+mph with my ac, lights & radio on. I averaged high 40's the whole trip... and then once I got into the city, I averaged high 50's!!! The more miles I put on my car, the better the mpg. Right now I'm at 6500 and I rarely see anything under 40.
     
  13. Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor New Member

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    The Prius has absolutely no problems with interstate speeds, and I do not find handling problems of any kind at any speed, unless the discussion is the really gosh awful tires that it comes equipped with. I had the rear end slide on dry pavement pulling onto a five lane road under acceleration. No way that should happen.

    Check the feedbacks on our sponsor tire link on the OEM's. They suck. And howl. :x And do nothing to dampen road noise, vibration.
     
  14. Charles Suitt

    Charles Suitt Senior Member

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    :) ~51 MPG

    Recent (between Christmas and New Years) 730 mile mostly Interstate drive to visit family netted overall 49+ MPG overall and 51 MPG on the Interstate at ~70 MPH passing up to 85 MPH.

    Actually, I get better mileage on the Interstate than I get "in town." Probably this is due to the numerous short trips in town. One bit of advice - use Cruise Control whenever you can. Your Prius does a better job of economizing fuel than you're likely to achieve.
     
  15. montolchik

    montolchik New Member

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    I tend to drive with traffic at whatever the posted speed limit it + 8mph. My mileage has risen over time. Outside temperature seems to play more on mileage than speed. I try to avoid sudden braking, so as not to continuously re-accelerate. In the summer, my mostly highway commute nearing 70mph will grant me near 50mpg. I'm getting around 45mpg right now on the same commute. In windy conditions, I tend to slow down because the car has a tendency to feel uneasy with a strong crosswind.
     
  16. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    In my 36 mile commute from Surprise to Tempe and back, I can set my cruise at 70 and average over 50mpg on-screen (51-52). If I have it at 74mph, it's more like 48-49mpg overall. Keeping speeds lower, i.e. < 65mph is a ticket for even higher mileage.

    Fortunately my commute is mostly flat which really helps compared to my previous CA commute in the hills of South Orange County where I got between 45-48mpg.

    I keep my tires at 42/40psi front/rear and am now running synthetic oil.
     
  17. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    i went across I-90 at 80 and during very very hot weather, had the air at 68º with fan on low to med-low all the way and averaged 47 mph.

    at 70 (which is legal south of where i live) i get 50-52 mpg

    it still one of the smoothest riding and easy driving cars ive ever owned which might not be saying much since ive never owned anything that was considered to be a luxury car
     
  18. mikepaul

    mikepaul Senior Member

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    I also get around 50MPG on a flat road at 70MPH.

    In warm weather. No headwind. No big lunch... :wink:
     
  19. ltu1542hvy

    ltu1542hvy New Member

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    Before I bought my Prius I was a bit concerned about all of the posts that i read about twitchy, darty and generally awful handling at highway speeds. Before my Prius I owned a '95 Acura Integra GS-R and its handling was rock-solid at , shall we say "socially irresponsible" highway speeds. After I sold the Integra and before I picked up the Prius I rented an '05 Chevy Cavalier (with abou 25K miles on it) for one day, and it's highway handling was just absolutely atrocious. At anything above 50 mph I almost felt like I needed two lanes with it.

    Now, with the Prius, even with the supposedly awful stock tires that it comes with, the handling at highway speeds is of course not as good as what I had with my Integra (not that I expected it to be), but I don't think it's awful at all. I do find the car to be more sensitive than average to crosswinds and I do need to make some steering corrections at highway speeds, but nothing outside of what I would consider to be normal and acceptable.

    Two weeks after I bought the car I took a road-trip from Durham, NC to Atlanta, GA and back. I drove 2-5 mph above the speed limit, with the cruise control set anywhere from 57-72 mph and got an indicated 52 mpg over the course of the approx. 900 mile round trip. Handling was neither outstanding nor bad. "Unremarkable" would be a good word to describe it.
     
  20. fred

    fred New Member

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    you can go any speed you wqant and its a delight. however because ( i think) of its high profile it can be a little twitchy in cross winds. its not a big deal like flinging you from lane to lane but it is there and you will notice it especially if if youve been used to extrmely good handling cars. i still love it and its not a a big issue with me.