"Steep" Hills

My top map has that stretch of road as averaging 15% for a mile. I'd call that steep, even though there are city streets over 30%. A lot of flatlanders call the maximum allowable freeway grade of 6% steep, but those are just nice highways.

 

I remember reading there is a city street in Pittsburgh that is about 30%. There are few 30% hills in San Francisco I have driven on. I've been on a dirt grade of 60% a couple of hundred yards long in tracked military vehicles. That will make you pucker up. You can't even stand on that grade wearing ordinary street shoes.

 

My Prius ambled right up a very steep grade in San Francisco. Prius has a feature that makes it easier: When you press the brake pedal all the way to the floor, a yellow light will go on. With the light on, the brake stays engaged for a few seconds after you take your foot off, so you can press the accelerator and start moving before the brake releases.

I'm sure some Prius owners have engage this feature unknowingly, and thought their brakes were malfunctioning when they tried to accelerate.

 

My old HMMWV was spec'd to successfully negotiate a 60-degree grade, but I don't think you'll be needing one of those, and based on the bile that I've heard on this site about the civilian variant of this vehicle, I don't think that you'll be wanting one of those either. Mine burned diesel (occasionally JP-8) and it only got about 10-mpg.
I've always thought that it was interesting that the military referred to it as a "Humvee" even though there's no "U" in HMMWV, but there's no "J" in the original "Jeeps" (GP vehicle) either, so there you go.

As far as the "Prius-lite" is concerned....I don't have any time in type, but based on the specs that I've read, I would expect that a 99-BHP vehicle that tips the scales at 2500# and is equipped with a CVT would successfully negotiate any paved streets that its likely to be driven on.
No....you're not going to go stump-jumping with it, and it's not going to warm the hearts of the sports car aficionados. The best published 0-60 times that I've read for this car is something like 11.3 seconds----or a breath and a half slower than a G3.
Fast and Furious?
Nope.....but I wouldn't expect that you'll have any trouble driving one up-hill either. Not even a reeeeeeeeallly big hill.

I'm much more interested in seeing whether or not the C-model will live up to it's $19K projected price point.....as well as the 53MPG efficiency claim.

 

When I say "steep" I'm referring to soaking something in liquid, such as tea in hot water.

Tom

 

That would have been 60%, not 60 degrees.

 

A review from Autoweek posted today says they recorded 10.6 seconds 0-60 on a slight incline. And other articles have mentioned that officials have quoted 10.7 seconds 0-62 for the Japanese spec car as well, so it's likely US Toyota are being pretty conservative in their specs.

autoweek.com/article/20120208/CARREVIEWS/120209883

ron​

 

Here's another quote from a different article regarding the C's uphill prowess:

grist.org/green-cars/the-prius-c-not-a-swan-but-a-damn-fine-duck/


ron

 

Good catch.
You're right, of course.

 

It does feel like at least 60 degrees

 

An HMMWV or Jeep can climb 60° if you can find some way to get traction and keep the vehicle from flipping over backward. I think you would need to replace the wheels with cogs.

My Jeep has a front approach angle of 44°, or 97%. It can easily climb something at that angle, but only if the tires can maintain traction. Most surfaces tear away with that sort of shear loading.

Tom

 

I live in Pittsburgh. Now you understand why I average just over 42 MPG.

 

It takes a coefficient of friction of 1.73 to climb a 60 degree slope or cogs, or 4wd exaggerated story telling to do it in the real world.

 

I thought it was 8%? irregardless I-70 at Vale pass is 7% avg for 4mi, I-17 to Flagstaff also 7% in a few spots, etc. Other places worth mentioning are I-24 and I-40 in Tennessee, I-84 @Cabbage hill in Oregon (have not been there) and I-8 at Mountain Springs (11mi @6.9% avg) .

IIRC there are 9% grade postings on I-68, I-70 in MD and I-81 in PA.

Can't recall what is the I-5 steepest at Siskiyou Summit. Also I-90 at Sheridan Pass, had been long time.

 

I think the Interstate Highway standard is 6% maximum with some roads that existed before the standards grandfathered in and exceptions for severe terrain.

He it is
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_standards[/ame]

 

Not sure about history of the standards, but some of the roads I listed (I-70 in CO, I-68 in MD) were built recently. Perhaps they had to bend the rules for those.

Here is some info on steep grades (not all of them obviously interstate)

10 Toughest Tows In America - Black Mountain - Diesel Power Magazine

I did some of them like Wolf pass on the bike. (It does not count since it is not interstate). Wolf pass was a blast but not as much as say Tioga. I-17 uphill was bad, going at speed limit (70?) I had to use shoulder when a yahoo decided to pass truck at 25mph. Siskiyou Summit on I-5 wasn't bad at all, but we were on the way from Crescent City to Crater lake via US-199 and then to Tahoe via Lassen/CA89, and bike has tendency to flatten roads, so my memory may be skewed.

Vale pass wasn't that bad at all. Despite the load our minivan was doing 70MPH uphill when locked in 2nd gear.

 

Any time you look out over the hood and don't see anything but sky, it does feel like 60-degrees! I got my sailor roots mixed up with my combat boot adventures when I expressed 60-percent as 60-degrees. I logged a 55+-something degree roll a few times on a survey ship in the Atlantic, and of course we did angles and dangles in submarines frequently enough. Different stuff.
The HMMWV is an impressive vehicle, but not quite that impressive. "Mine" (yours,ours) had the fording kit installed, but the onboard electronics limited our wading capability to about 40 inches.

I still maintain that the C-model Prius won't be pressed into service in an expeditionary role. It will be fine as a frugal commutter, and based on Danny's review, I don't think you'll have any problems climbing suburban hills with one.
Interestingly enough, his 0-60 times were similar to those that I read about. (>11 seconds.) The C will be competent enough on the highway dodging the big-rigs, but I wouldn't want to tangle with a G3 while driving one.

 

Bad weather is when Cabbage Hill and Siskiyou Summit are challenging. On a summer afternoon neither is that fear inducing,

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19905