The Prius in the Rockies

Do a search. Tons of information in two other threads on the subject.

 

Your Prius might gasp for air up there, but the thinner atmosphere should aid your aero efficiency!

 

Greetings and welcome aboard!
:welcome:
The G3 will do fine in the mountains.
Japan has them too, and the car is not underpowered in any way.

Your fuel economy will suffer a little, but not as much as my GMs.
The car has enough grunt to drive on any road that it's looooooow ground clearance will permit it to drive on. It's gonna be summer, so you won't have to really worry about chains.
Just don't pull any bonehead stunts like neutral gliding or putting your car in "B" mode for extended periods of time and you'll be fine!
In other words.....relax, drive normally and enjoy the view.

Good Luck on the trip!

 

Here are a few threads that may help:
Mountain Driving
Mountain road trip
Mountain trip mileage

 

One thing that isn't obvious: gas stations will sell you 85 octane as "regular". It is okay to use this low grade, because the elevation is much higher than sea level. Only if you have driveability problems should you try using a higher grade.

Any loss of fuel economy due to elevation may be offset by the fact that you will have far less A/C demand in Breck. I got 53.9 mpg on my last tank in 7000' Santa Fe, which included 200 miles of 75 mph interstate travel.

If you drive up e.g. Mt Evans, use B mode coming down. Otherwise, drive it normally.

Be careful when parking your car. Driving over multiple passes in a short period can heat up the battery significantly. It is possible to overheat it if you are parking it with 7-8 bars. Always park it with 6 bars or less. It only takes a couple of minutes, i.e. turn on the A/C to high which helps the battery too, to burn off the excess.

 

I have driven mine at elevations up to 12K feet in the Rockies. It does great. As Seilerts mentioned 85 octane is available, I have used it with no problems at all, no loss of power or decrease in mileage.

 

The only thing I will add is watch out on descents from mountain passes. The Prius will "take off". Use "B" mode when going down passes, for however long it takes to get to the bottom. Just remember to "shift" (switch) back to "D" once at the bottom. Otherwise it can impact your mileage. But it won't hurt the car so relax. If you can stand the noise you can also open windows to add drag when descending.
Maybe I'm crazy, but a little voice in my head tells me "configure for descent" as I top mountain passes.

 

I went on a trip through the mountains in SE Colorado last year: Durango-Silverton-Ouray-Telluride-Dolores. I averaged over 52 MPG. I had no problems anywhere with the high passes. I did make use of "B" a few times coming down off the passes.

 

You probably should explain a little more what you mean here. Otherwise, comments like this are likely to be taken as gospel and grow to mythical proportions. There's nothing boneheaded about using "B" mode when it makes sense to do so (like an extended downhill slope). I don't know enough about neutral gliding, so I may be a bonehead for doing that when I can't get the car to find that glide sweet spot.

 

I think he's right about NOT putting the car in neutral when going downhill. Actually no neutral anytime when the car is moving. Sometimes I put it in neutral at long stop lights to give my foot a brake, but not often.

I leave it in D most of the time and B mode if it starts to take off downhill.

 

Why do you say no neutral anytime the car is moving? The only thing I have been able to find in the manual is that the traction battery won't recharge when in neutral. So please explain. Thanks.


iPad ?

 

... because it is illegal in most states since you could lose control of the vehicle. Also, it serves no purpose, other than to give one a false feeling that he is saving gas.
Actually, the braking regen system is a gas saver in that it charges the battery while you go downhill.

 

When I took my trip out west through the mountains in Colorado & Utah last month I didn't use B mode once. I used the cruise control & it kept my car at my preset MPH the whole time. Up & down the mountains. I was quite impressed with how well it worked.

 

You and your Prius will do fine. Here is the link to my '07 cross country road trip, including Rockies-- family of four, all the camping gear, roof rack, etc. No problems.

My avatar is from that trip, on the continental divide. If you click on that same pic in the report you will get a larger view, which gives you a better look at the roof rack design that still gave us 50 mpg on that 7500 mile trip.

BarryInPA-Across the Divide (and back) @

PA P

 

That wasn't what I was saying in my original comment. I use N when trying to glide when I can't get the car to do it on its own. Braking regen has got nothing to do with what I was positioning. Given that, I don't agree with your statement that I am getting a false feeling of saving gas on those rare occasions when I do this.

I was specifically responding to a blanket statement without any supporting rationale. Those of us with experience should provide the reasoning behind a statement so novice members can put things into perspective. Otherwise, they are likely to (falsely) believe that something is bad for the car.

As far as the OP, I see that there are many folks on PC that live in the area without too many complaints on the performance of the Prius. I have taken my '04 up to 9,000 feet and not noticed any performance issues. I do get one heck of a recharge on the way down, tho (and didn't once see the need to use N).

 

Better than most anything else you would drive there. Enjoy your summer

 

Makes sense, since the electric motor portion of the power equation in a Prius doesn't loose any power due to thin air.

I've done moderate mountain driving with our old Gen II and noted that maintaining a safe and even speed down long hills is quite easy using regen braking. I tried the "B" position on one occasion just to see what it did. It was fine, but since it doesn't allow regen, I never used it again.

I would much rather use downhill runs to top off the battery.

 

That's exactly what I do driving the Prii in mountains. Cruise holds the car back perfect. Once that battery pack gets fully charged that motor really winds up

Mike

 

Oh yes it does. I'm glad I read about that happening before we took the trip. It would have freaked me out.