What's the Prius III's top speed limited at?

Thanks! I wonder how accurate the speedo is vs. actual, esp. at those speeds.

I wonder what kind of FE one will get at speeds like that. I wouldn't be surprised if it falls into the low 30s or high 20s, for mpg.

There should be room. Try switching to km/h mode and going on the highway. There definitely is a 1 digit on my Gen 2.

 

Prius will go 180 kmh max (speed on the GPS and in hardware spec). Speedo will show then 194 kmh. It means that speed on the display is about 8% higher than real speed. It of course depends on tires.

Consumption is somewhere between 9 and 11 l/100km.

 

Wow, that translates into 21.38 to 26.13 miles per US gallon. Haha. I'd imagine the FE that 400+ hp cars going fast on the Autobahn would be very poor.

 

I won't tell you but Alfa Romeo 159 with 150 HP Diesel engine performed better that Prius at that speed. But don't ask me about city

 

180km/h (112mph) makes sense because that is the "gentleman's agreement" for the top speed of a Japanese car. You may know that the Nissan GTR is speed-limited in Japan to 180 km/h until its GPS detects that you are on a racetrack, whereupon all level of hell are yours to unleash.

It would be useful to have an independent GPS device displaying the true speed.

I'm not sure if the speedometer error is a percentage. On my car it seems to be a fixed adjustment, perhaps to comply with Australian Design Rules. A speedometer can read high by up to 10% but must never read low; prior to 2006 (?) the ADR was ±10%. On my car, here is the true speed and what is displayed:

• 60 km/h - 63
• 80 km/h - 83
• 100 km/h - 103 or 104
• 110 km/h - 113 or 114

So it seems to be a fudge factor of a few km/h rather than a linear error. When all speed cameras are removed and the police take a well-deserved day off I'll try for 180 km/h. I suspect that any insignificant error at low speed would become obvious at high speeds. Still, 180 km/h is faster than my old Golf or Citroën C5.

 

On BMW5 it was a factor of +3 kmh to the real speed. On my Prius it is definietly a percentage. I've checked it few times.

• 50 kmh - 54
• 100 kmh - 117/118
• 140 kmh - 151
• 180 kmh - 194

And one more factor that makes me sure that it is a percentage is forced ICE ON. It should start to spin > 74 kmh to protect electric motor MH1. If coasting downhill with slight acceleration ICE will start to spin (short surge and small spike on instant consumption for 1 - 2 seconds). It happens always with 78 - 79 kmh on the display which would mean 75 kmh real speed.

Based on 215/45/R17 Michelin Primacy HP tires and Becker Z205 GPS device.

 

I had a rental Prii a couple years ago running 100+ for several miles up I-75 in Michigan. It drove very smooth and handled very well. I'll have to take mine out this summer and verify that 112 mph on gps. Got plenty of country roads to do that on.

Mike

 

Yes, but are they long enough?

 

Not as long as your roads but a few miles of safe flat straight homeless roads

Mike

 

It sometimes surprises me when I refer to the trip calculator on the GPS and find the recorded top speed to be 90 MPH + . Duh, I don't remember doing that! From 70 MPH to 90+ happens in a heart beat in this car.

 

Very easy to speed in a Prius. Thankfully cops usually don't blink an eye at them

Mike

 

Top speed of my Gen3 Prius is 112 MPH measured with GPS, speedometer reads 115 or 116. That was with fairly new tires. Car feels very stable at that speed thanks to excellent aerodynamics.

 

Yes, it does. 62 mph converts to 100 kph so the speedo needs to display at least the 1xx digit (2xx if you get over 125 mph in metric)

 

Highest speed on the display is 199. I haven't seen segments to display 2 on my metric VFD. I think it is impossible not only because of lack of those segments but also because software inside ECU will slow car down to the fixed limit of 180 kmh / 112 mph.