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Driving the Prius 2010 on a German Autobahn...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by pakitt, Nov 28, 2009.

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  1. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    With the 195/55 R16 winter tires, when I posted the original thread, quite stable.
    I have driven as per post above with the stock 215/45 R17 at it is very stable, at least for what I can see and based on my experience of cars. (well, it helps that the tarmak is flat...;) )
     
    #21 pakitt, Apr 26, 2010
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  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Good to know.
     
    #22 Tideland Prius, Apr 26, 2010
  3. gpt

    gpt Junior Member

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    I just wonder what was the gas consumption at that time... :confused:
     
    #23 gpt, Apr 28, 2010
  4. AkustaVirtaa

    AkustaVirtaa Sähköistäjä

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    I am missing those days in Germany with rented MB SLK cabriolet at autobahn. Man I loved those short acceleration ramps to autobahn when I “have to” use all power from car. Too bad that car has limited max speed to 240km/h... :( :D
     
    #24 AkustaVirtaa, Jul 7, 2010
  5. pdv

    pdv New Member

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    Respect to the OP, and thanks for the story.

    I drove 2005 and 2010 priuses through Deutschland and it was OK.

    the 2010 is much better tho. Recentlhy drove from Trier to Salzburg, to Lubljana, and back over the Stelvio pass.

    The new Prius is slightly nippier (in power mode), and its limited topspeed is 195km/h (did 197 going downhill - lol).
    But the car isnt comfortable above 160, wouldnt trust it in an emergency.

    Got winter tyres 2 days ago, Bridgestone, M+S 215/45R17, 91V, but they feel like half-deflated: car seems to over lean more now ???
    Should I inflate a bit more ? what is the risk of overinlfated winter tyres ? (do not know what pressure they are now, but from visual inspection they seemed ok).

    Wll be driving approx same route again on those tyres and will report.
     
    #25 pdv, Oct 10, 2010
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  6. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    pdv, thanks!
    yes, the car is not comfortable above, I would even say 145km/h - it starts to get noisy - but it was not really been designed with high speeds in mind. When the Eco light turns off, you are driving at a speed that is not the main design focus of the car. A Mercedes or a BMW will probably be more comfortable at those speeds, as I could experiment directly myself with rented cars.
    Regarding security, I personally believe that no car is safe beyond 130-140km/h and clearly you can have bad accidents also at much lower speeds. Surely it can be "interesting" or fun to drive fast, but I would rather be in a TGV/ICE/Freccia Rossa train and enjoy the 300km/h+ ride, than being on a car at 180km/h....
    Regarding the tire pressure - on the Toyota manual nothing is mentioned, but on my previous VW Polo, it was written that winter tires should have been inflated with 0.2bar more than the nominal values for summer tires. If you feel your winter tires are "half deflated" you could try this and see how it feels. Nevertheless, if you have 17" stock summer tires which are pretty hard and move to winter tires, this can give you for the first few days a weird sensation - surely. I am expecting the same in about 2 weeks when I am mounting mine.
     
    #26 pakitt, Oct 11, 2010
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