curious....your top speed?

My 7-year-old son wanted to know how fast the Prius went.

I told him that it's not designed to go fast, but to use as little gas as possible. If we want to go fast, we'll take the Corvette.

 

Is BWilson4Web back? If so...Welcome Back!!!

I don't think I've gone any faster than 80 mph (and that was purposely "coasting" down a hill to see how far I could go before slowing down to 55 mph like I used to do in my last car). No reason to speed.

 

Prius easly goes to it's maximum rated speed 180 kmh (112,5 mph). 17" version is really stable at that speed. Keeping speed is possible without entering PWR zone. ECO lamp goes off somewhere near 135 kmh (85 mph).

Prius is not designed to be speed daemon but accelerates without any trouble to maximum speed (except loud engine - but it's normal in R4 cars not designed to be sport ones). Speed is limited electronically so when you go down HSI bar goes down. When it's up - you enter PWR zone. Consumption is > 10 l/100km.

While driving at maximum speed 180 kmh display shows 194 kmh (121 mph).

 

I have gone over 90, maybe 95 on Route 95, of all places (But officer, I thought that was the speed limit. You should have seen me on 295! ). I have Michelin Primacy MXV4's, a rear sway bar, and a front strut tower brace, so it felt pretty solid. I would hate to lose it, though, especially with the LRR tires. At only 3200#, I would think it would just skip over the pavement once it was sideways. No getting that back. Anyway, that was a fluke. I usually just stay with the flow, and use the parkway instead of 95 due to the high speeds there.

 

I have been 90 mph while in the passing lane on I-40 with someone on my tail wanting to get by me. I thought the car handled just as well at 90 as it did 80.

The speed limit for a Gen III is 112 mph. This is the max speed of MG2 and is computer limited.

 

I'm running Sumitomo T4s, fully inflated but otherwise stock. In perfect conditions and a quality road, it was predictable and did everything I wanted while 'keeping up with traffic.'

Bob Wilson

 

Indicated 115 on my 2010. Press the MPH to Kilometers button and it indicates 185. Same speed, but looks cool.

 

Was in a car trail on the interstate through Nevada and Utah going 105mph to 110mph. Kept up just fine. It handled fine too, but this was with Michelin X-ICE2 snow tires which are nice and grippy. These were 2 lanes each direction divided highways cut through mountain canyons so it was going up and down. On the downhill you can go faster then the max speed. You have to be steady with the throttle. If you are constantly adjusting the throttle to maintain an exact speed, you will eat through your battery and have no power.

 

wow...how long would you say you drove that fast?

 

And what kind of mileage were you getting for that stretch? It would be funny to see you still getting 20+ mpg while traveling 100+ mph. (Hey Mr. Hummer, I can drive 105 mph and still get better gas mileage than you!)

 

You could always say that people have driven the car over 100 mph, and that will likely satisfy your 7 year old's curiousity. You can then follow up with "it's not safe to drive that fast" to start his education on safe driving habits. Never too early to start.

 

I got mine up to around 95 MPH a while back--traffic was moving along quite fast, and I need to get out from behind a gravel truck. Wasn't horrible, but wasn't great.

 

It was a good length, but I wasn't really paying attention. It was near the middle of an 18hour drive. It was tens of miles, probably 20 to 40 miles. It lasted somewhere around 20minutes, but there were slow downs and speedups. Basically until the canyon went away and there were some hills (good cop territory versus a shear vertical face) and then the lead car chickened out and pulled over to the right as did everyone else and went back to 80mph-ish.

It was bad... I don't remember the exact numbers but because there were hills a good chunk of the time the pedal was almost or all the way to the ground. I remember instantaneous readings in the teens, like 16 or 18 and on the downhills closer to 25mpg to 30mpg.

I figure the less of a stigma the Prius has as been "a slow car" the more likely people are to include it in their list of curiosities when shopping for a next vehicle or at least some form of hybrid. I still get asked about the "top legal speed" of 35mph that apparently the Prius has and that it can't go above 60mph and all these silly things. If people see a Prius whipping by... obviously it can go faster than 35mph and 60mph.

 

This was awhile back but I went about 95 mph one time to pass another car. Ironically, it was a guy in a generation 2 prius who was driving like a douchbag cutting off everyone(as I saw him about half a mile away in my rearview mirror). I was in the carpool lane going at the flow of traffic about 73-74 mph(405 fwy southbound, costa mesa-south coast area). He was in the fast lane tail gateing the car in front of him & quickly approaching when in an instant, he jumped the double yellow solid line to get to the carpool lane right behind me. Now he proceeded to tail gate me in the same way, very close & in a dangerous manner. I sped up a little but I had no where to go as it was still a solid yellow but still, he was on my tail. Finally, after the fast lane had cleared for a moment, he quickly changed lane & passed by me & gave me the bird (this is when I noticed clearly as he didn't have any tint that he was a sole driver). As if that wasn't enough, he switched back into my lane(carpool), & started to spray his windshield washer fluid in front of me. I lost all patience at that second & floored my prius, got past him & did the same & sprayed my fluids on him. I know it was stupid but at the time it was the escalation in the order of the things that happened that infuriated me. First, he was breaking every traffic law possible than, he gives me the finger, & to top it off, he sprays his windshield fluid onto me. The thing is, he was about my age(about late 30's, early 40's) & looked professional(as he was wearing a long-sleeve dress shirt). He must of been having a shitty day or is the biggest a$$hole on a prius.

 

Talking about mileage - I did 398 km (248 mi) within 3 hours (averaging 132 kmh / 82,5 mph). It means steady driving 140 - 180 kmh most of the time. Prius averaged 7.31 l/100km (32.1 mpg) calculated. Pretty good result for R4 petrol engine. It was a part of longer 800 km span of highway driving. Car was doing fine all the way, no HSD errors, cooling problems at all. I did it on winter Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 215/45/R17.

 

114 radar timed on the main straight at Elkhart Lake. 201 in the ZR1 !

 

105mph driving to vegas in my 2009 prius. Haven't pushed it yet in my 2012 prius

 

That's some good mileage given the speeds (and winter grippy tires).

 

Wow, I have never heard anyone say that the Prius was limited to 35mph. I have had people mention that they thought it was a good city car, as though it can't go on the highway. I just shrug and tell them I commute on the 95 corridor and get 48-52 mpg. If they assert it is slow, I ask them what they drive and if they want to race. Very deadpan. Then mention the torque figures with an electric motor. Then mention how this saves wear and tear on the ICE and the brakes, etc., until I can see they feel foolish and uninformed.