My First Prius Road Trip

Yesterday. Absolutely a beautiful, beautiful spring day in Oregon. Drove from Portland to Lincoln City, which is basically driving to the Coast.

I'm a "little" prejudice, but Oregon is a beautiful state. Yesterday was post card idealistic. The farm land, the forest and the coast were all fantastic. And in Oregon, you can drive through all 3 environments in less than 3 hours.

But about The Prius.

Amazing. I had filled it up last weekend, gone all week on "life duty", that is back and forth to work, shopping...I had put 180 or so miles on it, and was down about two pips. Was able to take the scenic route to the coast, averaged 50+ mpg, and returned home with still 3 pips left. With my Honda Fit? A trip to the coast, meant a fill up that same weekend. It's amazing to me, that with the Prius, I could drive to the coast, visit with friends, drive them around, drive back home, and I still have hundreds of miles to go before I need a fill up.

You know, I've been part of this forum for years. I've read the numerous posts where people discover that they find the Prius seats uncomfortable. So, in my first extended real "seat time", I had some trepidation that at some point I might find that the seat hurt me.

Round trip, I probably put 4 plus hours in...on the way back 2+ solid hours with no breaks. I can report that solely for myself? The Prius is a comfortable vehicle- to me. My back never started hurting, and the Prius rode smooth and comfortably the entire way. Infact, I haven't owned a lot of vehicles designed primarily for driving comfort, Accord, Fit, Trucks....some others...but right now, I'd rank The Prius as one of the most comfortable vehicles I have ever owned.

I loved my Honda Fit, but with any trip of significant distance I would usually arrive somewhat worn out and tired. The Prius driving experience IMO is much more relaxing.

My only regret, was that in trying to reach the coast to meet some friends, I never really stopped to take any pictures. I should of done so. Perfect day.

But my first real "small" road trip in my Prius was a resounding success. From Portland to The Coast and Back...and I'm still a long way from having to visit the gas station.

I would say that strange psychological "advantage"? "disadvantage?" is with The Prius, you start thinking about the possibility of driving on a whole lot longer road trips more often. I'm really thinking if the weather is nice again next weekend, of going again to the coast, with no commitment to meet friends, and this time stopping more often to take some pictures and enjoy some of the locations. The gas savings of The Prius is so great, it tempts you into driving MORE. I'm not 100% sure that is good. But the Prius is a GREAT road trip vehicle IMO.

*** I don't know what this means, if anything, but I drove most of the way to the coast in ECO mode, drove back in Normal. Got better gas mileage coming back in Normal.