Is Prime more quiet +85 mph?

Time for my speed limit wisecrack...

The maximum speed limit in California is 70 mph, with tickets issued at about 82 mph.
In Northern California the ticket will be for excessive speed.
In Southern California the ticket will be for obstructing traffic.

Same law, same California Highway Patrol. Just different local attitudes.

 

Bob's test drive got me curious, so today I hit 91 mph. And my un-Primed '16 Prius performed beautifully.

Don't laugh, but these southern California freeways make me very nervous. Sure glad I don't commute every day. Maybe it's a combination of having a new car, and now being in my mid 60s. So today, I confronted my demons. I picked a busy time to drive, around noon, and put 150 miles on my car by traveling around on 4 different freeways.

Traffic was fairly heavy, but light on one of the freeways enroute to the Port of LA. That's where I put the ol' girl to work and stretched her legs. Cruising at 80 and 85, it was smooth sailing all along. The car tracks true and straight, even on the freeways with the rain grooves cut into the concrete. No vibration, no shakes, no shimmies. It was a very pleasant ride. I could even take my hands off the steering wheel and the car stayed true. Then I kicked it up to 91 mph for about 3 miles, and it didn't even feel like I was going that fast. Beautiful! My new Michelin Premiers even seemed to become quieter at the higher speeds. And the steering was precise and sharp. The ICE was on most of the time at those speeds, but I didn't hear it.

I'll never do that kind of speed again, but I was curious to see how the Prius performs. No complaints. (A Highway Patrol officer stopped a Honda Fit that was ahead of me. I'm glad those flashing red and blue lights were not behind me.) I'm very impressed with this Prius.

 

there is a stretch of 4-lane highway in central CA that i take when i go see my daughter in Monterey, it's ~ 25 mile straight, with 1 curve in the middle, usually set the DRCC at 88, sometimes higher, took the the Prime up to 105, cause i wanted to see how fast i can take it.
on this 25 mile stretch, i typically pass like 10-20 cars, and yes, typically no-one passes me ... and i don't go that fast in heavier traffic.
Prime feels very stable at those speeds, close to my 2003 BMW 5 but that one had high performance tires ...

 

Anybody got meaningful mpg data at these "sedate" speeds for the Prime?

 

on above mentioned trip, total was 400+ miles and i got ~ 49mpg (I track via Fuelly), obviously i wasn't going that fast the whole trip but i recall that the instant mpg at 88 speed was just around 40, not bad. When i took the same trip in my Gen3 my average mpg was below 40 ...

 

I once drove from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon in a 4th gen Prius ... was driving really fast, probably doing 80+mph most of the way and I remember when I got to Grand Canyon Village, the overall MPG was around 45mpg+ ...

 

I did a search but didn't find any results for the Prime. Has anyone added aftermarket sound deadening material like Dynamat, Hushmat or some combination of MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) or CCF (Closed Cell Foam) to their Prime to make it quieter?

That was single handily the best MOD I made to Ema and I will probably do it again when I get my Prime. It isn't cheap if you don't' do it yourself because its so labor intensive to get everything in the car apart and out. I definitely could tell the difference after I had it done and when you drive 40-50K per year on the highway its worth it.

I really wish Toyota would step up their cabin game to Lexus levels or Lexus would make a hybrid that gets 50+ MPG.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

I'll take your word on that. I am not driving 85+ to find out.