How to tackle long, high-speed hills?

Not really. Just stay right and stick to the limit. Hills are tough workout for a car.

 

Which part, having to stand on the pedal OR having your gas mileage go down ?
The answer for both is pretty much the same: NO.

You can mitigate the pedal movement some by charging the hill; that is, anticipate the hill and get going as fast as you can (or dare to) BEFORE you actually start up the grade. Get a running start. WAY back in the day, that used to be called "6 cylinder" driving, when a 6 was the under-powered runt of the litter.

But going uphill uses more gas. No real way around that.

 

When I'm going up a long steep hill, I always picture the scene from the 1966 cartoon "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" where the Grinch's dog Max is pulling the him in the fully loaded sleigh up to the top of Mt. Crumpit. I hear the music playing in my head the entire way.

 

You ever push a car on level ground, then encounter the slightest bit of up-slope? It's a big difference.

 

I just use my CC. It does the job just fine.

 

Physics is a tough mistress and so is Gravity. You are still getting way better economy than the conventional cars overall.

 

One thing: if there's an alternate route that skirts the hill, even if it's a bit longer: take it.

 

Welcome! And be aware, that it doesn't make any difference if you're in PWR, NORMAL, or ECO, the maximum power is the same. The only difference is the throttle mapping.

As for mileage, there is one trick I use that seems to help if traffic permits. (And it usually doesn't permit it.) I try to hit the base of the hill with some momentum, and then try to keep the HSI bar out of the power section and as high as I can in ECO, letting speed bleed off. If I can manage that without getting too slow or getting in someone's way, it really cuts back on fuel use. There are no hills where I live, but I have experimented with this on trips through TN and KY going to Ohio. But sometimes, you just have to floor it like everyone else.

 

You already did a lot to mitigate this by getting a Prius instead of a traditional gas hog.

Physics, gravity, and local driving culture are harder things to overcome.

 

The car only has 69 hp. Next time go with the Camry or Accord Hybrid.

 

I was just about to make this thread, when I first started driving this car around NJ, I kept finding sections of highway where I would be flooring it in the Prius C and be barely accelerating above 55, sometimes actually slowing down. I was really confused at first and thought something was wrong with the engine since it was at the max PWR level on the ECO gauge. I did not even realize that I was going uphill, the grade was so slight and long, but when I started feeling my ears pop and I checked the Google Maps I realized it was indeed a large long incline. Not sure there's anything to be done about it.

 

The thing that puts the smile on your face is cresting over the top of the hill.

Everybody burned a bunch of fuel to build that potential energy on the way up the hill.

Now, it is all coming back atcha, and everybody around you is downshifting, riding the brakes, or jake braking to throw it all away, and you are collecting it and putting it back in the battery.

 

It's not a powerful car, but on a grade so slight you didn't realize you were going uphill you should be doing much better than 55 with the pedal floored. Even if you're using ECO mode, 60-70mph or more should be easily possible unless you have an extreme amount of weight in the car and are fighting crosswinds or head winds. Maintenance up to date?

 

Sorry, but really there is nothing you can do. Any car is going to get killed on the mpg on a hill like that.

 

I took a closer look at those areas in the highway and they report an uphill grade of 5-6%, not sure how significant that is, but it lasts for about 2 miles.

 

Just bought a prius c and coming from a 160hp car i can confidently say that the prius c is not a great hill climber. Although i haven't yet tried to floor it up any hills. Just medium throttle type deal. Perhaps there is a beast within, but i doubt it. Racing up hills is not why i bought it, but i did notice that it is sluggish on a 9% grade hill near me and my previous car was not.

 

Throttle is different on this car. Hopefully you're not trying medium throttle in ECO mode, but the car can handle hills okay... you just have to give it the umph.

 

Oh these things can scamper up hills like a billygoat if you let them.

You just can't have any fear of completely flooring the pedal and holding it there. You won't break anything, you won't hurt anything except your gasoline stash, there isn't a sore hangnail under the gas pedal... just do it!

If you try and drive it like an American pickup from 1973 that's either going to stall out or rip itself in half when you floor it, you'll never get anywhere in a c.

 

I let my sister drive my Gen 1 one time and she did that going up Afton Mountain. I was watching the battery SoC out the corner of my eye.

It is worth remembering that in a car with just a 70-mumble horsepower engine, if you scamper up the hill at a higher-than-70-mumble horsepower speed, the rest of that is coming from the battery. That doesn't hurt anything, but the instant the battery charge goes below 40%, the horses pulling you up the hill turn back into mice, your speed will drop to just what 70-mumble horsepower can actually do, and stay there the rest of the way up.

In the case of our trip up Afton Mountain, that happened just as we reached our exit, so my sister never even noticed.