Mountain Passes

Before we picked up our car, and whenever we met a Prius driver, we would give them the third degree about the vehicle. On one occasion about two months ago we met a couple on Vancouver Island with Alberta plates so asked how their trip was. That had been their first trip of any distance and reported that from Calgary to Vancouver, maintaining posted speed limits using cruise control they averaged 4.8L/100km ( if my memory serves me correctly.... I posted this info in one of my earlier contributions and had a quick look through my previous posts but couldn't find it)

 

I live in Denver and have taken my 04 across the Colorado, climbing several passes. Yes, the battery does drain to nothing on long climbs and the ICE works its little heart out, but I was usually able to maintain 50 mph. Its a little humbling to move to the far right lane and get passed by those stinking SUVs. However, the downhill glide is fun. I once made it for 12 minutes without the ICE coming on and had rare full green battery! I played a little with the brake mode, but am not convinced it buys you much. I averaged 57 mpg on one long mountain trip, so the downhill savings seem to outweigh the lower Mpgs when climbing. I did not buy my Prius to drive in the mountains, but it does OK when needed.

 

By prudent driving (cruise control @ about 41-55 mph) more or less on the level, I always obtain a green battery after 25 minutes of driving on my morning and evening commute. I can drive an older section of highway that parallels the newer faster section. Fuel economy averages 53 mpg and the battery stays topped off.

Several posts discuss "feathering" the accelerator to obtain optimum fuel economy and battery recharge. In a Prius you learn to "read the landscape" and drive appropriately, rather than substituting oil for knowledge. As needed, you accelerate to stay with fast moving traffic, but overall there is great satisfaction in applying knowledge rather than oil. Going over mountain passes is a bonus that reinforces good driving.

 

It doesn't buy you something, it saves you from riding the brake pedal all the way down the hill.

 

True. However, I found that for my mountain driving it slowed me up a little too much, too quick and I had to hit the gas. I think it depends on the pitch of the hill.

 

I don't know if is a good thing to do or not but in our local mountain downhill runs I "feather" in and out of "B" to maintain the speed I wish to keep, not using the foot brake nor the gas pedal.

 

haven't done the C with the 2k4 but the 2k3 no problem just drive it normally and it's ok. Mine hill on 3 no problem it'll do 135-140 up there like nothing. Both of them, it's no big deal. Been to Alberta and Sask with them no problem on any pass, Rogers, or Kootani pass nothing but clear sailing, if fact I was passing the ones that thougt 115 was to slow on the Coq and passed me at the bottom. 115 at the top and they were looking at me kinda strange as I was going past them. It's very capable on any road in BC.

 

I occasionally drive from Reno to Sacramento. I drive I80 over Donner Pass. I set the cruise control and then enjoy the ride... That is until I noticed that I was gaining speed going down the other side. I have to switch to B and even then I have to brake occasionally. As far as the up hill side though, I haven't had any problems at all.

I just wish that the cruise control was smart enough to engage the B mode by itself. I guess if I wanted a car that totaly drove itself I'd hire a Limo...

 

I should have been more clear. I generally set the CC to 70 MPH (114 KPH). There is plenty of power left so that I could go faster if I wanted to end up at the bottom of a deep gorge! It hadles like a Prius after all.

 

Certainly true. And as Canuck stated, you can jump between B & D as needed. It isn't nearly as gripping a feeling as dropping a gear for the same purpose in a regular automatic or manual tranny. You will love your car!

 

I drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains in a Prius fully loaded down with worldly possessions (both rear seats folded down and I could barely see out the back window). Also took the Prius 6000' up the Smoky Mountain range. Still got 45mpg average.

 

I drove a round trip this week over the Sierras between Oakland, CA(100' above sea level) and Reno, NV (4500'). The trip was about 200 miles each way with the peak elevation of 7200' reached about 45 miles west of Reno. I was able to keep the car above 60 mph the whole way. Milelage going to Reno was about 44 mph. The return trip (including 25 miles around Reno at 40 mph--it was rainy and snowy there) came in at 53 mph. Near the summit in each direction, the battery level dropped to 2 bars.

The weather was clear with a headwind going to Reno, while on the return, the mountain section was on recently plowed freeway and through some falling snow (warm enough to liquify immediately on pavement) on the downgrade below 5000' and above 3000'.

Around home, the battery level seems to stay around 6 bars. Around Reno, where the air temperature was 20 to 30 degrees cooler (in the 30s and 40s), the battery level seemed to home at 4 bars.

 

I picked up my 2004 #9 in Houston on 12/27/03 and drove 1,000 miles to Denver without any problems. From Denver to Aspen was a different story as there are 2 or 3 long, steep straight mountain passes. It was cold, snowing with at 35 mph headwind. The Prius was fine for the first five minutes of each pass and then on we were on ICE only with lots of traffic. It wasn't fun as we couldn't keep up with traffic. Going down each pass quickly filled the battery but there just wasn't enough capacity to make it up the other side. Other twisty passes are fine because the ICE can generally do 60mph, which is more than necessary on curvy roads. Subsequent similar trips were not quite as bad especially in warm weather, without the snow and snow tires. All in all it's OK for occasional passes but I would use my Subaru if I had to do it regularly in bad weather. This is the only performance issue with this car. Otherwise it's great.