1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Drove to Las Vegas and back from Canada ...loved it.

Discussion in 'Prius v Fuel Economy' started by schmuly, Mar 1, 2013.

  1. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    We just got back from a trip to Las Vegas and couldn't ask for a better ride. We both found the seats very comfortable for 15 hrs at a time sitting. I took the rear seat out and out of angle iron built a platform (bed) for our two goldens. It was big enough for my wife and the two dogs to sleep on. I slepted on the passenger seat. It was pulled forward a bit and tilted back some. Not like a bed but OK for a short sleep. It was -3c about 26f when we slept, but I put the emergency brake on (to cancel the DRL) and turned the car on, set the climate control to 22c (70f) and the car started roughly every 15 minites for about one minite. kept us nice and toasty.
    Now we didn't drive for fuel economy, as we had mountain passes and wind to boot. We drove about 3mph over the speed limit, fastest was 80 mph (130 kmh) over all we averaged 39.8 mpg according to fuelly.
    Where we live in BC to Vegas area only was $97.00 to get there. I know the mileage could have been better as we have the v touring which it about the same as v5 w/o atp.
    Those 50 series tires handled great on all the corners and the roads are in much better (smoother) shape in the USA. We had no complaintes at all.
    IMG_1281.jpg
     
    Cristino, ewxlt66, xPETEx and 2 others like this.
  2. Jack Cannon

    Jack Cannon Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2013
    25
    1
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Five
    Schmuly:

    Sounds like you had a great trip and the back of the wagon looks real comfy. Your gas mileage was pretty darned good too. I'm glad you had smooth roads, because the Prius v really rides very comfortable on smooth roads, but when they are a little ragged or need some repair, the bumpy ride sets in and is very depressing for such a nice vehicle. I guess if I had better roads in Northern California where I live, I wouldn't have a complaint in the world except maybe the unexpected lower gas mileage. Maybe that will improve. Hope so.

    Jack
     
  3. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2012
    3,779
    1,282
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    No speeding tickets. You did good.
     
  4. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Thanks it wasn't hard.
    We went with the traffic flow for speed. the hardest part was slowing down to 25 mph through the small towns, like Fallon and Winnemucca NV. We drove to Baker CA. on the 127 from Death Valley Junction for lunch and in Shoshone Ca. the gas was 5.17 per gal, we kept driving all day and fueled up in Pahrump Nv. @ $3.599
    Pic: Death Valley National Park (funeral mountains in background) from the Nevada side. A jogger was looking at Prius when I took the pic. IMG_0263.JPG
     
    JMD likes this.
  5. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2012
    3,779
    1,282
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Amazing how much open land there is. Most people just fly but it is worth it to make the long drive.
     
    sdtundra likes this.
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    54,470
    38,103
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Do you have a full 6 foot of stretch out room? The reg Prius is short of 6'. Even with the front seat pushed uncomfortably forward, something like a board layed in the hatch area can have max length around 70" (2" shy of 6').
     
  7. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2012
    3,779
    1,282
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Load more pictures if you have em
     
  8. xPETEx

    xPETEx Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2013
    76
    21
    0
    Location:
    Victoria, BC, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    N/A
    This is great! Not sure where you left from, we're in Victoria, BC, and doing a similar trip next month. Heading down the coast to Los Angeles and then over to Las Vegas from there and then back up through Yellowstone. 6500km round trip over two weeks.

    Really great tip to just leave the car running! I didn't think of that. Post up some more pictures of interesting sights if you can.

    Also if you have more pictures of the setup you did in the back of the v that would be great :)
     
  9. PatPRV

    PatPRV New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2013
    10
    0
    0
    Location:
    Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    N/A
    It's a great trip for you from B.C. to Las Vegas. Schmuly, did you put in some kind of camping mattress at the back seat over the cargo area?
    How long it take for you to drive from Vancouver , B.C. to Las Vegas?
    I am planning to do it during the coming Spring Break . I also didn't know that you can turn on the car all night on without causing the battery completely discharge .

    Thanks for the info.
     
  10. ftl

    ftl Explicator

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2009
    1,812
    790
    0
    Location:
    Long Island NY
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    Three
    To be quite clear, the car has to be in Ready mode so the traction battery can charge the 12V battery and the engine can come on once in a while to charge the traction battery.
     
  11. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    IMG_0239.jpg
    Here are a couple more. IMG_0179.jpg
     
  12. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    The bed that I put in is 68 inches to the end of the plywood. I did it like that because I wanted the front seats to be all the way back and be able to recline them also. I used 3/4 in birch plywood the 3" foam that was 3x5ft high density from Home D. in the States. I used two pieces of foam then covered with a packing blanket. The plywood sloped up about 3 degrees and was flush at the back. It is very solid and is bolted to where the seats were bolted.
    IMG_0273.JPG

    We drove from just out of Cranbrook BC and followed hwy 95 about 75% of the time. I left work at 3:30pm got home and we left by 4pm, drove 'till 10:30pm slept for 4 hrs woke up at 2:30 am and drove untill 7:30 pm. It took 23.5 hrs driving not including sleeping time. The other pics I have are of us painting the foreclosure that we bought.
     
    PatPRV and JMD like this.
  13. xPETEx

    xPETEx Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2013
    76
    21
    0
    Location:
    Victoria, BC, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    N/A
    Damn that's a really nice setup! I just may have to copy it!

    Did you mean to say 78 inches? with my seat all the way back I'm pretty sure I measured 6.5 ft .
     
  14. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2012
    3,779
    1,282
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I have to do that one day.
     
  15. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Just measured it again 68" to the end of the plywood. We could have made it longer but I wanted to tilt the seats back for relaxing.
     
    xPETEx likes this.
  16. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,767
    16,016
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Wow, that's a pretty nifty setup! The Prius can be a mini delivery van for small companies! While it may not have met NRC/TC numbers, it certainly matched the EPA's 40mpg highway number and that includes mountain grades.
     
  17. PatPRV

    PatPRV New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2013
    10
    0
    0
    Location:
    Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    N/A
    What a nice setup. I am wondering where are you going to sleep over night? The rest area in the Us beside Hwy is not allow over night stay , I only know that I can stay in Walmart parking lot or camp ground.
     
  18. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Usually we park on BLM land as we don't like the noise and diesel smell of the Big-rigs. We have stayed in quieter rest areas, but we never stay close to the 8 hr limit. If no BLM land found at the time, we pull onto desolite rural roads and this way our golden retreivers always have a place to run. To wash up we hit rest areas, truck stops, homedepot/lowes or walmarts. And if we travel more than 2 days we find a Motel 6, as all accept pets. You can say we have been doing this for almost 25yrs (in different vehicles) and never had any problems throughout the US. Been from WashingtonDC, Florida Keys, Padri Island and all along the West coast. We have also rarely stayed in a paid campground.
     
    xPETEx likes this.
  19. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,767
    16,016
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
  20. schmuly

    schmuly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    209
    51
    0
    Location:
    BC
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    BLM is the same as our Crown Land. BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management.