Long road trip impressions

I am just settling in after quite a road trip- from Burlington, VT to Savannah, GA, and then from there to Phoenix, AZ.

Before setting out, I was most concerned about the ability of the Nav system to handle a journey crossing several routing regions. It was up to the task indeed; I only needed to change the default area when I was looking for POIs (i. e. food) nearby (when 'nearby' was in a region differing from the previous setting).

My Prius is an '05, delivered in April, and was a little ways past its 5,000 mile service when I set out.

Despite having no troubles whatsoever before my sojourn, I was a little concerned about the frequent reports about squirrely steering on highways. I'll dispense with the suspense- the only time I noticed any wandering or touchy steering at all was when I crossed into Mississippi; there was an extensive section of the Interstate out there which was rather heavily grooved for about 50 miles or so. I wouldn't call the steering there skittish so much as.. squishy. Once I got used to the unusual handling on that terrain it was no problem.

I got pretty good mileage throughout the trip (I don't have my notes with me right now; I'll post later with the specifics), ranging between 45 and 55 MPG, depending on the speed limits in the area.

I generally drive as close to the speed limit as traffic will allow. Just about everywhere south of Washington, D. C., the speed limit on the interstates is bumped up to 70 MPH, and in some places further South, 75 MPH. It was interesting to see what a difference that five miles per hour makes to one's fuel economy: at sixty-five miles per hour, my car was getting about 53 miles per gallon on flat terrain with occasional mild AC usage. At seventy, I was down to about 47 MPG- still very good, but a ten percent difference made in just that small difference in speed speaks volumes for how much fuel is wasted, and how much more pollution is put out, by all those chowderheads who drive about ten MPH over the limit as a matter of course just because they can. But I digress

Since I was moving to Phoenix (the impetus for this whole trip in the first place), the car was loaded down with, I would estimate, about two, or possibly three, hundred pounds of boxes, luggage, and the like. Utilizing the 'smuggler's box' under the trunk and droping the seats flat, and using the passenger seat, I managed to take with me an entire five piece luggage set, two bank boxes, three other largeish cardboard boxes, a pillow, a 19" CRT monitor (safely buckled into the front passenger seat), a few small tote bags, and about nine canvas tote bags that are just about the right size to carry an X-box.

With all that cargo loaded in and covered with a sheet, I still had a completely unobscured view through the rear windshield!

In order to save money, rather than stopping at hotels, I would, when I tired, typically pull into a rest area off of the Interstate, throw the pillow over my monitor, and snooze in the car. After waking, I would get up to stretch my legs a bit, and then head out again. The driver's seat in the Prius lent itself wonderfully to an extended sit- my back never got sore, even after many many hours behind the wheel. The only soreness I developed was in my neck, and my shoulders, which was quickly releived whenever I would stop by a few minutes' stretching.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the Prius as a road trip car. If I didn't have all the luggage, I'd've been able to drop the passenger seat and right rear seats flat and stretch out in the car when napping, and I imagine, with only some minor padding, it would have been quite comfortable.

I only noted one thing that bothered me: a couple of times, I pulled off of the Interstate to fuel up, and when I set back out, the car wanted me to take a completely different route, often wanting me to backtrack several dozen miles to get onto the new route. I worked around it by driving the previous route and asking for a one mile detour when it refuused to accept the old route from my simply driving it.

If anyone has any specific questions about a long trip in a Prius, I'll be delighted to answer as best I can

 

I surely do! I'm still learning the lay of the land, but so far the Nav system has been a great help. The most different thing about getting anywhere here is that just about any trip anywhere involves getting onto a highway, like I-10 or AZ-51; back in Vermont, surface roads ruled the day.

 

Heh, I know what you mean! Even at interstate speeds, stopping only for gas means stopping once every ten or eleven hours!