Long trip observations

Have been on a trip from Maine to Florida the last 3 weeks and so far the Prius has been surprising. Our trip down the eastern seaboard had to be fast... family type emergency... everyone involved is now doing fine, but we are staying here to help with recovery for a few weeks.

Followed traffic on interstates at 75-85+ mph most of the way from Maine to Florida. I was never the fastest vehicle in sight to make sure that I didn't end up with a speeding ticket. Still amazed at the pace that drivers are maintaining on these highways. Keeping all fuel receipts and mileage to see what the overall MPG will work out to be.

So far, I'm just working off the indicated and not computed MPG... so understand that final MPG will be different.

For the 1,507 mile Interstate trip, the average indicated was 48.9 MPG. I reset the trip upon arrival and fresh tank of gasoline. Have kept indicated between 59.3 and 61.6 MPG since, all during very flat urban driving that I've done so far in warm Florida weather. Right at this moment, Tuesday evening 21 May, the indicated had crept up to 60.1 MPG, after slipping to 59.6 earlier in the day. Shorter trips/errands hurt, but the longer 10 mile to 15 mile urban treks help bring the MPGs back up.

I'm impressed. Temperatures have been ranging from around 70 in the mornings to mid and upper 80s by afternoon. Hit 90 a couple of days this week.

That's it so far. Will add more info as mileage piles up. Should be heading back toward a cooler Maine by sometime next week. Expect to take a more leisurely trip back north... but it will be through the mountains of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and West Virginia.

 

Finished the trip... back to Maine, but did not get to take our "leisurely trip" back through the Appalachian Mountains. Maybe next time. My wife and I put well over 3,000 miles on the car. We had more than enough luggage for the 5 weeks we were in Florida, plus my road bike. Both seats down, bike on top of everything, nothing blocking the view out back. Brought home some extra stuff for my daughter (she flew down and back), so we came home with a little more cargo than we carried on the first leg.

Total indicated MPG for the trip back was 52.4... while calculated was 51.0 MPG. Unfortunately, during travel I didn't get to use the same gasoline pumps, so calculated might be a little off, but did try to top off the tank each stop. The tank full that I was using in the Tampa area stayed way up in the 59 to 61 MPG range, but unfortunately, I didn't get to finish it off before we had to start our trip back. I still had about a half tank by the time we turned toward the northeast.

Traffic was fairly heavy in the southern states, but then got downright crowded north of Richmond, Va. to Boston on I95. Only came to a stop a couple of times, once on the south side of Washington DC (surprise!) and for a short time while they cleared up an accident on the Jersey Turnpike. Did encounter a couple of other slow downs, but they didn't last long, about a mile or less worth of very slow.

Cars were moving at amazing speeds most of the time heading back, just like it did heading south... even when conditions were basically wall to wall cars across multiple lanes... 75 to 90 MPH. Got to see an orange Gallardo with a black top on the Garden State Parkway. In heavy traffic, the Prius kept right up with it , and in a couple of places, I passed it! We stayed in the left lane and he was trying to gain spots switching from one of the three lanes available. Definitely sounded good when he got on the go/loud pedal.

All I can say is that our Prius makes an excellent travel car. Temperatures were quite hot all the way back... reaching over 90 degrees on the 2 days we drove to Maine and the Prius handled that without a hitch. This is the third 3,000+ mile trip since we've owned this car and continues to be comfortable, efficient and easy to drive for long distances. XM on the JBL system did well, too! Our second Gen was not very linear on the highway and was not that much fun to drive on long trips. Hopefully the 4th gen will be even better! Just too bad we're losing the "flying bridge" console. Ergonomically excellent... plus still looks great.

 

Actually enjoyed those Costco Baked Chickens a couple of times while I was down there since we don't have a Costco in ol' Maine. Didn't ride with the Chickens in the car, so don't know how that would affect MPGs. Mostly ate a lot of great Cuban food during the stay. Not a lot of that up here either!!!