Long Vacation - Amazing Fuel Economy

I just wanted to share my experiences taking a rather long trip in my ’06 Prius. On June 26th my wife, two teenage daughters and I packed up for a roundtrip from Tucson, AZ. to Fort Collins, CO., with a three day stop up in Breckinridge CO. This was a trip with 4 people and a full load of luggage (4 good size suitcases, a cooler and lots of miscellaneous other stuff). We drove between 75 and 80 on the interstates, climbed over some 11000 foot mountain passes, and used the A/C most of the time. In total the trip was over 2100 miles, most of which was under some of the worst conditions for achieving high gas mileage. In spite of all that, we averaged an amazing 47.2 mpg.

The car performed flawlessly – as expected. Got to experience going up long mountains and using all the power in the batteries, and going down long hills and fully charging the batteries. I was also amazed that we could pack as much stuff as we did and still be able to see out the back window. Also, as expected the car did struggle a little to stay at about 60 mph when making the long climbs on I-70, but it was never a problem.

The only complaint we all had was the seats. A little too firm to sit in for 10 hour days. Other than that, we were all quite pleased, and amazed at the mileage.

Has anyone else taken long family vacations in their Prius? I would love to read about your experiences.