Long winter, high altitude trip results!

We just completed a 5000 mile trip over the intermountain west in our 07 standard package 5. There are a number of observations that I though I would share. The bulk of the trip was at altitudes above 5000' with many passes over 8000' (The route was from Bellingham, Wa to Tucson via eastern OR, Central NV, Grand Canyon, Then on to El Paso, up to Santa Fe, Mesa Verde, Glen Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Elko NV, back to Boise and Portland.

The weather was cold almost all the way, with average daytime temps in the 20's (even in AZ) and nights between 0 and 20f. With the scan gauge, I found that I could not keep the temp at 185 or above without plugging all but the bottom vent strip. Even with the grill plugged, keeping the heat on ~ 75 in the cabin it was a struggle to stay warm. The mileage took a HUGE hit when the coolant temp dropped below 180f. Pulling many mountain passes with all but the bottom slit closed never caused the temp to rise above 205f. Going down long grades it would drop to as low as 130!

The average fuel mileage was ~50. Most tanks were about 52.5, one as low as 47.5 and two 56.5! The mileage was considerably better in hilly/mountainous country. Counterintuitivelly, the car uses less gas up a long grade, and then down for equal miles, than the same miles on level ground.

Interesting, the mileage was BEST on the few tanks of 83-85 octane "regular" sold in CO, AZ and NV. In other words, the mileage improves with the lower octane!

The average speed on the trip was about 65mph. It is a nice cruising speed on the two lane out west. Drafting semi's on the 4 lane helps keep the speed down a bit.

As for snow. The drive from John Day OR, to Tonapah NV was on snow covered, slippery road, as was the return drive from Ely NV to Portland. For all the bad rub the car gets in snow, I have to say it performed way better than expected. With the original tires and without driving crazy, I could maintain 60 on the snow packed road without feeling scared. Near the coast where the temp neared freezing the road was considerably slipperier and the knuckles were a bit whiter, mostly because of the increased traffic. There was no time when I worried about having the traction to get going, or the stability to keep going. The vsc never came on, and the traction control only came on in a frozen parking lot. ( I did some test driving skid pad tests on a big empty parking lot and the car handled like almost any other front wheel drive car, you can steer it with the the throttle, but it is hard to get it to full skid.

All in all the car outperformed expectations. I think that Toyota needs to come up with way to keep the engine warmer if it wants to succeed in colder climates. I am going to consider a full bra with removable panels to plug the grill. I also think that a scan gauge is essential however if you plug the grills more than 80%. ( I did up plug the second lower grill when the temp got above 50f going through Vegas in traffic, but I needn't have as the temp stuck around 185f)

I did note that the thermostat begins to open at 185, but is not fully open until 205f so for the entire trip, the radiator was not used at all (for all intents and purposes!) It would be nice to measure the inverter and mg1 temps but I have no doubt that there was never a time when they got anywhere near too warm.

Icarus

 

I tried to add this as an edit, but it wouldn't work.

An interesting PS. to the above post: With the scan gauge I realized that the second to last battery charge bar lights at 75%. The last light lights at 80% The HV battery NEVER gets charged more than 80%. No matter how long a downgrade you are on, the voltage will stop going up at 80%, with the HV voltage ~240volts

 

Hybrid wax! lol

Icarus