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Report - First Road Trip (Long)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by daniel, Apr 19, 2004.

  1. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Spokane, WA
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    2004 Prius
    My first road trip in my '04 Prius:

    On April 14, with roughly 1244 miles on the odometer, I set out on my first road trip in my Prius (package #7). I took two days going down, but did the return in one day. I did not drive while in Iowa City. I parked at the hotel, and then walked while in town, so there is virtually no city driving in the figures below.

    Route: I travelled from Fargo, ND to Iowa City, Iowa, and to avoid the hellish traffic in and around Minneapolis, I took I-29 south to Sioux Falls, SD, then I-90 to Albert Lea, MN, then I-35 south. I cut across on some paved 2-lane county roads over to I-380, and then via I-80 to Iowa City.

    Wind: On the trip down there was a fierce wind from the south-east, so I was fighting a headwind the entire way. It is nearly always windy on the great plains. I don't know the wind speed, but I guess it at around 30 mph from Fargo to Albert Lea, and a bit less on the 15th when I drove the last leg of the trip down. For the return trip on the 17th the wind was from the north-east, so I again had a headwind except for the Albert Lea to Sioux Falls segment. It began moderate, but was again fierce by the time I drove the final segment, north on I-29.

    Temperatures: On the 14th, rising steadily from 45 to 73. On the 15th, around 72. On the 17th, 64, rising to about 70, and then falling again to 61.

    Driving speed: Not caring to add an additional hour to what was to be a long trip, I drove 72 mph on the first day (Fargo to Albert Lea) (Speed limit on I-29 is 75 all the way, and 70 on the Minnesota portion of I-90). Within Iowa the freeway speed limit is 65, so I drove 68. The limit on the county roads is 55, so I drove 57. On the return trip I drove the same speeds again, except that I drove 75 on the I-29 segment.

    Tire pressure: 42/40

    Driving experience: The car was very skittish in strong crosswinds. You all know about that. I had to work and concentrate hard constantly to keep on a straight line. The seat, which is extremely comfortable on short trips, lacks sufficient lumbar support and my back began to hurt by the time I reached Sioux Falls. I folded up my light jacked, and put it in back of me, and then I was fine. Next time I'll take a towel (thank you, Douglas Adams!) for the purpose.

    In Iowa City I had serious trouble re-fueling the car: the pump clicked off immediately and would not stay. I tried a different pump, with the same result. I had to hold the handle very gently and fill very slowly, meaning that I had no way of knowing how much gas to add. Since the gauge is so flaky, that was no help. Had I anticipated the problem I could have used the display mpg and miles for the tank to figure how much gas I had burned since the last tank, though even so, the inconsistent bladder volume would make filling iffy. The combination of gas gauge unreliability, bladder variability, and pump sensitivity is a real problem, since if the temperature falls, this method could result in over-filling.

    Mileage: Note that calculated figures can be way off due to uncertain fill levels, especially filling at a different gas station every time. The overall average calculated mileage should be more accurate, although there could easily be a difference of a gallon or so between the level at the start and end of the trip.

    I began with a full tank, of course, and filled up again when I arrived home. It was probably around 30 degrees when I filled the day before departure, and it was 61 when I filled at the end of the trip.

    Segment / miles driven / gas added / displayed mpg / calculated mpg

    Fargo - S.F. / 247 m. / 7.6 gal. / 35.7 mpg / 32.5 mpg.
    S.F - A.L. / 172 m. / 4.1 gal. / 38.9 mpg / 42 mpg.
    A.L. - I.C. / 221 m. (Filled up after leaving Iowa City:)
    6 m. past I.C. / 227 m. / 4.5 gal. / 39.5 mpg / 50.4 mpg
    (The above was at the squirrely pump)
    I.C. - A.L. / 214 m. / 5.9 gal. / 45 mpg / 36.3 mpg
    (Compensating for the previous under-filling)
    A.L. - north of S.F. / 198 m. / 4.5 gal. / 45.9 mpg / 44 mpg.
    (This was approx. 30 m. north of S.F.)
    back to Fargo / 210 m. / 6.2 gal. / 35.1 mpg / 33.9 mpg.

    The above figures are rounded off. Adding up the non-rounded numbers:
    Fargo - I.C. - Fargo / 1265.6 m. / 32.84 gal. / NA / 38.5 mpg
    (No display value for whole-trip mpg.)
    SOC: 7 bars at start, 6 bars at finish.

    A few mileage notes: I actually did quite well on the county roads at 57 mph. Better than 45 mpg against the wind, and close to 50 mpg with the wind. I had strong cross- and head-winds on both days on I-29. I was doing pretty well on the return from Albert Lea to Sioux Falls, but since I did not want to detour south into town to fuel up at Sioux Falls, this segment averages in 30 miles of bad headwind on I-29. If I remember correctly, the display was showing 48 mpg when I turned north. So the one segment where I had a headwind going out and a tailwind coming back, my displayed mileages were 39 mpg and 48 mpg respectively, averaging 43.5 at 72 mph. Since Consumer Reports reported 44 mpg City/Hwy Av, I guess I did okay. However, since my 89 Civic got 35 mpg Hwy, the Prius is not nearly as spectacular as the hype suggests it should be. Granted, the speed limit in those days was 55 and I drove 60.

    Once the weather warms up I am going to take the Prius out on a calm day, on 55 mph country roads, and really compare apples to apples.

    My biggest disappointments were handling in high winds, as the wind always blows here, and the tank-filling problem mentioned above.

    Cruise control was flawless. It kept the speed rock-steady except for a brief one-mph variation occasionally on the steeper hills, and a brief one-mph over-shoot when I changed speeds. I've never had cruise control before, and I liked it.

    Feature I would most like to have: someone else to do the driving for me.

    Biggest worry: the electronic key fob: if I had lost it 600 miles from home I'd have been up S***t Creek.

    I do not like driving alongside semi trucks, so I generally passed at 80 mph to get by quickly. Even against strong winds, the Prius had plenty of power and zipped right up from 70 to 80 for passing in nothing flat. For comparison, my 89 Civic would go 80 for passing, but was very sluggish getting from 70 to 80. I have never tried to go over 80 in either car, so I cannot say what their limits are. (Note: passing at over the speed limit may be illegal. If you try it, be prepared to accept the consequences.)

    I drove 1267 miles, from my garage back to my garage. I was on the road about 22 hours including rest and refueling stops. It will be a very long time before I take such a long road trip again. It was very tiring.

    Surprisingly, I never got lost. Several times I thought I had missed my exit, only to discover that I was still on-course.
     
  2. PetersPrius

    PetersPrius New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    East Hampton, NY
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    I just returned from picking up my Prius in Butte Montana [ no waiting list and only payed msrp] and made the drive home to Long Island NY. putting some 3000+ miles on the car and taking about 10 days to do the trip [stops along the way].
    All was well with the car and I encounter no problems except for lack of lumber support as you previously mentioned.
    I averaged 40-45mpg doing mostly 80mph on cruise control. All systems worked well. My total gas bills for the trip were around $ 89.00. Also I started from an altitude of over 5000 ft and worked down from there as I headed east.
    Got many a thumbs up from those who knew what I was driving!
     
  3. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Congrats on your new car!

    I've always got my eyes on the road while I drive, so maybe I never notice if anybody waves or gives a thumbs-up. In my entire 1200 mile trip, I can only report two "recognition" incidents, and one is a maybe:

    A young woman passenger in a passing car stared at me with a grin on her face that could easily have meant "cool car!" or "what a dork!" The car passed me on the left, then slowed down, and then passed me again. The girl clearly wanted to communicate something. But which of the above it was I cannot say.

    And a woman approached me at a gas station to ask how I liked my Prius. Whether she recognized it, or just noticed "Prius" written on it, at least she seemed to know what a prius is.

    In my 3 months with the car, I had one other semi-recognition incident: I had parked on the street and a young man asked me if my car is a hybrid. But he didn't know what kind.
     
  4. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    Daniel - They wanted you, man!! :)
     
  5. JJay

    JJay New Member

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    Location:
    Vancouver, WA (near Portland)
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Seems like, as scarce as they've been in the Portland OR/Vancouver WA area there would be more recognition of Prius.

    Over the weekend I had it parked behind the office building when I looked up to see a Vancouver Police car was in our parking lot. I went out to ask if there was anything I could help him with. He didn't know how to pronounce "Prius", but said the next car he buys will be a hybrid.

    It seems people are really interested, but there's a lot to learn about hybrids!