I fully understand the reasons to step up the pace on a trip. It's a heck of a lot cheaper to drive a Prius at 85 mph than it is a SUV at that same speed. Mike
I drive Prius for the sake of getting to work, but I should also say that I get slow when I approach uphills, my speed goes to 55-65 so that does save my fuel, but on the down hill is when I go fast in 90s (its also when I notice Prius can do 110mph but that car shakes above 100mph, so I try not to go hi 90s). Btw Sandy is really making my mpg fail, I'm in 45-48 range today on the same road , extreme windy and cold days is not good for mpg. Also, when you go down hills, make sure to keep the accelerator on the battery mark, and don't go to the engine mark (past the mid-line on the hybird indicator), it helps keep 100mpg.
I just find it amazing you guys seem to be able to drive 85-90 and in some cases 100-110 with no harassment from the police. Here in SoCal, CHP are EVERYWHERE. Maybe they're more likely to leave you alone cause they see you driving a Prius but I've had CHP follow me thinking I was driving 55 trying to avoid attention or something.
Remove that spare tire from the trunk will help you reduce the weight in your car and clean up all the junks in the car, make sure there are no extra un-necessary things in the car, these step will hep improve your mpg
I think what a few of us are getting at is people buy the Prius for better gas mileage and to be better on the environment. Therefore it is harder for us to understand why someone would squander such a tool going 85 mph consistently. Pretty sure there might be a few better options for vehicles if someone wants to consistently go that fast anyway.
Here is my wisdom on how to avoid cops and accidents: Trick to avoiding cops 1) Know your location, I have been driving on this road for 3-4 years now, so I know where speed traps are and I know the hiding locations for the cops. 2) Always on active look out when you speed, pay MAX attention to the road ahead of you, and cars behind you! Check your rear view mirror and side view mirrors every 30-60 seconds! Cops tends to come from the back if you are driving in 70-80s, so speed UP to 85's and you can avoid them coming from your behind (they can't catch up to you if you're both traveling at same speed). 3) Look far up ahead, watch for under-cover and regular fully branded officer cars on the road, if you see them SLOW DOWN on approach, and come to their side slowly or stay behind them. Technique for identifying undercover police car:a) they tend to be black cars/SUV and trucks-(rare), I have seem dark green and red color ones but rareb) their cars are usually very cleanc) no labels or emblem to identify car model from behindd) 99% of the times USA brand e) 70% of the times tinted windowsf) 50% of the times have visible long antennasg) bad sets of naked wheelsh) No passenger(s) in the cari) Driver have trooper uniform or close cropped hair with sunglassesj) Has radio equipment on the dashboardIf you see any one of those along with "d", its better for you to slow down and take precaution. 4) On avoiding accidents, look far up ahead for spacing, stay on lanes that have good spacing between vehicles, it usually indicates the lane that will travel faster. If you see breaking lights, the take the foot of the accelerator and/or shift to B (but don't break), just cruise to it. 5)Once you are close to the spot where police cruisers usually hid, scan that location up ahead and let you car cruise, if you see any of the cars in-front of you breaking a bit, then it means cop is hiding there! Slow down. If you memorize my techniques above, you have a very good chance of not getting a ticket. I got one ticket in my life, its a parking ticket And now to hid my identity for future problems, I'll be changing my nickname to...
Because not everyone want to be a slow poke, and the only reason I bought this car was to save some money on gas cost and the fact is I was FORCED to buy a car, so I pick this one. Also that toyota brochure of blizzard pearl Prius with tinted windows, that really catches my eye. I'm pretty sure there are many different types of cars for many different types of usage, we pick what we like along with additional benefits of fuel efficiency. Btw my first choice was actually RAV4 Okay, I hope law enforcement officers doesn't like to drive Prius, so no officers here right...? (I need to change my identity now ....)
Well, that is pretty far from the city, so there is not much traffic at all. In town the highways are 65. The funny thing is that people pretty much drive the same speeds. In the 80 areas most people are doing 75-80. The biggest different is that in the 80 zones much less people are breaking the law.
meh, I rather badger you speedsters in here the way you all endanger everyone else on (and off) the road
You can save money by slowing down. And you might find that it is a lot more relaxing to drive at the speed limit and not have to worry about scanning your rear view mirror for Johnny Law. It would actually help you keep your eyes focussed in front of you to other road hazards. I'm at least impressed that your roads are so uncongested that you have the ability to drive 80 mph. The real question is Why do you need to drive 80 mph? Pretty much, you can save a lot on gas money by leaving 10 minutes earlier and driving the speed limit (do the math sometime, you'll be astonished). Not to mention you will be a better road companion for all the other drivers out there because they won't have to react to your speed, you'll be moving with the pack. Last I checked, moving 65 mph is pretty fast, not a slow poke by any stretch.
I own a fast car with a blower but got bored with the crazy amount of gas it drank so put it in storage and bought my Prius. Prius drives awesome from a crawl to triple digit speeds all the while using so little gas and exhaust so clean you could suck on that tailpipe and still live to post on Prius Chat the next day Mike
I did a 1200 mile road trip, anywhere from 25-85 mph, I got a solid 47mpg. anything less than that your usiing the car wrong, I also drove in ECO mode