Highway merging & uphills

^^^
One problem w/the fairly long grades like encountered on the Grapevine is that after not too long, the HV battery is depleted as low of the car will let it go. You're then dependent on the output of the ICE only, 73 hp in the case of the Prius c, until it regains some charge. It'll recharge a bit on the way up and the less steep and level portions, but quickly get depleted again. (It's 76 hp for me on my Gen 2 Prius and I have some more battery capacity than the c.) Essentially, there will be a fair amount of uphill stretches where you have no electric assist (noticeably less acceleration and ICE roaring).

It's 98 hp for ICE only (134 hp net system power) on the Prius liftback and it has a larger battery capacity (won't help much still, since it'll get depleted pretty early in the climb) but it's also a heavier and larger car. The '12+ HyCam has a 156 hp ICE (200 hp net system power) but it's also heavier than the Prius. Same deal applies to its HV battery getting drained pretty quick.

IIRC, on the way down, I think you'll wish you'll you had larger battery capacity.

 

I wonder if your dealer would allow you test drive on a good hill... in my case, the dealer let us take the car home and we drove it around (or it sat in the driveway) for most of a day.

And as others have said, I think it's the length of the grapevine that would be your issue, not necessarily the incline itself. I've not driven the grapevine in a C yet, but have done so countless times in other cars. You'd probably find yourself residing in the "slow" lane the entire trip.

 

Yep test drive

 

Or rental or demo/service loaner, if they won't let you.

If I were a salesman, I might be hesitant to let someone take an extended test drive when someone will be revving the hell out of a new engine that hasn't been broken in yet. I guarantee that you will be hitting the max RPM the computer will let the car go to and be staying there. (I've looked at engine RPMs via ScanGauge II while climbing steep grades.)

 

You gotta do whatever it takes to make the sale. It's a competitive world out there. Plus, whatever happens to the car later, will be up to the new owner and Toyota. Most cars are redlined off the boat, out of the factory etc. how else does each car have some mileage on it?

 

As others (emily and fourenty) have stated: its fine. I have a 50 mile commute each way and its all 2-lane highway, very hilly. I'm averaging 45+ mpg.

On "the big hill" I let it lose speed to save mpg unless someone is directly behind me. It goes from 72 or so down to under 50 haha bc I don't wanna hear the ICE whine. But it will certainly keep speed up if I make it.

Also I feel the transmission does well on climbing bc it doesn't hafta shift.

I'm sure a genIII is probably better with the more HP, buuut I got mine for under $19k, which I'm sure few genIII drivers can say

 

A brief run up to redline isn't too hard on a new engine. A sustained high power high speed run is.

 

A sustained run at any RPMs is bad for a break-in cycle.

 

And a sustained hard run is much worse.

Varying load is more important than varying rpm during normal break-in driving.

 

Don't forget to add in cost of ownership. The gas differences may not be the only thing to factor. What about maintenance...

 

To me, a camry and a prius c really offer different features. If your also shopping for a camry, then that opens up an even larger variety of cars to consider.

They aren't even in the same class.

 

I did the Disneyland thing from the San Francisco Bay Area twice last year with four people in the car, averaging 60MPH southbound on the Grapvine. The C can handle hills.

Loved it most when up and over the Grapvine onto I-5 traffic becomes to a bumper to bumper crawl. That's when EV mode kicks in and the 43MPG freeway starts looking more like 55MPG again.

 

I had a bmw 3 series before the priusc so i may be a tough judge but......on a recent trip on the freeway (I usually only drive in town) i felt that it definately blows around at higher speeds if its windy, which one might want to concider if it also raining. At one point going 60 in the slow lane on a highway incline near Sausolito I felt the car lagging a bit (mind you my bmw would glide effortlessly in this same sort of conditions) as i attempted to press the accelerator further toward the floor it did not budge! It was floored and going no faster than 60 lol that bit. Good thing I got it for "C" as in City driving.

 

Test drive it! I think I bought a lemon? How do I highway merge when my 2015 Prius C takes 11-12 seconds to even get to 50 mph? | PriusChat Help!

 

u did not test drive?

 

Very true, especially in hilly areas.

Otherwise the car is capable of handling quite steep climbs.

 

Your merge strategy might have to change. I often look for gaps behind cars rather than trying to compete with so many folks in my area that do ten mph or more over the speed limit in the slow lane and don't bother to slow down or move over when they pass an exit.

On my motorcycle, I lay on the throttle. In the Prius, I use my mirrors to gauge the speed of traffic and adjust my speed accordingly. Most of the time, I get behind faster cars.

You'll find that you will spend a lot of time in the rightmost lanes in the Prius, but I smile at my 50+ MPG.

 

My '13 C had no trouble at all ascending the steepest longest uphill grades driving west out of Denver on I 70 at 65 on cruise. To my amazement it spent most of the time on those upgrades with enough power to spare that it was even charging the battery.
I did deplete the battery once, and that was on a trip to Las Vegas. I had the cruise set at 85, and coincidentally just short of the peak of a miles long sustained upgrade, the power suddenly dropped, as did the speed down to about 70. The battery icon was bottomed out. A half a mile later it was downgrade and the battery was recharged in the matter of a minute or two.