This morning, will be headed out on my longest road trip taken with either of my Prii: Boiling Springs NC to Lancaster PA & back. About 1200 mi. round trip plus side trips. I have 79K mi. On my 2012, and from day 1 I have averaged 51 mpg per MFD. I expect nothing but smooth traveling for the next week. phil via Nokia
I did 20 States last May San Diego California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado. Colorado Springs to San Diego in 21 hours straight. 8000 miles over 45 days.
You're going to enjoy the trip. I've already done 2 trips of 7,300 and 5,700 miles on ours since Aug 2014 and have 2 more planned for next month and Jul/Aug. By the time we're done, we'll have done 4 trips and will already have driven over 28.000 miles in our first year of Prius ownership. We come from an extended van, so it was a drastic change, but the Prius has been flawless and we take the same gear we've always taken. We're already looking forward to more trips next year.
Came to Charlottesville day 1, have enjoyed a couple days here, averaging about 55mpg so far. Headed to Lancaster PA today. phil via Nokia
Enjoy your trip. I have done two large trips with my family of 4. Last year I went from Cincinnati, OH to Disney. And this year, we just returned from a trip from Cincinnati to Williamsburg, VA. We even hit the northern section of the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way back. This last trip took us through considerable mountains where I generally ran ~65-80 mph depending on the speed limit with no problems. My trip average MPG was in the high 40's. The interesting thing about the mountains, was it was about the first time I experienced a "full" battery on some massive downhills. It happened about 3 or 4 times during the trip.
Did you use B to slow down after the battery was full to save friction brakes? I'm in the Blue Ridge almost weekly and love that feature. Cruise also engages B to keep speed down.
Made the 2nd leg of my trip - to Lancaster PA. Still having a great time. Cruised wonderful historic towns. Haven't touched an interstate yet, and don't plan to. phil via Nokia
My experience with long down slopes in the Rockies was that the regen braking would occur for a while while the battery indicator showed all bars lit, but when it truly got to the top limit of,the charge level the regen turned off and it went into a,compression-braking mode that had a noticeably different sound to it (loud, low rumble sound). Disconcerting, but I finally concluded that the top bar lit when it was still slightly below the actual maximum state of charge, and when it actually hit that max the whole system shifted into compression braking mode.
Seriously in need of a car wash, but I'll not worry about that for several days. Headed to Nazareth PA to tour the Martin Guitar factory, then back to Lancaster - Maybe a couple hundred mi. round trip. Up to about 56mpg's now. Cruising in the Amish farm county around Lancaster, Bird in Hand, & Intercourse has been wonderful. My charge card has surely boosted their economy considerably (per my wife's wants & wishes phil via Nokia
Suggestion: On the long travel days I wear my stretchy Under Armour athletic pants. Makes a huge difference!
Excellent choice! You may want to visit Yuengling the oldest brewery in the U.S., pretty cool tour. Any plan to pop into Gettysburg?
Yeah, if my wife has any interest. I've been there. My favorite feature is the Civil war cannon shell that you can still see imbedded in the brick of a 2-3 story building! Brewery? No interest; we don't partake; but thanks for the suggestions!
Headed back home today, about 300 miles, mostly through the VA & NC Smoky Mountains. Still no interstates, and thanks to my Garmin, we have been directed through some of the most incredible very old historic towns in PA, MD, & VA. I must say, the farmland vistas that we have enjoyed in all 3 of those states have been magnificent- and I applaud the cleanliness of your roadsides. Almost no litter! North Carolina, at least my neck of the woods, could and should take a lesson from all 3 of you. Traveling your back roads and byways have been my wife's and my grandest road adventure. Thank you! phil via Nokia
I have to say that taking a week to travel 1,200 miles sounds like a nice, relaxed road trip. We'll be going from Savannah GA to Montague NJ and back next month, but much of the route up will include freeways and we have only 11 days. We plan to get off the freeway for a bit south of Richmond when we take Hwy 58 into Norfolk VA and then Hwy 13 up the Maryland coast before we head over to Indian Head MD south of DC. On the way back, we'll get off the freeway again at Rocky Gap Casino in Northern MD and take back roads down through West VA to Pigeon Forge TN. We won't hit the freeway again until we get west of Savannah.
Yes, I used B drive but too noted that the cruise engages as well. I forgot to mention, I thought it was funny that I spent more on dinner one night than I did for the nearly 1400+ miles I drove that week!
