Is a Prius the right car for me?

welcome! i'll leave the mountain advice to the mountain people. all the best!

 

First the solar roof gizmo is only used to exhaust hot cabin air prior to entering the vehicle and is part of a package that adds about $3850 msrp to the cost. Included in this package is the sun/moon roof, very basic HUD and an upgraded Nav/Stereo that allows you to watch DVDs if the car is stationary...so your call there.

For "mountain" use going up, just know that it does not put out like a V8. You will charge going down hill until the saturation point is met. Selecting "B" on you shifter adds increased engine breaking, but you loose regen. In your situation you won't get the mpg bragging rights some of our pulse-n-glide, flat land, garden community members have, but it should be better than just about anything else driven in these conditions.

 

here is my "who should not buy a Prius?" post
considering a Prius | PriusChat

 

Hard to say. It is very nice that Prius regens the battery on downhills, but your downhill is so steep, you may fill the battery quickly. Then you have to use B mode (engine brake like downshifting). In general Prius is good for most cases. Interesting to wonder if plug-in Prius has the advantage due to the bigger battery, recharge it on the downhill.

There were some cases years ago of a national lab (Sandia?) some Prii were having batt probs due to charging too fully on the downhill trip every day. It's just that parking in hot sun is not good on a totally full battery. So the fix there would be to try get the batt down a tad before parking in a hot sun. If you know any Prius drivers with your commute, check their experience, or possibly rent a Prius.

 

??? The numbers quoted don't amount to particularly steep grades, at least not on average. That's not to say there aren't steep stretches, for all I know.

 

OK great that's good, as I said Prius is great car in most circumstances.

 

We live in the Sierra foothills of California at 2500'. We've had no problems on our hills around here, including a 7% grade we have getting home. We generally get about 48 mpg around here. About 4 months after we bought the Prius we went to Phoenix to visit relatives and came home through Flagstaff. The final climb into Flagstaff on I-17 is several miles of 5% grade at about 7000'. We covered that stretch at 80 mph, so I don't think hills are a problem. I also drove over Carson Pass last week (8574') and had no problem with 3 large adults in the car. Snow on mountain roads is another matter.

 

Could you rent one for a week or a couple of days?

Bob Wilson

 

Often when someone tailgates me on a four lane road, if approaching a hill, at the bottom I will move to the left lane . . . so they can (and do) pass me on the wrong side and accelerate up the hill. Karma!

Truth be told, there are a lot of *ssholes on the road and they are not specific about the Prius. They are just jerks. But I enjoy seeing 50+ MPG on the trip meter while they waste their gas money.

Bob Wilson

 

Did you have to floor it going up the mountain doing 70 to keep up?


iPhone ?

 

Toyotas are the only hybrids that include spare tires anymore (as of the 2015 model year).

 

I live at 2500'. Once a week we drive up to 6500' for business purposes. It is 30 miles of very winding 2 lane road and the best we can do is is average 40mph, but if we could do 70mph, it would be no problem with two adults and a dog, about 400 pounds in payload. We average 37mpg going up and 150mpg coming down, but we have a plug in with the larger battery pack. Overall, including around town, flat freeway miles at 65/70mph, and up and down the hill, we have a 70mpg average. Couldn't be happier with the car!