Driving the Prius cross-country

My 2007 crossed from Vancouver (where I bought it a year ago) to New York starting with 211k on the odometer. I did have a dealer in Cranbrook, B.C. change the motor and transmission oil before I completed the trip. Then when I got to NY, I had a dealer in the Bronx drain and fill the inverter coolant and ICE coolant. I've since had the motor oil changed a few more times and have traveled from NY to Vancouver again and back, as well as to Fort Myers, Florida and back to NY a total of 3 times. I have had all 4 tires replaced and a wheel alignment done in addition to the fluid changes. Other than that, I was able to change the HID headlights myself when one of them was going out, as well as replace the spark plugs, because I wasn't sure if that had ever been done, and also replace one of the fog lights that had gone out. Life to date MPG is 46.3 miles per US gallon, according to the display, but that has been negatively affected by all the in-town driving I've been doing. On the first cross-country trip, the display showed 50.1 MPG. The odometer now shows 244k, and as far as I know, everything on the car is original, except the lights and the inverter coolant pump, which the prior owner had replaced under warranty.

 

i made it about 50 miles before my back started to kill me. 100 miles r/t. the good news was 72 mpg!

 

I should mention that after the first time to Florida and back, I bought a seat cushion, which made all these trips much more comfortable. My problem was not back-ache, but butt-burn.

 

My 2005 made it from Houston to Florida and back (twice), round trips to New Orleans (half a dozen), Memphis (once), and Los Angeles (once). Never had a problem, but comfort goes out the window at the 4-hour mark. Most here would probably call me young.

The trip to LA was in the middle of summer, and the heat was brutal. It was early in the car's life -- just before the 3/36 warranty expired. If it was going to break down, better before than after, but it didn't.

On the LA return trip, I did LA to Las Cruces, NM in one day. Not on I-10, mind you, but using I-40 and back roads with a stopover at the Very Large Array radio telescope facility. That may have been an 18-hour day. Brutally not comfortable.

My evacuation from Hurricane Rita took almost as long, but that was to Austin and only took 2/3rds of a tank.

It was a good car.

 

I recently did an 850 mile day just here in Texas in my Gen2. No issues at all really. Wore comfortable clothes with nothing in the back pockets, adjusted the a/c and sound to comfortable levels, and set the CC to 75-85mph. Display at the end said just above 40 but I didn't really care about that, I needed to make time.

 

@Robert Holt did Alaska from Virginia

 

We are very pleased with the Prius on long trips.

I'l be starting a thread about it but my wife, one daughter (she's 5' 10") and I just returned last night after a 6,400 mile trip from coast to coast visiting family along the way. Southern California to Salt Lake City to Colorado to Illinois to Georgia to North Carolina to West Virginia and back. The car performed flawlessly. I wouldn't recommend anyone attempt such a drive without better seat cushions, though. After a trip from here to Denver and back last year we purchased some so the car was actually quite comfortable this time around.

On our coast to coast trip this year the only maintenance needed involved replacing wiper blades in Colorado, an oil change and tire rotation in North Carolina and adding 1/2 quart of oil every 3,000 miles.The car averaged 44.2 mpg and most driving was done at 75 mph in 95-100 degree weather. Tire pressure was set to 40 psi front, 38 psi rear. The 125k service performed before we left included new serpentine belt, trans fluid and 12v battery. I also did a Prolong reconditioning of the hybrid batteries before we left.

We're already looking forward to a coast to coast trip again next summer.

 

We drove our 2012 Prius hatchback from Washington DC area to Alaska, visiting Fairbanks, Denali Natiinal Park, and Anchorage and large sections of Canada and the Northwestern US on the way up and back. ODO reading at start was 22,949 and at finish was 34,003, so about 11,000 miles all together.
Our Prius performed flawlessly as both transportation and as a camper as we slept in the back of the car about 1/3 of the nights, using an attached dome tent for a living and dining room.
One issue was a blowout on the heavily potholed "Top Of The World Highway" in the northern Yukon Territory. Driving with the high pressure donut tire in hostile conditions in an absolutely deserted wilderness was stressful, and I converted the storage area to accommodate a standard full-sized tire and rim when I returned.
The car's ODO mileage was the 30,000 range as noted above. The mpg achieved was surprisingly good despite the heavy load of camping equipment , partly due to the non-ethanol gasoline in Alaska and parts of the western US, averaging well over 50 mpg.
(We have taken other cross-country trips in our Prius, but the Alaska trip was the longest. Happy to answer any other questions if you have them.)
Cheers , Mate!

 

Just drove my 07 prius touring with about 105,600 miles from Corona, CA to Graham, WA.
• 1,153 mile trip.
•17 hours driving with 1 hour rest.
•$98.40 on gas about 30 gallons used.
•(Basically Mexico to Canada)

The car ran great averaging about 40mpg because traffic was good I kept the car running between 60-80 mph most of the trip in the fast lane. I did get a regular oil change(not high milage) just before I left. There was no issues, though I was worried about the engine temperature but later read it's nothing to worry about with priuses.

Really love my car and more confident about my return trip.

 

Indiana to Boston, Indiana to Ottawa, Indiana to Charlottesville, all in the last few months. I Just Drive It™.

If I know I have a fluid change, tire rotation, etc., coming up soon, I'll do it first. I pack the code reader, just in case of any codes to read.

 

Now at 277K, after a few more trips from NY to Florida and back. Last trip, we had to replace the inverter coolant pump and put on new tires, otherwise just oil changes. I was originally hoping to get to 300K, but am beginning to wonder if I was being too pessimistic.

 

I've had our 100k+ mile Gen 2s on at least two trips to Ohio (about 3,000 miles round trip each), my PiP to Ohio (same distance with 70k+ on the clock as well as a 1,500 mile round trip to NC). We just got back from a 6,000+ mile trip in the Prime that got 56.6 mpg. Never a hiccough with any of them.

 

I've been to/from Los Angeles to Omaha twice in a 2007 Gen 2. Not too bad - set cruise on 82 most of the way. Have gone from California to Omaha and Omaha to DC/up to Canada/back to Omaha in a Prime. The Prime was a nicer ride.

No problems with either of them.

 

I just returned from a 5400 mi RT from San Diego->Atlanta->Jacksonville->San Diego. Car has close to 300k miles. Ran great however car threw triangle of death 1500 miles in. Had Oriellys read the codes in Amarillo, TX. Inverter coolant and ABS problems. Out of ignorance, I focused on the ABS and kept driving east because the brakes felt good. I got to Memphis and car went into limp mode. I let car cool and found an Autozone at 3 am. I reset the codes with a code reader and continued onto Atlanta. I did research here and found that I needed to replace the inverter pump. I got an OEM pump from toyota dealer and ran the rest of my trip with no issues. I am very lucky I made it and credit winter temps and high speed driving that got me from Amarillo to Atlanta with only one limp episode in Memphis. Actually incredible that the car got me to where I needed to go and still protected itself from self destructing and achieved >35 mpg in the process. The bad pump explains why the traction battery stayed depleted most of the way out and the 12v starter battery wasnt getting a charge.
I agree with the other posters that the seat comfort was not good and the lack of lumbar support really was a problem after the whole day of driving. I rotated driving with the others in the car, so we were able to get a different seating position as we rested from our driving duties.
The room and storage space are actually incredible and everyone could not believe that there were 3 adults, 1 child and associated cargo fit nicely. We averaged 33-40 mpg the whole trip but we were heavy and pushing the car typically running 80-90 mph in wind.

 

Our 2006 Prius has been the best road trip car we’ve ever owned. So far we’ve put on 139,000 miles in the 6.5 years we’ve owned it. It’s so quiet, comfortable, cheap to operate and always fits everything we need for our family of 4. Though admittedly, sometimes we stuff the back so full I can’t see out of it lol.

I do use a lumbar support which keeps my back from getting sore on the long trips. And our almost 6 foot tall son is beginning to complain a bit about the comfort on those trips now..our kids are always lobbying for me to drive our Tundra Limited Crewmax instead. I keep telling them the Prius cost 1/3 the $$ in gas, and is far easier to park in the big cities we usually travel to.