Highway Driving

Only you can say whether the Prius is the car for you. Many things other than the commute presumably will factor into the decision: comfort, size, features, the hatchback, possibly the environmental benefits, etc.

What I can tell you is what the Prius MPG Simulator predicts at various speeds and weather conditions. At 70 MPH and 0F, it predicts 35 MPG. At -40F (brrr!!) it predicts 30 MPG, and at 32F it is 40 MPG. These all assume steady speeds on level terrain, no winds, smooth dry pavement, OEM tires set to 44 front & 42 rear, and climate control running at 65F. Add in frequent hard accelerations and decelerations, steep hills, cross or head winds, and wet or snowy pavement, it can drop considerably.

I can also tell you that I would certainly own one if I lived there. And I'm sure fellow Minnesotan John1701a would tell you that. Browse through his site for extensive reporting on owning and driving a Prius for several years.

 

I live in Rochester and mostly travel short distances thru the work week. Since its so cold here we tend to get worse gas mileage. The Prius is a great commute car. What I love most is that it only costs me $25 to fill up vs. my other vehicles that cost me $70 to fill up and I get way more mileage. I have been averaging 320-350 miles per tank in the coldest weeks of winter. In the Summer I am hoping to be in the 375 to 400 range in the warmer weather. I say go for it. You really can't go wrong. It's a great vehicle.

 

Should be great for your application. Cold weather hurts the mileage of any car, and the Prius is no exception, but there isn't much you can do about cold winters short of moving. I recommend getting better tires; it will help with highway and winter driving.

Test drive one and see what you think. It may feel a bit touchy on the highway at first. The Prius has zero dead-band in the steering, so it is very easy to over control. Once you get used to it, it drives great on the highway. Don't be afraid to give it gas when merging. The engine on the Prius controls its own speed, so some new drivers are disconcerted by high revs when stomping the gas. Don't worry; the revs really aren't high, and the engine won't let you hurt it.

I've made 11 hour highway trips in ours with no trouble at all.

Tom

 

If you could get out of the 75 MPH mindset. Then you will save a lot of fuel no matter what you drive.

 

Who has time to slow down?
I believe the Prius would do the job, but I can't understand a sane person living anywhere so cold. Prius is as good as any front wheel drive car, it wont out perform a 4x4 on ice.

 

If you can find an alternate route that allows lower speeds, and you can tolerate the longer commute time, the Prius' fuel economy improves pretty much linearly with decreases in speed.

 

I think the Prius will be fine for your application. In Minneapolis during the winter I'd get a ScanGaugeII, plug the grill, and install an engine-block heater for sure, those would mitigate some of the cold weather effect on your mileage, but even without those changes I'd guess you can anticipate low 40s for mileage.

My son lives in Minneapolis and I drove out there in my brand new Prius (had 200 miles on the odo when I departed on the trip) this past December, no block heater, no blocked grill, temps at that time varied between 5F and 35F, and I drove the speed limit, 75 or 70 for the Interstate portions of the trip (about 80%) and got 42mpg as an average for the entire 2900 mile jaunt. BTW, I went 70 on I94 and didn't feel particularly threatened at any point......although a lot o' folks did pass me in their big SUVs!!

Join the club, you won't regret it!

 

Many studies have shown that the happiest people on the planet live it the coldest climates. You can't help but lose your temper when it is 95 and humid. So us happy cold weather people can't understand how a sane person can stay sane in areas of constant heat. If you like the heat stay in it, if not move, to each his own.

 

Not constant anything, temperature should vary with the seasons, hot in summer and cool in winter.
Hey if you like living in a freezer that's cool, I guess having never experienced it I find it hard to understand. Of course there is more than temperatures to consider when deciding where to live.

It was hot out a few days ago, 35 to 40C daytime temps, but now it's about 15C, a bit chilly.

 

Maybe I need to post some more ice climbing photos.

Tom

 

I have the same driving conditions as you in Michigan. I drive about 70 miles round trip to work each day. I run between 70 and 75 mph. We just got our Prius March 15 and have gone thru my first tank of gas -- got 41.9 mpg. Driving temperatures are 25 in the morning ( 6:00 am ) to mid 30's going home ( 4:00 pm ). We just love the "little car". It is hard to think of it as being a mid-size car, I seems to be smaller than the Ford ( 23 to 25 mpg) we traded in on the Prius. :clap2:

 

I have a similar drive to work but shorter, about 50 mile rount trip. I take the interstate all except about the first and last 3 - 5 minutes each trip each way. If you can tolerate to slow it down 60 - 65 MPH you will gain. In the summer I can pull 54 - 58 MPG and this past winter I never dropped below 46.7 MPG here in Ohio even when the temp was in the -10 F to 10 F range.

 

I think you'd be surprised how well you could get away with 60-65 mph on a multi-lane freeway while traveling in the right lane.

If you can find an alternate route that could get your speed down closer to 60 mph your FE will be closer to 60 mpg.

 

Vermont here (65 MPH limits) and I get 45ish on the freeway commute in the winter. 43 worst tank, 45, 45, now with "spring" (still snows here now) seeing 47.

Keeping the heat off the first 5 minutes seems to help (the car, not me!)

 

If you put an Engine Block Heater on it, that will improve your MPG a bit in cold weather (part of the reason for the ICE to run is to warm the engine/exhaust system).

I remember when I-94 was 55 mph, then changed to 65 mph. It's 70 now, huh? wow....

 

Depends on which stretch you're talking about. I drove I-94 from Billings, MT, to Minneapolis, MN, in January and the limit is 75 across Montana and North Dakota, dropping to 70 in Minnesota......which, of course, means that people blast by you in their trucks and SUVs going 85-95 with great regularity.