New Owner Road Trip Report

We took our '08 Pkg 2 with 2500 miles on a 1800 mile road trip from MA to VA, onto NC, up to PA, and back home.

We were loaded with 2 large suitcases, 2 loaded backpacks for a 3 and 6 year old, many other loose bags, 10 pairs of shoes, 2 DVD players, computer bag, Razor scooter, cooler of snacks, small pillows and blankets, and a box of old toys for nephew.

Everything fit no problem and only partially covered the lower rear window so no rear visibility was impacted. The Prius ended up being a remarkable roadtrip car. The excellent rear legroom provided ample space for the kids in their booster seats with room on the floor for their toys, games, and books. Despite some complaints by people of the Prius seats, I had no issues with comfort even on one 12 hour day.

I'm actually happy I didn't buy the Pkg #4 or 5. While I love leather seats, I think the cloth made the hours of siting cooler and more comfortable than our other leather equiped car. I hardwired the Garmin Nuvi into the dash (new post on this coming soon) which of course is a superior nav system to the OEM Toyota. Not only can I use it while driving with more POI, text to speech, and better mapping, but I can watch my maps and see my consumption screen at the same time to maintain efficiency. I also have the DICE Ipod controller installed so instant access to kids music was a plus to keep them quiet, or we listened to an audio book while they watched movies.

Ended up with 50.4 MPG. AC was on the entire trip. I did around 72-74 in 65 mph zones, 76 in 70 mph zones, and 62-65 in 55 mph zones. Tires were set at 40/38 and we have the trim rings off. Never did I feel the car lacked power (or should I say enough power to do its job). Sure the engine buzzed loudly up some of the long grades like in PA, but had no issue maintaining speed. I used cruise constantly as it did a much better job with efficiency.

Fuel gauge with the bladder is still funky - on our first tank it took 192 miles to lose the first pip.