Negative Prius review in 2009 buyers guide

yep... in really long uphill grades.

 

never drained completely but i was down to about 2bars...going from LA to LV via the 15North fwy at about 75mph
5 people in the car, AC on @ 73, trunk full of luggage, and practically a full tank of 87 octane gas

 

I've never had an issue but things are different here I'm told.

 

Hi Cycledrum,

Sure it can happen. But you know people do not stick their hands into blenders either ;-).

With the Prius there is some education needed. On tha dash board there is this thing called the MFD. When your climbing the long grade look to see if you have continuous yellow arrows. If so, slow down until they go out. If the grade remains the same, you should make it to the top of the hill with the same battery SOC as you started.

 

I've only made one trip into the mountains with my Prius. Just a small climb from 5200 to about 8800 or so. Got to the top after a pretty much continuous climb with 2 bars left. By the time I got down to the plains, however, the battery got to all bars filled (first and only time so far). And while specs wise the engine is wimpy, the CVT allows a much faster pickup from 0-30 than a lot of cars and much faster than my S-10 Blazer- I admit I've tried it a few times!

 

The quoted reference didn't say mountains, it said up and down HILLS. So the answer is the reviewer is full of BS. I drive from Burlington, VT to Northampton, MA on I-89 and I-91 once a week. There is barely a flat section anywhere, it is ALL up and down hills, cruise control all the way. My battery bars are ALWAYS 6 blue to 7 green, except on the steep downhill where it can go to 8 green. There are sections where it will run on electric only, even at 65 when the hill is just the right slope. And sometimes it will be in 'glide' (no arrows either direction) all by itself for 10 to 20 seconds. The car is clearly 'smarter' than the reviewer.

Can you drain it going up to Angel Pass in Colorado? I am sure you can, that is one long up hill. But even then the car won't damage the big battery, it will just stop using it.

 

Well, you ARE upside down and counter-clockwise.

 

I drain the battery down to purple every time I drive to Santa Fe or Los Alamos at a couple of long inclines here in New Mexico. Doesn't bother me or the car one bit, although I do drive in the rightmost highway lane, and have no illusions about passing other cars.

OTOH, I average 55 - 60 mpg on those trips. Pick your trade-off.

 

Crazy Aussies. They wander around in bathing suits in the winter.

 

I drive, on a daily basis, 60 miles from NH to MASS> I start at 1260 feet ASL down to 200 feet elevation. I go back up at the end of the day. Never had any issues with the battery draining.

What I do like is that I get about 20 minutes of gas free motion daily travling down the hills.

 

I live in the mountains of western North Carolina. We have no flat roads just up and down with curves. My car is hardly ever below 6 bars except going up Coxes Creek Road which has upto a 14% grade, most of the grade is at least 10% for about 2.8 miles, which it normally has at least 4 bars with me passing most traffic. No problem with get up and go all the way up.

Bunch of BULL in that article.

 

Beware of negative reviews of a hybrid. There is a huge status quo industry out there related to gasoline and gas-powered vehicles. A lot of the reviewers are supported by the car and gasoline industry. And there is a glut of unsold dinosaurs the car companies are stuck with.

 

This has been my experience too. On one pass, just shy of 12,000 feet, I was down to one purple bar and stuck behind a nearly stationary truck. When the passing lane cleared I went around him. I had the pedal smashed to the floor with a screaming engine and no perceptible acceleration. I stayed with it and we slowly gained speed. The faster we went, the faster it seemed to accelerate. You aren't going to snap your neck from acceleration, but it will get you up and over any mountain pass, and get 55 mpg in the bargain.

Tom

 

The only time I have gotten crap mileage and had the ICE do all the work was going up the Tejon Pass with 4 people and full luggage.

The Tejon Pass is a mountain pass at the southwest end of the Tehachapi Mountains linking Southern to Central California. It traverses the boundary between Los Angeles and Kern counties. Its highest point at 4,160 feet (1,260 m).

 

On many occasions I've been full of people going up long 10+ mile 7% grades at high speed 80-90mph. It gets down to 2 bars (even 1 bar) but it still holds the speed. I don't see any noticeable difference going up the grade when the battery is drained.... at least at high speeds. The CVT does a great job at maintaining speed.

 

I have done that trip too, on our twice-a-year trips to Ashland, in Southern Oregon for the Shakespeare festival there. The only difference is that we are normally only two people aboard, plus luggage for a week or so stay in Oregon. Never had any problem with the Grapevine transit over the Tehachapis or in the northern reaches of the I-5 in California, where there are a number of fairly long grades, though usually never more than around 6% or so.

Your experience with the Prius in this respect will always be a function of the load being carried, the climb distance and gradient and the speed at which you climb. The lower your speed when climbing the less total energy you are consuming, but the fraction used in fighting gravity remains constant. That is until you reach the top of the hill. The Prius gets a big chunk of it back via regeneration as you descend.

 

I get down to 1 or 2 bars traveling between hope and Coquihalla summit and again on the 97C highway between Merritt and Kelowna. It's no big deal. It's never like your on a one lane highway on grades like that. I drive slow only because i don't like to waste gas on the inclines. Given time the engine can accelerate up these hills.

 

Negative reviews of the prius are less common now, but there have been dozens of them over the years. It's mostly just the status quo seekers trying stay alive in a world soon to be dominated by ev's (hevs, phevs and bevs).