I have 90,000 Miles on my 2001 and drive that route all the time; more that 70 round-trips. Never a problem. Go for it! JT
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sfjlc\";p=\"108454)</div> Why your Prius was sluggish: Weight: I’m guessing that with three adults and baggage for a 1000 mile road trip, your Prius was laden with somewhere near 75 percent of its 840lb. maximum capacity. 840 x .75 / 3 = 210 per person with bags and stuff . . . especially if you were camping. Summertime: The Prius battery does not like to be hot as much as it does cool. I’m also guessing you had the A/C on . . . at least at the bottom of the hill near Mono Lake. SO, I wouldn’t doubt your battery was on the low side starting up the grade. Long steep road: From Mono Lake, Tioga Pass Road climbs some 3000 ft in about 10 miles. Half of the climb is a steady 7-8% grade! Thin air: At 9945 feet, Tioga Pass is the highest Trans-Sierra pass. Internal Combustion Engines do not like high altitude. They like to breath. With four cylinders, the Prius ICE had to do some serious work to get you up that hill. Many a lesser car have not have made it! I hope you weren’t so worried about your car that you forgot to look at the scenery! Driving from Mono Lake over Tioga Pass and into Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite’s high country) is one of the most spectacular scenic roads in the world! http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/Highway120.htm Beautiful Pic . . . long URL http://www.alpinistas.org/archives/1994/tenaya.jpg
Just push it and have fun. The Prius protects itself from 'overdriven' such as over revving, or draining the battery to death. It'll kill your mpg, but in what car wouldn't it? And being a small 1.5l engine, the radiator should be large enough to cool, esp since engine is not going to be working that hard. I've driven up and down the long hillls between North Hollywood to LA, and between Irvine and San Diego @ around 120Kmh+ (~76mph) and the Prius liked it fine. I'm starting to think the Prius could make a nice downhill racer somewhat like the AE86. Same lack of hp, same solid-rear axle, just FF instead of FR, and no manual shifting, but otherwise...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LT1bird\";p=\"108460)</div> We just drove up the Conejo Grade this past Sunday evening, on the way home from visiting day at camp. Piece of cake. The car had plenty of power in reserve, as I kept up with the flow of traffic - over the speed limit. The battery charge indicator was not even close to the red zone by the time that we reached the top.
