... in a big hurry, actually. So I floored the Prius. Nobody has the courage to say it, as we are primarily concerned about fuel economy, but the Prius can go fast and with a decent acceleration too. Its acceleration becomes more and more impressive as the speed increases, as if the acceleration was purposely reduced at lower speeds. Well I am impressed. This thing can accelerate faster at high speeds than my old Golf 2.0 TDI (diesel), which had the same hp. Handling is good not very reassuring at high speeds, but still good, even if I have 15'' alloys. I reached 120 mph and kept this speed till I reached my destination, not too far away. Consumption was about 31 MPG. Not bad actually. My tank average is still 47 MPG. And as you might imagine I don't have I light foot. I can easily manage 54 mpg when I am not in a rush up to low 60s when I am really relaxed. Yes I do feel guilty... I hope the traction battery wasn't damaged by this violent usage, as the car is the only 3 weeks old but I couldn't miss that appointment. I am very happy! When accelerating hard I heard some kind of whistle... it sounded like a turbine! I guess it was the electric motor, it sounded as it was about to take off. :rockon: "Ensign Gates, set course for starbase 219, warp 6... ENGAGE."
I was always under the impression that the limit was to limit the speeds of the motors (the equivalent of redline). I also hear the whistling when accelerating hard. At first, I assumed it the was the motors also, but I've noticed it on non-hybrids also. It's probably the sound of the air being sucked into the intake.
Only guessing he means kph as I was under the impression the Prius is limited to under 120mph. But governers might not be required in Italia, who knows?
I know it is not that fast, but even the 402/407/40x have speed limits of 100kph. I actually drive around in kph mode half the time here in the states I am assuming in Italy the speeds are similar to that of Ontario, France, and the UK where generally the speed is 100kph or lower. The only place I have ever been where speed limits are higher is the states. 75mph is rediculously fast.
Speed limits in Italy are 130 kl/h and the traffic moves at an average of 150 kl/m Thats from a weeks experience in Northern Italy in '04
I converted it to MPH for you American guys, my speed in km/h would have been about 190 km/h and I wasn't really at max speed... In fact I reached 200 km/h at a certain point but stayed at about 190 km/h. Yeah the average moves at 150 km/h despite the limit being 130km/h. People with powerful cars simply ignore the limits since they have enough money to pay speeding tickets. Well the point it is not what I did, since the highway was straight, flat and empty, but the Prius capabilities. And it is quite capable, but I suspect that the speedometer is quite optimistic so my real speed would have been around 110 MPH (180 km/h). I noticed for example that 137 km/h on the speedometer are actually 129 km/h and 130 km/h are actually 119 km/h so it is a 8-10 km/h difference. If it wasn't such a stupid thing to do I would provide a video or a couple of pictures with the speedo at 200 km/h. This is not an encouragement to go fast or break speed limits or to do drive carelessly we are just discussing the car capabilities.
Your speedometer lies a bit. And it is normal to lie. Realistically you never went much above 180 km/h. Otherwise it is true, Prius seems to have above average acceleration at higher speeds. Probably due to electric motor kicking in with enormous torque and CVT transmission putting the ICE into maximum power range immediately within a second or two after flooring the gas pedal. Acceleration could be better at lower speeds. Probably due to compromise in design of synergy drive.
Don't get out much, do ya? Don't go to Germany... The Autobahn has an "advisory" limit of 80 miles per hour and no true speed limit. :heh:
I think the way it works is something like this: At zero mph/kph, the only power going to the wheels is from MG2 - the ICE can't turn slow enough to make a contribution at that speed (it would stall). However, the ICE will light up and run to generate electricity, which is sent to MG2 so that MG2 can deliver max torque - and since electric motors are so wonderfully torque-y at low rpms, this is pretty good accelleration from a dead stop. At moderate speeds, a greater percentage of the ICE torque can be sent to the wheels instead of generating electricity - in addition to the torque from MG2. At high speeds, MG2 has to taper off to avoid burning out, but the ICE can rev higher and put most of the power to the wheels instead of the generator - and the ICE has a fairly big torque spike at high rpms. Efficiency drops off a lot, so the "transmission" is tuned to avoid this except in high-demand situations, but if you ask for everything it has got, you'll get it. So, the short version is that at lowest speeds, the only torque is from MG2, while at middle speeds more of the ICE torque is available (combined with MG2), and at high speeds the ICE can deliver max torque even though the electric motor isn't contributing much if anything.
Having the prius on power mode gives it a nice punch when you need it. I hit it when getting on the freeway
GOOD to know that the Prius can go over 113 MPH up to 120. Personally I think American motor way is a bit of a wuzz. If they go over 85mph it is very fast for them already and if you go over 90 then you are risking your life and liscence being taken away. Well in the UK you also get a big fine and penalty but no one cares and a lot of people on motor ways go over 90 as norm and some over 100mph. But since I am never going to take my baby prius to that speed (I have taken mine Acura RL to 135mph for the entire M6) then I can only rely on others to tell me how fast this baby can go. I hate to ruin my average MPG so now I take my time to get to destinations and make sure I have ample time unlike before where I just step on the gas and drive like a manic. I usually do 45-50mhp on just local roads but now I do 25-35mph only. Prius gets mpg not only because it has good tech but also encourages us in our subconcoius to drive economically otherwise the car will never achieve the MPG without green driving.
