Will be purchasing a new Prius 2 tomorrow(sun) morning if nothing goes wrong. Then monday night I will be driving up to SF from LA. This includes going over the grapevine and up the 5 at around 75-8 mph. Is there any issues with the car being so young? Do u typical need to break cars in? This is my first new car and hybrid. Should I shift into B at any-point going back down the grapvine? I have read several threads about this and it seems that people recommend different things. Thanks!
Ok read the breaking in threads, the trip doesn't sound idea but is unavoidable. Guess I should drive the speed limit and take a few breaks. Drive in the slow lane up the grapevine. Which will be a pain because my 1 year old is making the trip with me. We normally drive at her bed time so she sleeps through the trip, but when I stop she will wake up.
I took mine on a 2400 mile round trip when it was virtually brand new. I don't think you have anything to worry about. My trip was to Washington/Idaho and some of the terrain I traveled makes the Grape Vine look like speed bump. I just had my 20,000 mile service performed and have had zero problems.
- http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM47857U/pdf/sec_02-01.pdf (page 2 of the PDF, Page 183 of the manual) I would personally consider 78 a high speed but that is your call. When it is flat, avoid a constant speed, when it is hilly, the engine speed varies already. Tejon Pass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia While steep going downhill south to north, I am not sure you will find any benefit to B going north to south, it will not hurt anything but MPG. Certainly a good time and place to practice. I see no reason to stop just for the car, have a great trip.
Thanks, I will try to vary my speed from 65-75. The speed limit is 70 so for me 5-8 mph over the speed limit isn't too bad, but I have been slowing down every year. Some people fly up the 5 around 90-100mph, 75 puts you on the slow side of the traffic flow. But I do understand why that is too fast for some people.
Break in is no big deal. But in general do not use Cruise on big down hills like the Grape Vine. What I do is to keep my foot off the break, and if the hill is steep enough to have the car speed up then I drop it into B when it gets going faster than I want and then slip it back into D when it slows down. Then I continue to alternate between B and D until I am off of the hill. This will control the speed without overcharging the HV battery. If you use the break peddle you will see the battery go to eight bars and then the ICE will spin at a very high rpm. It always scares me when the ICE does what seems like uncontrollable high RPM. Thanks, Dan
Going downhill: Put it in B, the ICE spins. Go over 62 mph in PiP (42 in non-PiP?), the ICE spins. Use the brake when SOC is 85%, the ICE spins. What is the difference? You can't over charge the HV battery, that's why the ICE spins.
Watch out for road closures at the top of the grapevine (heading south). Really annoying because you can't build up speed going downhill because of it . Hopefully it's done now - but this was the case when I drove it last week.
If I thought a new car couldnt make a simple trip I wouldnt buy it. Worst case, thats why you have a warranty. Its not like you are doing the Baja 1000 or something. Just relax and drive, the car knows what its doing.
I'm headed to the Nostalgic drag races at Famoso Raceway this weekend. That means going over the Grapevine to Bakersfield. I plan to be in the fast lane almost all the way there. No worry here. And, yes, I 'll move over for those who wish to break the law.
Thanks everyone, Made the first half of the trip. Varied my speed between 70 and 55. Would drive 70 for while then pull behind a truck and slow down for 5-10 min. Followed the trucks up the grapevine. Will probably go at a more steady pace on the way back down. The car is great, really enjoyed the drive. The radio scan by type is great. Got an car estimated 47mpg and an calculated 45mpg. And the baby slept the entire way!
One time I was being playful and wanted to know how far my Prius can stay a "99.9" mpg average. So I reset trip A when I started going down on the Grapevine, heading north. It was a whopping 38 miles Brought a smile to my face. Ofcourse others' experience will vary, likely for the better.
A Prius is meant to be driven, not hard parked. If you can't take a brand new car on a cross country road trip after leaving the lot, then it shouldn't be made or sold. When I brought my Prius home, the first thing I did was take it on road trips. OK I lied, I tinted her. Then racked up close to 3,000 miles of road trips within the first month of ownership. I didn't do any of the break-in procedures, really could care less for it especially with new and modern cars (see my philosophy above) and just road trip my a$$ off. I'm now at 22,000 miles in a year and a half of ownership and the Prius is running just fine.
Our 2011 Prius have 126,000 miles on it already. Snd thanks to a commute to Bakersfield 3-4 times a week, while living in LA County. So far no major problems. Still have the original brake pads. I did change the tires, the usual oil change evry 10,000 miles and filters. Still getting close to posted mpgs. I jusy love this car! So dont worry! You two will go along away
