How fast have you taken the prius?

after having sat in a car going nearly 200mph im content with taking the prius to 80/85 as needed!

 

I've seen a PiP do 103 mph on the 22 freeway one time. As it past me, his odometer read 200 miles. Another time, i saw another PiP do 106mph on the 5 freeway. As that one past me, his odometer read 1200 miles.

Is it me or the PiP slower than regular prius?

 

That is reality..

 

Your eyes are quicker than mine...

 

...and have the visual acuity of a hawk

 

my gps clocked me at 103 the other night

 

The fastest I've gone was 115 mph then the governor kicked in but I have a picture of me going 107 mph. It was in a deserted field and roads were blocked off.

 

Folks, in answer to several posts about the inadvisability to run a car at or above 80 MPH, I'll advocate that how we perceive life is very dependent on our prior experiences. In 1990 my wife and I were stationed in (then) West Germany. She brought her VW Scirocco from the States and I bought a slightly used US spec BMW 318i within that year.

For the 1st two - three months, we shivered in fear as we ventured onto the German autobahns. By the time we rotated back to the US in the mid-1990s, both of us habitually drove at between 100 and 120 MPH and didn't even think about it. Often, especially at night, a high-geared Mercedes would blow by us doing at least 40 MPH more. I measured my BMW 318i's sustained top speed at around 135 MPH, which I backed off of in daily use once I blew the fuel pump at that speed and the kindly BMW service tech advised me that "the low end 318I model (in translation: the 318i econobox) is not engineered to rival the BMW 635i and 745i models in sustained high speed performance".

So, I assure everyone that the uncrowded stretches of US Interstates are built comparably to the German ones, and that our cars and ourselves will not cause undue death at speeds higher than we are used to, nay not even at 100 MPH.

Now, as far as risking legal enforcement, driver experience and related insurance matters, that's another story. I note these stem from customary social contracts which we regulate differently than the Germans do, and not from laws of physics.

 

did you ever clock yourself with a gps? The speed gauge is not very reliable. At over 100 my gauge is off by about 2 or 3 mph and that's with 17 inch wheels. With 15's (if you have those) it likely would be off a lot more.

It's actually annoying how off the speedometer is off. I find I glance at the speedometer often if I want to know what speed I'm actually going. Or if I look at the gauge I always have to figure I'm at least that speed minus 2. Also with cruise I always have to set it 2 higher that the speed I really want to go... PITA

 

The wheel size wouldn't necessarily make a difference, it's the circumference of the tires that would change the speedo vs actual speed.

 

Well the wheel size affects the circumference so....

Every inch on the diameter of the wheel adds another 3.14159.... inches on the circumference.

 

Michelin Defender size for the 2010 Prius, 195/65/15 equals 832 rev per mile.
Michelin MXM size for 2010 Prius, 225/45/17 equals 833 revs per mile.

Takes more revs per mile for the 17s so circumference of the 17 is smaller than the 15's in the correct size for Prius.

 

If that's true then I have to ask... What is the size of a wheel measuring? The Outside edge of the rim? I always thought this was a measurement of the outer edge diameter of the tire itself

 

This should explain tire sizing.
Tire Tech Information - Tire Size Guide&

 

You didn't notice that typical passenger car tires are very roughly two feet tall, i.e. somewhere near 24 inches? This is far more than the typical wheels sizes of 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17 inches.

 

The tires in the example above are 25" in diameter, the 15" and 17" is the diameter of the metal wheel that holds the tire.

 

Yes I have clocked it with a GPS and I have 17" wheels on mine and it's off by 2-3 mph and with the stock 15" wheel it was off by 3 mph.

 

94 mph