Well, I am from Germany too .... and have a hard time to understand most people here (and indeed it is still a big majority), who - as Mister MMT put it so nicely - still live in that world of "Speed is Germany's holy cow..." . But at least here and there, I also see some signs of people re-thinking this attitude ... which is good ... and will maybe on one, distant day to lead more reasonable (and ecologically sane) speeds on our "Autobahns". And yes, I am afraid, that many car magazines here will indeed "laugh" at this speed limitations .... which only shows that they are still stuck in the "good old past". Change sometimes takes looooong ....
Well I allways defended the Prius when people where saying it's slow,because it's actually not,but cutting down the max. speed by a whopping 18 km/h at last places it in the slow catagory ! It should be at least capable of having the same max. speed as his hybrid only brother ! Just think of it this way,would you buy a Ferrari which is limited to 100 mph ? Even though your are not allowed to go go any faster than about 80 mph anyway,most probably not ! And why not ? Because a max speed like that would be laughable on a sports car like a Ferrari is ! I see it the same way considering the Prime . It's a grown up,4,64 m long mid size sedan that reaches it's max speed at a level a small subcompact would. Now let's see,we have a mid size supposed to be be family car which only seats 4 and has a somewhat limited hatch and on top of that it's slower than many subcompact cars ! No that won't go down very well in Germany,that's for sure ! I will have to get used to it but it's a shame the Ioniq Plug-in,although it won't be anywhere near the Primes efficiency and is by far not as clean using a direct injection ice,will get all the praise!
No, but not because of the limited top speed but because it's a lousy car. I have had my 2004 at 97 one time. Never had it over about 82 otherwise. I've driven over 100 one time in my life and that was across the salt flats of Utah for about 10 seconds. If my Ferrari was governor'd at 85, I probably would never know.
I saw the 2011 Tintin movie and really liked it. No Professor Calculus in that film, but maybe he will be in the sequel that they are working on. I've driven on the Autobahn a few times, but only in northern Germany, and I remember it seemed you could only go maybe 5-10 minutes at a time at unlimited speed then you had to slow down when passing near a town. In other parts of Germany do they have long stretches where you can drive for say 30 minutes at unlimited speed? Of course unlimited in my rental car meant about 190km/h max (about 118 mph) but that was plenty fast for me.
I didn't know Tintin was know in the Americas... It depends much on the time of the day, whether it is a 2x3 stretch, and the season. Where I live, you could do it between Karlsruhe and Offenburg, about 60 miles! I regularly see people doing that. It appears there is even a speed tourism... I've been driving myself, long time ago, a car with which I've been cruising at 130 mph. Now my Vmax is 80, and on those "Autobahn", you're most of the time considered to be and treated like a snail! Not very nice. If I would buy a Prime, I'd be cruising regularly at 95. But I'll probably keep my 2 Gen Prius Touring with beige leather interior (I love it), and replace our 1000 miles Avensis by an Ioniq Electric. I test-drove it today, and it is a marvel! If I ordered it today, however, I'd have it delivered not before in July! Jan
***To clarify, determining the top speed was for experimental purposes in controlled settings and I do not condone going that spp I also do not travel at those speeds. That was simply for experimental purposes in a controlled setting. I regularly attempt to get the best fuel mileage. I recently went on a 300+ mile road trip and averaged ~51 mpg in my Prime. This could have easily been higher but about 100 miles of the trip was through a mountain range and the trip was started with the battery depleted. When driving around town I average ~62mpg with the battery depleted. When I go to and from work, I am able to do so using the battery only.
If I want to drive superfast, it will be in a videogame which I can save and load. In real life I can only save but can't load the previous save after a fatal player mistake.
Most of the super high speed discussion here was about driving on the Autobahn. Driving that fast on U.S. highways would certainly be very dangerous. However even with its high speeds the Autobahn is actually safer than U.S. Interstates. That may seem counterintuitive to most people, but it's because compared to the U.S. their drivers are much more attentive and careful, and safe driving is strictly enforced. On U.S. Interstates the police mostly just enforce speeding. But on the Autobahn there are stiff fines for tailgating, passing on the right, even for stopping on the shoulder except for an emergency or accident. In fact you will get a fine and possible license suspension for running out of gas on the Autobahn, because it's considered avoidable. And unlike the U.S. where people routinely drive at slower speeds in the left and middle lanes, on the Autobahn everyone follows a strict "drive-right" rule where you only move into the left lanes to pass then you move back to the right. Everyone is paying attention to each other, at least much more than in the U.S. And they have a strict points systems to get unsafe drivers off the road, and driving with a suspended license is taken much more seriously than it is in the U.S. And all of that is before we even start talking about texting and other distracted driving which is more prevalent in the U.S. than Europe. It is true that driving fast can cause accidents, especially when driving faster than conditions warrant, something which happens on the Autobahn like it does on U.S. highways. And a higher speed crash will cause more damage and injury than a crash at a slower speed. But I really can't throw stones at Germany considering their overall approach to safety, compared with how pathetically dangerous U.S. drivers are, how ineffective police enforcement is, and worst of all how apathetic the U.S. public is about all of this. I'm certainly not saying that you're not concerned about this, and possibly you already know everything I just said about the Autobahn. I just wish we could somehow turn public opinion on this topic. Unfortunately I have little optimism, and I've started to feel like the only light at the end of the tunnel to end the continued highway massacre in this country is self-driving cars.
Well, the theory about the safety on the Autobahn sounds very good ... but in reality, it doesn't sops many drivers from doing insane, aggressive, dangerous things ... and all that at much higher speeds. Oh, and of course, everybody here thinks, that he / she is a perfect driver and all others are morons. Another important factor here is - when it comes to "high speed" on the Autobahn - that very often traffic density is far, far, far above the level where you indeed could exercise the freedom to drive fast. Just to give a number ... in 2015, Germany had an accumulated number of 1.1 million km's of traffic jams.
I'm trying to remember if there are on and off ramps in the unlimited sections. Seems like it would be dangerous having people merge in when everyone is flying along at over 100mph. Oh and trucks and cars with trailers always have a speed limit, right? And for cars there actually is sort of an unposted speed limit even on the high speed sections isn't there, something like 130 km/h (80mph). But it's not enforced allowing drivers to decide if they can safely go faster (good visibility, dry roads, light traffic, etc.) But as in the U.S. people often drive faster than they should for the conditions. The section of U.S. Interstate that I drive on regularly, the speed limit is 65mph but you sometimes see people doing 85 or 90mph, which I think is more dangerous than 120mph on the Autobahn. Not that two wrongs make a right. But then again how far do we carry this, if we all drove 35mph on the freeways there would be a huge reduction in traffic fatalities. But no one would accept that. And of course the separate topic is that a lot of fossil fuel is being used to provide those high speeds. Not to try and justify it, but I am curious is the Prius more efficient at 112mph than other cars? More aerodynamic, but I would think the ICE is operating past its efficient power band.
What mode where you in when you did the test ? Maybe it's just restricted in EV-Auto for whatever reason !? I was so looking forward to this car and then I realised it only had 4 seats . I took a deep breath and said to myself to think of it as a luxury car . Next I saw the reduced cargo area and told myself that I maybe won't need that much space . I was allready seeing myself in a red Prime wit a solar roof until I found out that opting for the solar roof ment giving up a lot of great features the vehicle has to offer! Ok I'll miss out on it ! But now I found out the car tops off at just 162 km/h that's really hard to swallow! I know it doesn't make any difference in the US if a car tops of at 100 mph or 250 mph but if you would live here it sure would !
Even here - in Germany - it does not "sure" matter ... It only matters, if someones personal preference needs it (and at least in that case, we are free to exercise that need ... which can be cool ... but if it is ecologically sensible or not is another question). So for you (and I know, for many of our fellow citizens), it can be important (for sure ...) ... but for others (where I would include me) it might be negligible. Its our personal decision (as always) ... But at least i understand your frustration from your perspective. PS: and when ever we go outside our borders (in any direction), immediately similar rules apply as in the US (when it comes to speed limits) ...
Not sure what test you are referring to but when I did top speed test, I was in power mode (hybrid). When I did top electric speed, I was in EV Auto (gas engine was not on). When I did the 300 mile road trip, I was in Normal mode. I have actually found that I get better mileage in Normal mode than in Eco mode.
