I just picked up my 2006 Prius yesterday! I noticed on the way home that alhtough I couldn't have been doing more than 70mph, it said I was doing 80mph so I called my husband (driving ahead of me) and asked him to pace me. We found that if he was going 35 mph, I was doing 40mph but at one point we were both doing 60mph. This morning on my usual route to work I felt like I was going my normal pace of around 60mph but it said I was doing 75mph. Any ideas?
probably got the odometer set to KPH instead of MPH. either way, its a new car, take it back. either way, i would have to assume the Prius is more accurate then an older car your hubby is driving.
Also be aware that the design of the car tends to make you feel as if you're going slower than you actually are. if you're used to something thats a little lower to the ground (the seats in the Prius sit you up higher than most cars) or has a more sportier feel, the car will constantly feel slower than it actual is until you get used to it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Aug 16 2006, 10:16 AM) [snapback]304079[/snapback]</div> No- the odo is set to MPH. I checkd and besides, the conversion is MUCH higher than that. My husband has a brand new car as well so I trust his mileage. I have an email into the dealer too... Thanks!!
Might be a problem with your spedometer but I found that the prius fools you a lot. It's so quiet and smooth that you think you are going slower then you are. I found that when I wasn't looking at the spedometer I tended oto do 75mph when I though I was doing 60 (on a 55+ road). The reason? The prius is soo queit at speed compared to my Maxima that the wind noice simply fooled me. That said, since you and your husband compared numbers then something seems to be off.
the smoothness of aceleration, mostly due to no transmission shifts providing reference points took me by surprise as well. The day i picked up my Prius, i headed onto the 101 freeway, drove less than a mile and got onto I-5 which is a sweeping left turn at 45 mph. when negotiating the turn, i realized that there was much more stress on the car than there should have been. i looked down and realized i was going 75 mph!! the car was so smooth, i had no idea i was traveling that fast. also, i have a portable GPS that tracks speed and altitude and is supposedly rated as being fairly accurate on speed. it has always agreed with the speedometer in my car. dont ever remember it being more than 1 mph off and those occasions only happen when doing major elevation changes.