Due to the virus, there is NO traffic. I love it but my mpg has took a dip. Does driving 85-95mph for 30-60 miles at a time cause any damage? I’m only going with the flow of traffic, especially in the HOV lane. Everyone seems to be cruising much faster. Other than premature tire wear, can I cause damage to the engine because it’s so small? What about the battery or inverter? Thanks all.
It takes greater energy to keep your Prius at a higher speed - more power demanded at a higher rate. As you might imagine, this will result in higher temperatures, and mechanical wear on the entire drive system. Your expectation should be reduced longevity on the drivetrain. Components will wear out sooner, with earlier failures than normally expected. All of this should be a logical conclusion.
Thank you for your response. I assumed the higher temps being an issue. I was referencing another thread someone posted here How FAST can you drive? | PriusChat
Yeah, you'll burn more fuel and wear it out a bit faster, but I don't see where you'll cause unusual wear or stress on the car. You're just using it all up a bit faster than the rest of us. I wouldn't worry at all.
Yes. Pushing an internal combustion engine harder tends to cause more wear......over a long period of time. AND....with an older car and/or high mileage the likelyhood of something actually failing goes up a little. It also often causes increased oil usage. Have you checked your oil level lately ?? It can also cause "damage" to your wallet. Be responsible. Move over and slow down.
it's a matter of degrees. everything wears out. the more abuse, the faster the wear. in some cases it's necessary and part of the plan, in others it's unnecessary and costly.
Ever? well there was that one trip to Mexico... Until the coronashutdown, I was traveling out to L.A. for work pretty frequently. I used to live out there, know the freeways reasonably well. So for the past few years I was only driving rental cars out there, while my c stays at home in PA. Even with normal traffic, there were times when the freeway flow really was up to 85+. With reduced traffic I can only imagine people are going faster. I've never had the chance to drive a c in L.A. but I don't think I'd enjoy that suspension on those concrete seams at 90+. That's just me though.
At higher speeds, aerodynamic drag is the prominent power sink. The power needed rises as the cube of speed. If you're doing 90 where pre-virus traffic was 60, your speed is up by 1.5. The cube of 1.5 is about 3.4, so you are using the car about three times as hard. If you make the easy simplifying assumption that wear is roughly related to how hard you're driving it (at least for powertrain and power-transmitting parts), maybe you're using those up on the rough order of three times as fast.
This is probably why, after the first few week of shutdowns, road fatalities had not fallen nearly as much as total traffic had been reduced.
No excessive wear. As some have indicated...some bits may wear a little faster but you will very likely not own your car enough to notice a difference...especially a Priussy. There are some places on the globe where people are not shackled with relatively low speed limits, and in at least one of our more progressive US states....there are areas where the speed limit IS 85. YMMV
If you're calling me out for equating "a bit" to "three times as fast" well.. that's where you're right. But I wouldn't have written it if I didn't think the car could handle it.
The milk in my fridge could totally handle being drunk three times as fast. Just comes down to how soon I'm projecting to buy more milk.
Yeah, I regularly check the oil and it's always at the same level, looks clean. I'm very meticulous when it comes to maintenance such as cleaning the hybrid vent every 20k, changing all filters every 20k, inverter/engine coolant every 50k, full synthetic oil changes every 9k-10k, transaxle fluid every 100k, new tires, alignment, rotation, spark plugs. I am at 150k miles that's why driving at higher speeds worries me. If it was a brand new Prius C, I could care less. I'm buying a Prius Prime the end of next year, just want my Pri to last till then without any major issues.
You are "playing the odds". And they are not in your favor. The odds are that something will go wrong in the next year, given it's age and miles. But it is unlikely that it will be caused by driving it too hard. "unlikely" does not "impossible" though and you will improve your odds a little by SLOWING DOWN.
Regularly driving a car 85-95mph for 30-60 miles when the top speed is only 105 is being pretty hard on the car. That's just common sense. Having recently retired a Camry that gave me over 300k (nearly trouble-free) miles, it's been my experience that if you take good care of a Toyota it'll take good care of you. I wouldn't have any problems driving that old Camry 80mph, but it can go a lot faster than my Prius C. Driving 85-95+ on the interstate in most parts of the US, even when the speed limits are 80, is dangerous IMO. But I know you California drivers are crazy. I'd be crazy if I had to drive everyday in Los Angeles, too.
i went on a road trip recently and on an empty highway (middle of nowhere part of my state) i was doing upwards of 90MPH for a small amount of time and got up to 101MPH it would’ve been nice to see how fast the car could go but i was worried about breaking it LOL
I would make sure the oils are the best and would not be worried. I have been using the correct Redline Oil on the engine and trans and tow trailers with mine.
