Driving through Pennsylvania

I've driven on the hills of I-81. If you see a prius unable to maintain 70 for the length of I-81 then it's drivers choice and not lack of capability. The Prius driver that you passed was probably trying to maximize their fuel economy.


As far as the A/C goes, you set the temperature.

 

High speed and hills kill MPG, so a lot of Prius drivers slow down. You may too when you see your MPG dip to 13 going up a hill at speed. Right now you just don't know what lousy fuel economy you're getting.

The Prius AC system is superb. In Auto mode it adjusts the fan speed and outlets to keep you comfortable at the temperature you've chosen, heating or cooling as needed. It even has a sun sensor so if the sun is shining in it gives cooling a boost. And since it's electric, the engine can be off with the cooling on.

BTW, check out Toyota Financial's offers. I think they give a discount to college students. Might be worth taking on some more debt before you graduate if it saves you money in the long run. YMMV.

Welcome to PriusChat!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RelievedSimpleton @ Jun 10 2007, 09:02 PM) [snapback]459357[/snapback]</div>

Actually, now that I think about it, it could be all the speed traps on I-81. I do recall zipping by a Prius or two on the trip until I hit a point where I was gliding down a very long hill at least 10 miles above the speed limit and zipped by a cop. I wasn't pulled over, but that was enough to keep me closer to the speed limit.

I find when I drive south of NY through NJ, MD and VA I'm one of the slower Prii on the road but when I head north through CT, MA and ME or Northern NY, I'm one of the faster ones. Not a scientific study, but a generalization based on personal observation (how's that for a disclaimer).

 

Freaky timing. I just got back from a 1,600 mile road trip yesterday, part of which involved driving west-to-east across PA on the turnpike, and then back the other way from Baltimore on 68, which also has a lot of hills.

My Prius did fine, and I was going 70-75mph the whole way. On the way up the steeper hills, the little 1.5L engine was working hard (a bit loud), but I had no trouble maintaining speed, and my battery level never dipped more than a bar. On the extended downhills I'd frequently pull in a near-full charge reading, then use it to head back up the next hill at 75 mph and 50+ mpg until the excess charge burned off. Over the 1,600 miles--about half of which were hilly, half fairly flat (Ohio, Indiana, MD, PA, NJ), my MPG was about 50.6, at 70-75mph plus a small amount of city driving.

Short answer: hills won't be a problem at those speeds.

 

New Prius owner. Principal reason to buy the car was to get MUCH better milage, while still maintaining my driving style (10MPH Over in most places). Our first trip was down I-81 to go to NYC. Last weekend we went to Maryland (from Rochester). On Interstates I have been using cruse and note that the Prius holds this a bit steader than the Sienna we used to use for trips.

This car does this stuff NO SWEAT - got 43-46MPG on the NYC trip, 46-50 MPG on the Maryland trip (several stretches of 65MPH on that trip).

Only Issue: I've been running into problems with some gas pumps - immediate shut-off, no matter how slow I try to pump fuel.

 

On the Turnpike my Prius likes running in the low 70's mph. You will need to be careful particularly on the downside of the moungtains. One can find oneself going a lot faster than believed.

"Occasionally I'll pass a Prius doing about 70 and it always seems like they are going about half my speed." This sounds like the Prius is going 70mph while you are doing 105mph. The Prius can handle that too--but you won't get 50mpg.