The wife and I were on a trip to Las Vegas this past weekend. The drive from Phoenix to LV takes you over mountains - many of them, and one with a peak elevation of 7300ft. There were many climbs and decents. Some of them were a good 6%. On these long, steep climbs the Instataneous MPG display would drop clear down to 8 or less and I could hear the ICE revving quite high and allow my speed to drop and hold at 55mph. On one of these climbs I decided to push the pedal even farther down to see what would happen. Much to my amazement the car starting accelerating while the MPG stayed the same. I was able to accelerate up to 75MPH in this mode - and got there in a few short seconds. I could only attribute this ability to the huge amount of torque the MGs developed. I was quite impressed. I'm sure most of you already experienced this but thought I'd share.
Those of us who live in mountainous terrain have indeed noticed this torque. Because of the high torque-to-HP ratio, it makes the drivetrain feel more like a diesel, or a car with a turbo. Another interesting note: a gasoline engine loses 3 percent power per thousand feet of altitude. Here in Denver that means all cars are fifteen percent down on power (with our altitude of a Mile High, or 5280 feet). However, an electric motor does not suffer the same fate. Therefore the Prius, running on the ICE and the MGs makes closer to the same torque as it does at sea level compared to conventional cars. So the torque doesn't fall off as badly as you climb mountains.
it does have a lot of torque.. at that speed, the HSD is spinning as fast as it can. you're engine only hits it's max rpm at that speed. 76 to 108 are all because of the HSD ratio on the electric side.. but you need battery power to access it at least you weren't scared to just floor it.
Yea, not scared at all. I was expecting the car to lumber along at 55-60 but when it actually accelerated, I thought.... Wow! Never bottomed-out the pedal. I wonder how much better it would've done had I pushed the pedal all the way down?
When you push the pedal all the way down it is impressive. I watched as the Scangauge indicated 5000 RPM on a -very- steep hill, but the car kept the speed I wanted. Even the anti-Prius (2001 Nissan Pathfinder LE - 240 HP) would loose speed on that hill! If you keep it up (pushing the car fast on steep hills) it will drop the mileage, of course. But you will still do much better than -any- other internal combustion vehicle maintaining that speed.
Absolutely. There's no reason to fear flooring it when needed. The computers will not let the engine harm itself.
Interesting. I almost want to go find a hill to try it on. I've never had a car accelerate like my Gen 2 does.... even diesel!
One of the paths I take home from the office has a pretty steep hill climb for a short distance. If I push the pedal, the car will RUN up the hill quite impressively. I believe the car will climb hills quite well as long as there is juice in the battery.
Did it again. There is a restaurant located at the top of a mountain here in town. Access is up a very steep grade for about a 1/4 mile. In my pre-Prius vehicle, I was able to negotiate the climb in 2nd gear and then could only muster 15mph. I took my Gen2 up there last weekend and accelerated all the way up! There's a real impressive pull as I push the pedal down and feel the torque from the MGs go to work. Hey this is fun!
My situation brings me street cred, I suppose. I am behind this rather slow-moving vehicle on an entrance ramp uphill. It is fairly steep for an entrance ramp. As soon as I could (not legally) I floor the accelerator and go from 50 to 75mph in just a 5 seconds. I didn't realize among the cars I merged in front of was a police cruiser. Prius, has uphill power. No discussion needed! LOL
Popular belief is you can't spin the front wheels as the traction control will stop that. Probably true, but I discovered you -can- "chirp" the tires! Trying to merge into fast moving traffic on a hot day, and depressed the accelerator pedal fast and far to overcome the delay you usually see. The tires went "chirp" and Pearl took off like a scalded cat! Only one person has commented that they -thought- Pearl was a gutless hybrid, but I left them in the dust. The rest just remain quiet in embarrassment.
