Since the Prius doesn't have a needle odometer, I don't know what the "top speed" of the car is. Anyone have any idea? Does it matter if it touring edition or not? Just curious.
The top speed on a speedometer has nothing to do with the top speed of the car. With the Prius, the top speed is limited by the computer to about 109 mph. Tom
I think I was once at 110mph but I wasnt really looking at the speed... I was looking more at the road... so I'm not sure on that one being that its limited at 109mph... I'm pretty sure a second time I was at 104mph... I've been over 90mph on this car maybe 5 times at most over the whole period I've owned it... On my other car that same number monthly, I think ... Yes I was young and stupid.
It has a 3 digit speedo but the furthest left digit is only a 1 so going by the logic that a car with a 180mph speedo can do 180mph I would think the Prius can do 199mph. Thank your lucky stars for that too, we poor metric burdened people are limited to 199km/h or about 120mph on the same speedo theory. Damn!! Fastest I have had mine was 160 but I didn't go flat out. BTW that is 160km/h
The world land speed record for a hybrid was a slightly modified Prius, stock engine but computer tweaked, lowered, some aerodynamics and safety stuff -- 130 MPH on the Salt Flats. Do not try this at home.
I have a European spec Prius. It's top speed is limited electronically to 180 km/h (measured on the speedo on the dash, actual speed is a bit slower). You can momentarily get the car to higher speeds if the conditions are good, but after 180 km/h the power is cut off. To constantly go faster than 180, I found out that if you set the cruise control to a speed just below that speed and use the CC to increase, it's possible to still have power at 181 km/h. It's not a great big difference but I consider it a small victory over the Prius-engineers. There is at least one older thread about this subject, it has some more information.
