105 MPH

I would be worried about the handling of the prius over 100mph. At 80mph the car can feel somewhat unsafe and loose if there is a wind. At 60mph it is generally fine. So another 20 up from 80 would probably be even worse.

It is a true mpg car. It has crappy suspension, brakes, and stock OEM tires.

 

I've driven it at 90 mph and I remember having had no problems at all. But "get to the hospital ASAP" does not mean "drive at your car's max speed" and a cop would likely not have been sympathetic.

 

I test drove my first prius off the lot and took it out on the freeway and did a test to see how it compared to my jeep when accelerating from 70mph to 80mph.... it took approx 4 to 4.5 seconds to do the job btw....my jeep was slower I think!... it has a straight 6 and fully tuned and running perfect... anyway, I was up to 90mph before I even realized it.... it felt only very slightly unstable, but not enough to notice unless your looking for it.

I actually didn't believe the mph readout as I didn't "feel" like I was going but about 65... but as I looked out my windows and saw traffic whizing behind me... I realized it was so as I knew this traffic normally travels about 65 to 70 range.... I was impressed!
I had plenty of gas petal to go should I have wanted it... but traffic didn't support faster speeds so I shut it down.
The young driver salesman in the back seat was amused. B)

 

As speed increases, your breaks become substantially less effective. The amount of time you have to react decreases. And kinetic energy increases with the square of velocity, so going twice as fast increases the amount of energy involved in a collision 4x.

Driving at 105MPH is substantially more dangerous than driving at 75MPH. Police and ambulances don't go racing around unless there is an emergency.

 

Granted I don't own a Prius yet, BUT, I rented one for a week and I think the suspension, brakes and tires for that matter are fine. Could they be better? Sure, but they aren't crappy in my opinion. I agree it is about mpg. Can't wait to get my 06'!

 

Your talking physics, I'm talking "good driving"

If you drive 55 in florida for instance, you will be a very dangerous driver!.. because the other drivers on any open highway most certainly cruise at 90mph or faster!... if you go 80, you better be in the right hand lane, and you will still have people riding your bumper!
If you don't believe me.. go to Miami and rent a car and try it out!

Many drivers drive dangerously at slower speeds, they daydream, talk on their cellphone, fall asleep etc... most people who drive with excessive speeds are fully alert and full of adrenaline unless they are irresponsible punk kids driving reckelessly high on alcohol, drugs and inexperience!

I"m not condoning driving faster than the flow of traffic, but when they lowered the maximum speed to 55, I was opposed. They did it in the name of saving lives. Well if thats going to be the reason.. then lets lower it to 35!... how about 15!... maybe we should just trash motor vehicle driving and walk!.. we'll send all our supplies on trains..... that would be even safer!

There is always a line to draw in the sand when deciding these things.
"I will say" that driving very fast can "freak" out other drivers less skilled and less alert and distract them into an accident!

I was recently on vacation in Florida and I was cruising about 80, and someone in a lambraghini type car passed me like he was going 80 and I was standing still!.. in other words.. the must have been going about 150 - 160MPH!
My son was in the back seat slumped down and he was awake as we were talking... but by the time I could tell him to look as he instantly responded and sat up, the car was already out of site some 300 yards past me far in front lost in traffic!
It was the fastest thing I had ever seem moving while not in the air!

He was weaving through traffic missing bumpers by what appeared to be only a few inches!.. now thats just plain stupid!.... even he was a perfect driver, he was surrounded by drivers that are not, neither are they expecting a vehicle of such speed to be around then as they manuver between traffic.. they look in their mirror, its clear so they change lanes... and boom... he is there!
There is no room for errors with the other drivers!... you never know when someone will surprise you and change lanes or do something unexpected!

I've had so many close calls and I used to really believe when it was my time to die, it would most certainly be in an ambulance in traffic!
The close calls were "never" because of my miscalculations, but rather my inability to read minds!... people would do some of the most unexpected things!... I've had them come to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway right in front of me!.. I've had them pull to the extreme left lane, only to remember they are really supposed to be in the right lane, so at the last minute they would pull right out in front of me to go to the extreme right lane! And I've driven straight head to head against the flow of traffic on a freeway to get to an accident that had life threatening injuries to avoid a 30 minute arrival time!

People are unpredictable, and thats why fast driving is dangerous, but I'm just saying many people are very comfortable and very able to drive at very high speeds quite safely! I'm always amazed at how "old" many of the indy drivers still are!

Its hard for us to judge the gentleman for racing to the hospital when we didn't see the driving conditions!

If he drove recklessly, then he was being reckless with his life and everyone elses!
If its ok for a policeman to drive fast to respond to a routine emergency that most of the time isn't even an emergency at all!, .. there is no reason "other than legal" that someone else can't drive fast in an emergency, especially if he has all his hazard lights on! Even though its technically illegal run code 3 without light AND siren, police officers routinely run without thier sirens with only lights on!

True he could have gotten on the cell phone and called 9-11 and asked for a police escort and took his chances that an officier would even ever show up! But at least he would be on record if he did have an accident,.... not that the jury would give any mercy, but you never know!

My final statement is that I do get angry when I see someone driving reckless endangering my family as well as others. And many emergencies are not time sensitive!... a few minutes will make no difference!

 

I'm afraid I have to agree with other posters here. Driving that kind of speed on public roads is selfish and dangerous - putting yourself and your own needs before other drivers on the road and thereby endangering them.

I'm sorry, but I can't condone that sort of action, no matter what the justification is.

Dave

 

Yea.. your right.. the cops are pretty selfish.... believe me, they run with lights on from everything to go get thier doughnuts to getting off shift on time, or just to get through traffic and not have to wait.
Just because they wear a badge, doesn't give them the right to endanger lives unnecessarily either.

I'm not saying its right, I'm just saying he's not an animal... just give the guy a break..... many supposed nobile citizens do the same for much less.
We have not given police officers the right to "fake" running code 3.. otherwise it would be legal.

 

Sorry for your loss, but 105 in a Prius is just plain stupid. The car is not safe at that speed. Had you needed to avert a solid object in the lane at that speed in the prius you would most likely be dead now as the car would have lost control.

I would never take my Prius much above 80mph as I can feel it start to loose handling capabilities at that point. I had a GM SUV once that scared me anytime I took it over 60mph. Now don't get me wrong, I am a good driver, have never had an accident, and know how to handle a car at high speeds. I have taken my 7 series BMW up to about 110 and it still had good handling. In Germany I have had a Ford Sierra sedan on the autoban at 220 KPH ( that is 137 mph). But a Prius over 100 -- not a good idea.

 

You ever been to Cracker Barrel...they have those little games on the table with the golf tees..you try to jump them and pull them off to get down to one left....I think if you leave 3 or 4, the game lists that you are an IG-NOR-A-MOOSE!!!!!!!!!

I don't know why that popped into my head.

 

If you are not comfortable at the higher speeds in a prius, I wouldn't recommend going that fast... maybe yours needs an alignment?... I went 90 and didn't even notice it?

At any rate... many of you I bet can't even remember what it feels like to respond to an emergency of the family... if not.. thats good that you've been so blessed.

But I seriously doubt any of you will abide by the speed limit and all the stop signs and traffic lights etc when its your daughter or wife are breathing what you think may be thier last breath.

Its like everything else.. when someone else breaks the law its bad.. irregardless of the circumstances.. but when you do it, its ok.. because you had a good reason eh?

Must be because its sunday that everybody is so churched up and ready to throw stones?

 

I took my Prius up to 105MPH one morning on a long strech of highway somewhere in Arizona, no other cars around. It's fast and it's stable. But with other traffic I would never do that. Either with an impending death or birth. It's going to happen anyway. Accept what is, don't make it happen.

 

Well looking back now I feel really stupid for doing it, but at the time it seemed and felt very appropiate.

I didn't go 105, but I did go about 90 for about 20 miles.

When we opened the front door one night to go to the store... we didn't see our little dog snickers "a long haired miniature dauchound" go outside.
As my son went to back out of the driveway, he heard a "yelp".
I was not home yet from work, but my wife called me and I couldn't even understand what she was saying she was so hysterical.
As I drove up to the scene of my son under the car as my wife lay rolling on the ground screaming, I immediately thought my son had been ran over and he was pinned underneath the car!
As I got out, I realized our dog was pinned and and had been "rolled" under the undercarriage of the car and my son was hoplelessly trying to lift the car with his own strength and get the dog with the other arm.

I immediately grabbed the car jack and jacked the car up to release the dog, then I gently pulled it out to find that it was totally alert, with its eyes looking around and following everything we were doing. The only problem was that it couldnt move at all!
She was paralyzed!

This dog had become like one of our children and my wife was hysterical. We wrapped the dog in a blanket and started our 20 mile trip to the veternarian in hopes of being able to somehow release the nerves. The vet gave steroids, antiinflamatory, pain medicine, x-rays and gave comfort measures throughout the night. The next morning there was absolutely no improvement and we had to put here down.
X-rays confirmed all the internal organs were fine, but something so small that x-rays couldn't even see conclusively, was damaged.... the nerves were severed somehow.

This all sound very silly to anyone who was not emotionally attached to the dog and it took months to get over it.
No one can really judge the situation till they've been there before... don't judge too harshly because you may have the chance to see what you too might do some day!

Our race to the vet was at night, traffic was light, and we ran with our hazard lights on. Most drivers were very gracious to move over. At night, they could see us coming from a long way.

Now if the emotions were that high with a dog, I don't want to even indulge my imagination to see what it would be like with my own son!

I have 9 years of emergency driving experience and I am very precise and consider myself an excellent driver. I do not recommend this to anyone else! Everyone has to live with own convictions.

We make laws for reasons and often the reasons don't fit new circumstances, and so the laws have to be changed.

Many love living by the law, it gives them a warm and fuzzy feeling of security and pious almost religious pride...... others love defying the law.

I just think its wise to think above the law. I once saved the live of a seizing little baby that was about to code and an IV was impossible and it had not been breathing for several minutes. By breaking the rules and administering valium rectally, the seizures stopped and I was able to administer positive pressure O2 and saved the baby life!. True, I was taking a chance and if it had backfired on me I would have lost my license. After that, the medical director was so impressed that we instituded that protocol and made it law, so other medics could do the same when presented with such a senario.

99.9% of the time if not more, we will subject to the letter of the law, and maybe because I drove emergency for so long I sympathize with somoene else who needs to drive emergency.
I know police officers often feel they are above the law as long as they are on duty..... who's going to give them a ticket?

Its ok to condemn driving 105 miles an hour, but along with that condemnation, we need to have mercy as we consider the circumstances.

I can only imagine the thoughts that could have been going through his head with a mother-in-law!..... thats why we need to treat each other as if its our last day with them?

 

First of all, 105 isn't reckless... situation dependent. I'd say 15% of all traffic between Vegas and LA hits at least 100 at some point along I-15 (my weekly commute). That being said, I've had my Prius pegged at 109 for prolonged stretches in the desert until the hybrid battery runs out, at which point it can pull about 90-95 depending on grade. It's an electronically limited 109, because you can feel the thing stop pushing, almost like hitting a wall. It won't break 109 even downhill, I think the regenerative breaks must kick in to prevent a gearbox overspeed condition. Of note, it gets about 34 MPG under wide-open conditions at top speed.
Bryan

 

Wouldn't it be great if everyone who got emotional drove around regardless of other drivers safety and forgetting about the speed limits?

Bobby's parakeet is dead, so I drove 85 through a red light and killed a family of 5. Great.

Very selfish. Not justifiable. I hope no innocent people die with you in your of emotional release.

 

It can't be any worse than the road rage I see every day cause people are daydreaming and not paying attention while driving!
And if your going to use an example, it would help to be realistic... are you valueing a family member on the same level as Bobbys parakeet?

 

thanks for the info.. those were all questions I was curious about in a thread about top speed I posted earlier.

the reason the speed is limited I believe is so the generatory doesn't overspeed...your right.. I believe it hits a wall and electronically limits you.

Your post is funny and I'm glad you did it.... I know many think I'm making all this up. They need to get out a little more... do a little traveling!..... take a break!

 

I'll bet more than half the people on this thread complaining about the speeding in a situation as such would do the same thing.

I would say probably 1% would actually do the speed limit... :lol:

 

:lol:

awesome post!