HEADED FOR THE ROCKIES, WILL I HAVE ENOUGH POWER

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sonny @ Apr 9 2007, 09:00 AM) [snapback]420248[/snapback]</div>

I live in Colorado and while I haven't taken our Prius over Trailridge Road yet, we did take it to the top of Pikes Peak (14,000) and over Berthod Pass (11,000) and it did great. The motor was a little wound up during the really steep parts, but we were able to keep up with traffic, and we got great mileage all the way down!

Oh, and we had four people in the car.

 

I have taken my Honda Insight to both TrailRidge Road and Pike Peak and it did fine. A Prius would probably have an easier time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sonny @ Apr 9 2007, 11:00 AM) [snapback]420248[/snapback]</div>

It's no greater a grade than the EL Cajone pass here in CA . . . nor is it any worse than parts of the Contenental divide, MT. A Prius, fully loaded w/ spouse, Fred, the 90lb Lab Retrevier, & lots of luggage were able to still do over the speed limit. Good enough?

 

I've yet to find a hill I could not "speed" (maintain a higher speed than the posted limit) over. The drive from Sacramento to Reno was probably the only time I ever noticed anything "different" about driving my Prius and that was simply the battery stayed charging continually and only showed 1-2 bars. Part of this was because it was always using battery power to climb the steeper sections of road and because it was Halloween and it was damned cold outside. LOL

I have yet to drive over the summit to Yosemite on the way to Bridgeport or the grapevine (which gave my friend '92 Geo Metro trouble) but I have gone over the Sierra on I-50 and I-80 and drove to Seattle on I-5 without hastle.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Apr 9 2007, 01:45 PM) [snapback]420348[/snapback]</div>

What do you mean you drove to Seattle on I-5 without hassle. Was that like 3 in the morning? Traffic is always bad here. lol

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sonny @ Apr 9 2007, 08:00 AM) [snapback]420248[/snapback]</div>

You should have no problems. Despite what it might sound like with the gas engines CVT (continuously variable transmission), nothing is about to blow up no matter how long the up hill road is.

I sure wish my wife and I had our Prius back in the mid '80s when we drove from Seattle to Kamloops (spelling) in Canada. Going east on Highway 1 the hill was so steep and long that I had to shift down to second gear (out of five) in our '85 Datsun (Nissan) pickup. We even got passed by semis.

I haven't found a hill yet that bothers our 2007 Prius much.

 

:lol: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(OlsonBW @ Apr 9 2007, 02:02 PM) [snapback]420356[/snapback]</div>

LOL I travel around the Bay Area and Sacramento and I would argue that the traffic is much the same.

I lived in Everett then Marysville for a couple years. :lol:

 

You will be fine unless you plan to go now! There 's probably 10 feet of snow on trailridge road today!

I live in Denver and have almost 50,000 miles on an '04 Prius with plenty of mountain driving under my belt. It does fine in the mountains, but on the long passes the battery eventually wears down and the gas engine has to wind up to pretty high rpm's, at which point the car is a bit underpowered. This isn't a problem unless you are trying to race someone to the top, however.

Enjoy your trip and the great gas mileage you will get!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sonny @ Apr 9 2007, 08:00 AM) [snapback]420248[/snapback]</div>

Live here, been there, done that.

It's not too hard, if you drive fast uphill, to drain the battery to the point that the car will only have the engine to power it. At that point you can still go, you just lose a significant amount of HP. Priuses sold in other countries have a "turtle" icon that shows up on the MFD (I'm told) to let you know you've just entered a lower power mode. If you go up extended hills at a moderate pace, the ICE will charge the battery fast enough during the less-steep portions to not allow that to happen. I've been putting the car through the paces in the rockies so if you want to chat further just PM me.