Mountain driving

have driven my 04; pckg 8 to southern rockies 3 times over the last 12 months; climbed to over 11k feet; car handles fine as long as snow depth is not too great

 

My experience is limited to fair weather and summer driving in the Cascades and Northern Rockies. I had no problem. When I was driving home with the car on I 90 going over Lookout Pass between Montana and Idaho I got stuck behind a truck on a >6% grade going up hill. Had to slow to below 50 pulled out and around and up to 70 in jig time. No Problem Man!! 8) Car is great in the mountians. GM is just mad because they missed the boat.

 

I have driven in the Transverse Ranges (between the Great Central Valley and southern California), the central Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada, up to 3100 meter elevation many times since October 2004 when I first acquired our 2005 Prius.

From owning a 4Runner for 14 years, the Prius drives superbly, including steep uphills and downhills, winding and twisting sections and places where the road is poorly engineered (i.e., slopes the wrong way on curves, narrow, etc.). The Prius "hugs" the road on the straight and the winding. The Prius has very good torque and never feels underpowered, even at 3100 meters.

The OEM tires handle snow okay - based on many years of living in snow in the central Rockies and Sierra Nevada (with air temperatures to –40°). Small diameter cable chains and a double set of chain binders work well on the front tires - on both two-lane mountain roads and I-80 across the Sierra Nevada between Sacramento CA and Reno NV. I look forward to upgrading to passenger M+S tires.

We are looking to replace my wife's Mercury Mountaineer with a Highlander hybrid. Based upon the Prius, the Highlander hybrid can only be an improvement, including greater ground clearance for driving in deep snow.

 

No problems keeping 80mph up Gaviota Pass (rises 500 feet in less than 3 miles).

No reports of problems taking Tejon Pass ("the Grapevine), a rise of 2500 feet in about 10 miles or so.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(The Ericsons\";p=\"74626)</div>

Sounds like your friend is really covering his a** and spreading a lot of bulls*** in the process. I hope he isn't lying himself but rather repeating the lies that GM is pushing in response to being complete boobs WRT how they missed the boat.

Tell your friend that here in Winnipeg, I have *no* problem keeping up with racing GM brand pickup trucks. On snow and ice, thanks to the advanced Traction Control, I easily blow their doors off.

And when I drive reasonably, I get at least 4-5 times the fuel economy.

Maybe your friend should see if he can jump ship to Toyota? I'm sure he's a fine fellow otherwise.

 

Hills I have driven in the Prius:

Lewiston grade, pulling out of Lewiston, ID going north toward Moscow, ID; Pullman, WA and Spokane, WA. 8% grade starting at the bottom, becomes a 7% or 6% grade about 2/3 the way up. Huge truck killer. Speed limit is 65mph up hill and I tend to follow it. No issues at all. Car throttles up and doesn't break a sweat.

I-82 east of Prosser. 5% grade about 2 miles long. Another truck killer. 70mph with cruise on. No issues at all. Holds cruise lock in speed, which is 70 all the way up hill. On the immediately following downhill the car goes into regenerate mode and recovers most if not all of the battery power it used climbing the hill.

I-90 Snoqualmie Pass, Cascades. Pulls the approaches very easily. I-90 is kind of twisty and turn going throughout the Cascades and as such it is a real test of vehicle handling. Performs better than most cars I have ever driven. You can lock in your cruise and the car doesn't hesitate at all or loose speed on inclines. Regenerates on long downhill streches, such as when you come off the crest of the pass. Amazing!

 

I just drove over to Reno via Truckee in the Sierras( ~6,500 ft pass) again at 70 mph up, no problems except: Be very careful about accelerating on snow-ice without chains.
Sometimes you can put your foot to the floor and NOTHING happens, except a very slow acceleration until the traction control gets some bite.
I bought my car in Salt Lake City and drove back to Sacramento at 80-85 on the flats, and 70-75 up hills and mountains.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(The Ericsons\";p=\"74626)</div>

It is really too bad your friend doesn't seem to know much about torque curves and electric motors. Electric motors have flat torque curves. From the moment they turn on till they turn off they have the same designed torque output regardless of shaft speed (rpm), well within reason. But not like a regular ICE where torque varies based on engine RPM.

Anyway, I wouldn't let anybody from GM tell you about torque. Since the 40s and 50s GM has always been behind the 8 ball when it came to engine torque output. GM has always pointed toward high reving higher horsepower engines. Whereas their competent pickup truck competition, such as Ford and Dodge focus on torque in their engine designs. Ford's torque curve on their Triton V-8s that go in the F-Series have a very flat torque curve for a conventional ICE. If you have ever driven a Ford and compared it to a GMC or Chevy you notice a huge difference in engine performance.

Anyone who knows how to design a vehicle for utility knows that torque is much more important than horsepower with regard to moving the load a vehicle is carrying. If you floor a Prius from a light the car fires everything up and will do its level best to push you back in the seat, and does a find job of it. That is the feel of torque, not horsepower.

Anyway, I'm sure your friend is a great guy, however he is management, not engineering. I bet their engineers would feel much differently. What kind of scares me is that your friend probably reflects the organizational feel toward hybrid technology. I've got this strange feeling that GM will be last at this table also (regardless of their paltry offers now) because of a combination of market stupidity (not taking other companies market offerings seriously) and group think.

 

I don't have any mountain experience, but I would like to bring up a point that maybe your friend is extrapolating from.

It isn't torque that's the problem with the Prius, as MG2 provides plenty of that, but traction. The traction control is quite sensitive, and some have gotten stuck going up hills with the OEM tires. The OEM tires lose grip, the TC senses that, and stops the wheels dead from spinning.
However, if you change to appropriate tires, many have reported that the problem goes away and they can easily climb slippery hills.

 

I would actually characterize driving a Prius in the mountains as FUN!

Last week we did a 300 mile fun drive up in the Sierra. Doing the speed limits, the car had plenty of reserve power going up the passes. One of our stops was the Kirkwood ski resort on Highway 88. Base elevation 7800 feet.

Going downhill was interesting in watching the ICE shut down, the battery recharge, and the consumption screen light up like a Christmas tree.
At one point, driving West down I-80 from Donner Summit (7,085 feet) to Sacramento, the Consumption Screen was completely maxed-out except for two of the 5 minute bars which were around 75 . . . indicating where the short uphill spans were.

We had left Sacramento in the morning with a 3/4 tank of gas. When we returned we still had two squares left. So, fuel consumption wise, I’d say the Prius is a champ in the mountains too!

Your friend is just spouting GM FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt).

 

We live in a community with steep mountain roads. Many with a 15% grade. My driveway is the 2nd steepest in our community with a 28% grade. The Prius does great on the steep hills. Today I returned from a hike with 4 large adults in the car and they could not believe that we were able to accelerate up the steep hills.

I would say that the Prius is an excellent car for the mountains.

 

I get to go back to Helena in May to watch my son graduate! Wooo Hoo. The sad news is I am transporting an old 27" TV and a base to him so I am driving the Explorer. I would rather be in the Prius but it will not fit with all the other stuff my wife will be taking to him to "get him started". I just hope he get a job! :mrgreen:
BTW he is an Environmental Studies major. Got to be proud. I guess walking the walk makes a deference. For his part someone will pay him to hike, camp, and be outside. I hope he can make a difference.

 

I live in the central Washington Cascades and routinely drive over Snoqualmie Pass and have never had a lack of power. This past winter was not a rough test for winter driving, but I was one of a half dozen folks that made it to the office during one of the worst freezing rain events I've experienced with no trouble at all once I got the ice chiseled of the windows. I had fun ribbing the majority of my co-workers who mostly drive big, bad 4 wheel drive SUV's and trucks and still couldn't get anywhere.

 

Just did Raton pass with a full load. This pass climbs about 3000 feet. Eventually the battery was down to one bar. At that point, my speed fell from 80 to 65 mph on the steepest part of the climb. I was still passing everyone except the BMW. The beemer slowly pulled away from me until the grade reduced to below 7%. I drove probably 50 miles before the battery had a chance to recover to more than 3 bars. I loved driving the Prius in the mountains.

 

I have just traversed the Southern Alps in New Zealand which are pretty rugged, believe me. If you saw Lord of the Rings - that’s where I went, up over and down, an 800km round trip.

I just want to say that my Prius handled the mountains beautifully and hardly skipped a beat - best car I have EVER driven under these terrain conditions, bar none, period!!!

One part in particular, has an extremely steep gorge that is a real trial for most "dinosaurs". With road gradients ranging from 1 in 30 to 1 in 8 and travelling from a little above sea level to the summit of the Pass at 922m over a distance of about 13km, a cliff face on one side and a sheer drop on the other, it is not for the faint hearted. I was totally amazed how the Prius purred up the steep and winding road like it was hardly there. My son was following in a reasonably powerful car and commented that he had to make extensive use of the gear shift (and full throttle) just to stay anywhere near me; even then he had dropped well behind by the time I reached the top. Awesome!

Over the whole trip, I paid particular attention to the battery and, while it ran down to the “pink†on a number of the steeper climbs, it made little or no difference to performance. The engine never raced as some say, although it did rev higher than normal driving. I was even able to set the cruise control and climb appropriate parts of the road with ease.

I did not use the “B†gear except once, when I did it to see the effect on performance. It slowed the car, sure, but nothing that couldn’t be done in “D†and gentle braking.

Fuel economy on the whole 800km trip was 5.77 l/100km – more than I get in city driving, but certainly a lot better than 99% of other vehicles.

We are only just heading into winter, so, although it was wet, there was no snow or ice on the roads, so I am unable to comment on some of the other postings about this.

Bottom line – the Prius flattens mountain roads to gentle rolling foothills and still gets tremendous fuel economy – MOST IMPRESSED!!!!!

 

My 2004 goes up the very steep and winding Independence Pass fine but that's because you just can't go go faster than 45mph.
It also does great on steep, short climbs where the electric assist really shines.
However, steep, long, straight climbs like Vail Pass, where everyone is going 70+mph are only OK for the first few minutes until the battery depletes and you have just the engine to power your acent. The Prius slows down and the engine revs up, not a pleasant combination. I can maintain 60mph but not much more. Deep snow, headwinds, and low temperatures all make it even worse than just the high altitude and steep grade.
Toyota mechanics have driven my Prius up Vail Pass side by side with their Prius. Both were performing to specs and performed the same (poorly).
I usually take my 6 cyl. 4WD Subaru when driving from Aspen to Denver in the winter (not often).
This is just the price you pay for good performance the rest of the time. I wouldn't want a bigger engine or a bigger battery for most of my normal Prius driving.
A turbo or super charger would be a very good solution, especially at such high altitudes or you could buy a Lexus or a Highlander.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Steve Goldenberg\";p=\"90177)</div>

Steve has it exactly right. I have a 2005 Prius, live in the Denver area and travel in the mountains a lot. With a light load and a full battery I am able to make it up the steeper passes on I70 without slowing below 70, but if traffic causes me to slow down once I can't get past about 60MPH. However, on average hills such as the trip from Denver to Colorado Springs there is no problem at all. In fact I just towed my 400 lb trailer to Colorado Springs over Monument pass with no problems at all, maintining 75 mph the whole way. Like others have said, it's the long uphill climbs that deplete batteries. As long as you have the occasional downhill things work well.