Prius: Not For Road Trips?

Whoever wrote that, deserves to drive only a Smart, coast to coast, non-stop for one month.

Then does the same on The Prius.

My brother has the Smart Four-two, and has inherited the Prius from my father.

Guess who is collecting dust in the garage...

 

In the last 1 1/2 years we've had the prius, we've done a trip to Zion, twice to King/Sequoia, twice to San Francisco, twice to Cambria. Seems to do just fine.

 

ROFLMAO!!!

 

As happens often with opinions, I feel differently. I did a 4000 mile round trip in August with the longest leg at 908 miles (SLC to Calgary) and had no problems. Even with me pushing it at 85mph through Idaho and Montana it was still a 15-hour day thanks to various breaks along the way.

The problem is when people confuse opinions with facts, or when people simply pick up one opinion and don't consider any others. I think that's what I react to most with regards to the article.

 

One thing I did notice that when I went from San Francisco to Tahoe up those windy mountainous hills that when the battery depleted (and it will) that the engine became quite a bit louder as a result, maybe more so than a normal car simply due to the smaller engine size. (The upside is my trip back I got almost 80 MPG )

Now granted mountainous driving isn't exactly what comes to mind when you think a cross country trip, however it is something to be aware of.

However, as stated by just about everyone else I think the author really should specify WHY the prius isn't good for long trips.

 

Took mine from Florida to Niagra Falls NY to Boston and back to Florida and never a hiccup along the way. It was fully loaded and averaged around 53mpg. Plan on taking it to the Grand Canyon next year. While it does not have the comfortable seats my El Dorado had it was not uncomfortable at all. If the author of the article doesn't want to take a Prius on a long trip its fine with me. I hope he pays through the nose for gas and whines about that too.

 

That writer seem to think that the Prius, because it has a lower highway EPA mileage than it's city EPA, has a very poor highway EPA. This, as we know, isn't true. The margin of advantage over other cars is thinner in highway driving, but the Prius still gets very good highway mileage.

 

I agree. On 12/15/07 I went from Elkhart, IN to Wadsworth, IL and averaged 70.2 mpg. I've driven for over 4 hours at a time and never felt uncomfortable.

 

My Prius is quieter than the other cars I'm used to. I can't agree with that point at all.

I believe I have successfully converted my Prius into a touring car by adding a wedge-shaped seat cushion and an ObusForme seat back with lumbar shape built in. I haven't done any really long trips so far due to being tied up at work or because of medical issues, but hopefully I'll be able to take it on a long trip in a couple of months.

Harry

 

Since the bladder in Prius is much bigger than your own, you'd have no excuse to stop. That could make for an unpleasant highway driving experience.
.

 

I did Boston to Niagara Falls and back a few months ago. I had cruise on most of the time @65-68 (faster when passing) and averaged 50 mpg. The car is great on a long trip.

Over

 

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The wife and I have done the same thing with our Prius. It seems like the seats are especially brutal on our tailbones especially the longer you spend driving. A wedge shaped pillow on the seat cushion bottom next to the seat back seems to relieve that problem. Haven't researched the use of a lumbar support just yet. Of course we went from a Buick Park Avenue to the Prius, so I suspect there is going to be some problems with comfort. As john1701a said, the distance you drive before pulling over to stretch yourself and walk around has a lot to do for car fatigue as well. Still learning though!

 

Avoid the desert? No, the trip is to see the desert. I'm not sure there is a practical way to travel Adelaide to Darwin without crossing desert. Even if I drive to Sydney I would only just skirt the desert by driving through an irrigation area along the River Murray which really is desert anyway, then from Sydney to Brisbane then up and around the top, I think you're talking near double the distance.

The Stuart Highway is a pretty good strip of sealed road. Only 1 lane each way but not too hard to pass. North of Port Augusta (300km north of Adelaide) you share the road with triple road trains and B triples which are like a semitrailer with 2 more trailers on the back the same size as the front trailer.<IMG style="MAX-WIDTH: 800px; ; WIDTH: expression(this.width > 800 ? 800: true)" alt="" src="http://www.ml-i.com.au/main/Vol024/1_FL/images/0411_Pic_BulkTrans_01.jpg" border=0>
Also want to go to Uluru (Eyres Rock), Alice Springs, Katherine, and Coober Pedy.
The Australian deserts are beautiful if you know what to look for.
(recently went to Innamincka, very special place and landscape.)

 

Everytime my wife and I take a trip to the cabin, we get 50 MPG, much better than around town.

I do concede the seats are terrible, though. Easily remidied by use of additional pillows to sit on. Any trip longer than an hour and I bring along my seat cushion from work.

 

Not to doubt the claims, as it's a personal thing, but I don't find the seats uncomfortable at all. Which part is the extra padding supposed to be on?

 

My husband & I took my 07 on a 4800 mile road trip, AZ to KS, IA, IL & then IL to CA via Route 66. It was awesome, we averaged 55 mpg for the Trip. Plus it was loaded to the gills with food, drinks, & Luggage.

We plan on taking his 07 on our roadtrip this year from AZ to TX, LA, FL, GA, NM & Back. Total Miles for that trip - a little over 5k.

We LOVE the Prius for the Road trips!

 

I use a wedge seat cushion with the thicker part forward. I am tall and have long legs (36" inseam), and with the wedge seat, it gives support to my legs, and just helps my seating position. The wedge seat helps compensate for Toyota's unfathomable decision to not have a tilt adjustment on the seat.

Harry

 

"Which part is the extra padding supposed to be on? "

I find the seats too flat and it causes my bony butt to go numb. For trips, I use a donut type cushion that I sit on at work. Technically it's a tempurpedic square pad that I cut the middle out of to take pressure off my tailbone.

I also would like tilt control to bring the front part up higher.

 

Seats are always a matter of opinion of the person, depending on your own seat, leg size, etc.

I had a 2003 Ford F150 that had the hardest seats in the world. When i would take trips (up north) for snowmobiling, my rear end would feel like I was sitting on concrete blocks. I called the dealer to find out if I could put earlier (softer) F150 seats in the thing and the guy in their parts department said, "no" but some people get custom seats made by some local places.

My friend had two F150's and I decided to dump my F150 for a 05 Civic. The Civic saved me about $100 a month in gas and car payments compared to the F150. (I had some equity in the truck.) Of course my Civic was a completely different kind of vehicle, railed around corners, low to the ground, fun the drive and pretty good on gas. As gas edged up and I paid off the Civic, with local road construction, sitting in traffic even in the civic burning gas. I decided it was time for the next step. Get a Prius.

I bought a base 08 Prius, with maybe one option (rear mat or cover, or something like that). I was thinking about getting a touring Red Prius, but they didn't have that in stock and just driving one sold it.

The Seats on the Prius are better than seats in my Civic. A little wider. They are a little "flat" in comparison. Kind of like sitting on a flat seat. The seats in that old 03 F150 had very high fronts and my legs would seem to be pressed behind my knees and the front of the seat would not compress at all, very hard foam. If your pressing down on your legs on a hard form, edge and have a very hard seat with little give, you'll feel like your on cement blocks for a road trip. It's like torture.

My earlier F150's had nice seats (I had a 1999). It had a soft seat more like a car. Each vehicle has different seat characteristics. I'm a relatively skinny guy with not much padding on my own seat. So results could vary from person to person on comfort. Older folks often like more padding on a seat and elderly almost always add seat cushions to the big ol cruiser they drive, even when driving in town.

My second vehicle that sits and sits is a 1998 F150, bought it from my friend when we used to snowmobile. This is a Nascar F150 and has nice soft seats.

The Prius in comparison, to me has a kind of a flat bench seat feel. The seat is low enough to not be a problem (for me) under the leg near the front of the seat. It doesn't have perhaps as much foam support as some would probably like, it doesn't have the thick soft plus foam seat feel, but almost a bench type feel, like a bench seat on an old truck. The "lumbar" support" is absent as well. There's not a lot of "scupting" in the seat. To me that's fine. I'd rather add padding to a flat seat and sculpt it myself, than have a highly sculpted seat, that is hard and has all kinds of wedges and edges that are almost impossible to overcome. The F150 03 I had also had a "short seat" from the rear to the front, to me it was not long enough, So you were sitting on a short hard sculpted. . . I just have to repeat, it had a cement block feel. I absolutely hated it and it was one of the main reasons I was very happy to trade that truck in and never look back.

Ride comparison. To me the Prius ride is nice and somewhat soft like a "Camry" I suppose as one person put it. It's very smooth riding, because the engine power is so smooth with the trans motor and other factors giving you a smooth application of acceleration. It doesn't have violent direct engine feel you'd get from a typical American overpowered V8 type vehicle. It's completely different. I like to think of it as a luxery econobox in a sense. It feels kind of like a mix between my father's Grand Marquis and a Civic. It's ride is very quiet and the airtightness of the cabin is apparent. When I roll down the windows the airtight construction will cause a "vaccum" like effect if you only roll down the rear windows while driving. A huge whoosing vaccum like sucking sound will resonate in the car with the front windows up. This is due to the tightness of the cabin and how well it seals. As long as the front and rear windows are both down you won't hear that. When both sets of windows are all the way down the air flow through the car is fantastic. Almost like being in a convertable in some ways. Nice air flow.

I love the Uniform Roundness and symetry of the curve of the front and back windows and roofline when looking to the passenger side. From the inside it gives an almost "calming" feeling as if your looking out of a perfectly designed cathedral of sorts. Something in that line gives a quiet calmness (at least to me). The rear visability leaves a bit to be desired. I don't have the camera option. A few times I've lost other vehicles in the front columns when driving in the city. It almost seems like the front columns have a tendency to create a bigger blind spot in the front than I'm used to seeing with my other vehicles. The mirror is a little low for me, I sit kind of high and at times I wish it was adjustable and I could put it higher. I guess that's dependent on the seat position and height of the driver.

I have really nothing bad to say about it. I have over 2000 miles on mine and average a little over 45 MPG so far. Best times are occassional fill ups and putting in only 3 or 4 gallons to top it off and continue on my way. Watching the pain of others at gas stations as they fill up. I know that I can feel their pain, but not in my wallet anymore.

Of course I have my Nascar F150 which I can take out and put gas in if I want the feeling of pain at the pump. I drive it once a week or less. That vehicle just sits parked most the time.

To me the Prius is just a step toward my future vehicle or vehicle option that will hopefully be full electric. I'm thinking I'd like to just go ahead and build a local electric cruiser EV myself and then park the Prius half the time. I figure as gas hits $5 and $6 a barrel and the big three just implode, at least the Prius drivers will still be able to bear driving. (This is if early Peak Oil predictions are true.)

If early peak oil theorists are correct (no capping, ambionic unlimited oil or conspiracy), then in about 20 or 30 years, most vehicles will be obsolete, except pure EV's and there will be a big desire and need for single seat EV lightweight transportation to work. In cold states this might mean a three wheeled enclosed motorcycle (scooter) type of vehicle that might even be limited to low speed highway speeds to keep the EV efficiency up higher. Thinking more along the lines of an "inline" type narrow three wheeled EV with a 10hp peak motor or maybe even something much less, like a 3000 watt motor, perhaps peaking to more. This type of vehicle might get 300 mpg - electric equivalent, which is what we really need. The thing would weigh maybe 700 lbs and be a cross between an enclosed Rebumbent trike and a small smart car. Something with a top crusing speed of maybe 45 or 50MPH and a top peak of maybe 60. But not even for highway use. A light enough vehicle EV would have possible much greater efficiency and if it's enclosed to protect against winter elements, that's all most people need to "Drive to work". It doesn't meet "family needs" like a Prius or regular car. It cannot tow, it cannot be used for family outings, but most people need a vehicle to go to work or to the store occasionally. To me an EV probably needs a 40 mile range for a trip to work and back and nothing else. Add all the side trips and the range needs to be more like 80 miles. If you add another 20 miles for excessive range behind normal, your pretty set for your daily driver. To me an 80 to 100 mile range EV is all I'd really "need" for my personal (single) needs. An inline two seater would be better if you have a need for social driving with a mate. For the long term future, what do your really need. You may want a car for the family, but if oil does run out, you won't have that luxury. You'll be lucky if you have a job. To get to work, you'll want an EV with some suspension, enclosed safety from elements.

Forget crash safety in that future or car standards and speakers and exotic climate controls. Most will want a basic need met, which is to get from point a to point b based on a little electrical storage in batteries and not having to pedal a mountain bike to get there. I could go on and speculate, but as you can see my line of thinking is toward a more EV future and the Prius is just a step in that direction.

What makes the Prius great. Crash safety, many passengers, a ton of comfort and great milage for a vehicle of this type. What makes it a waste, it weighs to much for my basic needs. It's actually more car than I need most of the time. It's still to much for a long term sustainable transportation need.

 

Great post. I guess the only thing I would worry about is driving a Prius - or a Toyota in general - anywhere in Michigan, especially Detroit. Let's face it, total incompetance on the part of management is what put the Big Three in the position they are now in. The average person still doesn't believe that

I predict as gasoline doubles in price - again - we may very well return to Honda Insight or VW Lupo 3L sort of cars. We may even start SLOWING DOWN, if such a thing is possible

It never ceases to amaze me how single occupant pickups and suv's blow by me, and their owners will then piss and moan about how much it costs to fill the tank

As far as the seats, for the price of a Prius in Canada ($30,000-$35,000) Toyota could have done a better job. If it was priced $20,000 I don't think I would complain. There are cars out there priced in the Prius range that have better seats, period

But as patsparks pointed out, we also survived vinyl bench seats, so I really don't complain too much. My elderly father prefers the passenger seat of my FJ over my Prius, claims the padding is better and more comfy.