As a new owner I was interested in how my Prius would perform going through the mountains. Traveling from Florida north to Ohio I was impressed with how the car handled in the Appalachians. I used the cruise control for most of the trip and at rather steep grades the ICE was able to maintain the posted speed limit. No down shifting like previously owned vehicles. MPG was a respectable 48 through this stretch. I did have a nagging concern though. Did I put too much strain on the ICE by keeping the cruise on during these uphill climbs? We had a loaded (heavy) car and the MFD showed I was pegged in the power area. Too bad there is no RPM indicator. Any thoughts?
I am not the most technically savvy person here, but the Prius transmission is a CVT, or constantly variable, so there would be no downshifting. The "trans" sets up the drive for the best performance based on the load on the car, and the available battery power. So I doubt you put any additional strain on the motor. The fact that it kept its speed indicates that it was not strained, as it were. Did you have it in PWR mode? That helps with heavy loads. Also, you could give it a little braking on the downhills to regen more power than I think the cruise control allows. You might have gotten better mileage not using the cruise control, but I like a bit of that myself on long trips. Congrats on the new purchase!
