Gosh, I haven't been here in months, and nearly asked a stupid tire jack question, earlier today, but figured it out myself... But, have been pushing the little beast (my '08 Prius) to it's limits on some of our very steep mountain grades in the Pacific Northwest in the past few months and at times the engine does not sound happy. I am used to cars with Tachs, so I can see how close to redline, I am...but the Prius, of course has no such animal. So, if, for example, I am flooring the car coming up the grade out of Snake River Canyon in Lewiston, Idaho and it sounds as if the engine is coming apart, I should ignore it, because the computer prevents me from doing anything stupid.... Reading that back IT SOUNDS STUPID, but I hope you all know what I mean....
When I was toolin' around the PNW this summer I tried to keep things not too far over 3000 RPM, just to not get into the really-suckin'-it-down region, but that's just me. Yes, I joined the loaded semis crawlin' up the truck lane by not stomping it, but I'm good with that. . _H*
The only over-reving I think is possible is coasting at high speed in neutral; it may over-rev the electric motor.
I have climbed some reasonably steep hills since I got the ScanGauge; at 4100 rpm the engine is really thrashing away, but you are still under the 5000 rpm redline.
On REALLY steep grades I've seen 5000 RPM a few times. I've never seen it go over that. The system will limit it and you will start to slow a bit. Don't read this as saying the Prius can be gutless up mountain hills. It isn't. I was passing powerful SUVs going up the Coqahalla in B.C. (and boy did they look pissed ).
Thanks guys. The Prius doesn't seem to have quite the "umph" factor of my husband's Camry, but I have to admit, when I start hearing it strain, I back-off pretty quickly. Guess I have have to be braver.
Its the CVT, the Camry downshifts which gives it the feeling of more oomph because its over-reacting to the situation. The CVT always finds the optimal gearing neccisary for whatever individual load is placed on the drivetrain, which makes it feel like its really struggling in the mountains, but its not.
I think I understand (sorta of ) what you are saying about the Prius....In the Camry, the only downshifting it gets is when I jam it into fourth on a hill -- it's one of those rare breeds -- a 2003 MANUAL 5-speed Camry -- Kevin had to threaten to walk out of the dealership to get the dealer to hassle with ordering him a manual transmission Camry from Japan.
The Prius engine is quite noisy under heavy acceleration when the gasoline engine is reving up. I suspect this is intentional, to encourage owners to drive with a light foot.
I dont think its intentional, its just not a very refined engine, the CVT tends to make engines sound louder anyways, the motor mounts aren't very isolating, and theres not a lot of sound deadening in the firewall.
Just stomp on it and keep it stomped as needed. Forget fears learned from broken-down old technology cars.
If you had seen the mountain passes I've driven over in a Prius packed to the gills, you would no longer worry about destroying the engine. One purple bar, 6% grade, pedal floored, 12,000 feet, crawling around a nearly stationary pickup truck with a trailer - that's my personal experience. I think they station those slow trucks at inconvenient spots, and launch them into the flow of traffic when they see me coming up the hill: "Cue the truck..." Tom
