I don't know what it would feel like going over 100MPH in a prius.. probrably like a pea in the wind?.... I went 90mph on my test drive and I didn't even feel it!... I couldn't believe I was going so fast!..... I've read top speed of 110 another place 115... but there in utah... I guess they set a hybrid record speed of 130.794 miles per hour on a 3 mile course. http://hybridcars.about.com/od/news/a/priuslandspeed.htm **Who ever has tested.. please post your top speed... and what did it feel like going so fast in the Prius?
I've done up to 140 km/h (87 mph) on the Trans-Canada Highway. It was very stable, and being on the big open highway, it actually didn't feel all that fast. I only get up to that speed on downhill sections though, and it usually costs me about 2.3L/100km (102 mpg). What surprises me the most is that as long as the highway is relatively flat, I actually get really great mileage doing 120 to 130 km/h. As soon as there's an incline, the fuel usage jumps really quickly to 6L/100km (39 mpg) or more.
The 130.794 was a 2 way average, there's a post with a link that tells about it somewhere here. They actually went quite a bit faster in one direction, almost 140 as I recall. The car was modified with larger wheels and tires and a higher final drive ratio. They also did some software mods to let it run faster and they had special cooling for the inverter. The stock G2 Prius has a top speed of 105 or 106 mph and it just stops trying to go faster at that speed because it is limited by the computer. This is done to protect the motors, ICE, and maybe even the PSD from overspeed. I don't know what the top speed of the G1 Prius is. It actually feels just fine at that speed but the day I tried it there was no wind and no other traffic on the road.
I hit 110 once going downhill, it was as fast as I could get. I forget my mpg, it wasn't good. At 5010 miles, to celebrate breakin being over.
I have gotten a speedo reading of 107MPH on flat road. Not knowing the true accuracy of the speedo, take that number as you will. The car felt no different then at 75MPH. Now, I was on a reasonably smooth road without much crosswind.
Yea.. at least the electric motor part could run as fast as you let it.... esp. with the torque it has... but its been about 30 years since I felt I needed to go that fast!... But it is nice knowing that if its stable at those speeds... the ride at 70 - 80 is really nice!.. in many states "Florida" for example... Texas... and even Oregon... if you don't go 80, you will get ran over....Its nice to know you don't have to poke if you dont' want to.
I've had the car up to near 95mph. Weather was calm and the road was very good. The car felt very stable and quite comfortable at that speed. I haven't been any faster than that. It was one of those passing, geting away from idiot driver situations. :wacko: I had no desire to speed and hapily moved back down to the speedlimit when I had made some distance. Obviously MPG sucked at that speed. Not good getting up to over 90 and no that wonderful crusing over 90. They do sell them in Germany so I would suppose that good handling manners would be necessary, if not raw speed.
I have a Grand Cherekee with a Straight 6.... As an acid test before I ever test drove a prius, I pressed the gas pedal as far as possible while going 70 in my jeep to see how fast I could get to 80.. it took approx 4.5 seconds... I did the same thing in the prius and I at least matched if not beat the speed to approach 80 and then it was at 90 before I realized it and still wanted to climb... I used the One thousand one, one thousand two method... I have never been faster yet.. but I don't own mine yet... that was my test drive at a car dealer... the salesman in the back seat thought it was kinda cool as he was a young guy.. I"m not sure at which point he would have lost his nerve, but there was too much traffic and not enough straight run to go faster without weaving through traffic and becoming dangerous... it would be a bummer to crash in a test drive, so I figured 90 was good for now... I'll do better test when I break my own in.
<_< TOP SPEED?? I don't want to know. I seem to recall reading in a past post that the onboard computers impose an absolute upper speed limit, 105 mph if my memory serves me correctly. I believe it is related to the maximum RPMs on the elctric motor.
I find the Prius to be smooth and quiet at all speeds. There's a bit of wind noise that starts around 100kmh, I think from the window visors, but the stereo soon takes care of that. The fastest I've gone so far is 153 kmh (a little under 100mph). I would have gone faster, but I didn't want to wake my passengers, and the car was full of camping stuff. (I hate it when they wake up screaming. My little brother fell asleep once as a passenger on my motorcycle, and woke up at about 175kmh. We had to stop for him to change his pants...) Maybe next summer, on a calm clear day early in the morning, I'll go for a little drive by myself... I was really impressed with how well the car did on hills, even when loaded down. The mileage was also better than I expected, but coasting down the other side of the hill is bound to have helped with that.
I hit Mach 1.5 once but I burned out all of my dilithium crystals (or sorry thought this was the Star Trek post) I have had it at 90 it was fairly stable
Haha! Before I settled on the Prius I looked at Volvo v50. I took it up to 55 and jerked the wheel from side to side to see how it would handle under extreme conditions. Not bad. Then I found an empty parking lot, shifted to reverse, floored it, spun it around and shifted into 1, 2,... Funny, I never heard back from that salesman after I wanted to make a deal. I got my Prius up to 104 MPH up hill with a passenger and two rack mount servers in the back... It would still go too... but I chickened out.
A few months ago I was on interstate 84 with virtually no cars. The lead car was a late model hyundai sonata and I was pacing him at 90-100 for at least ten miles. Was very easy to drive. I have the BT stiffening brace and I know it made a difference. I have the spoiler on order.
I don't want to drift off subject.. but it sounded like since middle year 2005.. toyota fixed that brace and corrected it for its new models.. is that your understanding to ,,,if you know? :wacko:
I wondered that myself, my car was made in August '05. My brace looks just like the earlier ones pictured on this site. Brian from BT Tech looked at one made in September and he said it was the same as the old ones. So I don't think they have changed. I ordered one of Brian's and am anxious to try it.
Did your battery go down into the "pink"? i. e. could it maintain that speed on the ICE or was it using up the battery?
Now thats a good question... I would think that the speed limit is due to the computer rather than the ICE... the ICE should charge the batteries while they are powering the electric engine that is in concert with the gas engine? But I don't know.... possibly if the ICE is maxed, then the electric assist would fail and top speed to drop in time? It would be hard to have an opportunity to cruise at that speed for over 10 minutes without encoutering another vehicle on the road.