speeding along at 72 mph on I70 with a 2010 Prius

[rfruth]

It crackes me up when someone says they have to drive fast or they'll be run over - a neighbor of mine drives 75 on the highway then can't figure out why she needs a windshield at 20 K miles

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by rfruth

It crackes me up when someone says they have to drive fast or they'll be run over - a neighbor of mine drives 75 on the highway then can't figure out why she needs a windshield at 20 K miles

I know right? I've heard stories that you'd get run over in Chicago if you "only" drive the speed limit. I've found otherwise as I have driven 45-50 there lots of times and have never felt my life was in danger.

[lightfoot]

Originally Posted by rfruth

It crackes me up when someone says they have to drive fast or they'll be run over - a neighbor of mine drives 75 on the highway then can't figure out why she needs a windshield at 20 K miles

Exactly. I used to drive 80-85mph in my Subaru, and the windshield got so pitted it was really hard to see through when heading into the sun.

But it's true that having traffic come up from the rear can be upsetting until one gets used to it. When I was speeding, I didn't have to worry much about traffic behind me because only a few people were going faster than me!

[waltermlee]

DARCARS Toyota of Silverspring (MD) initially quoted $519 to fix the shattered passenger side mirror - my 21st Century Insurance Adjuster says she'll talk them down to $368 to fix the shatter side mirror ( I have a $200 deductible ). The passenger side mirror clipped those bendable road construction barriers in PA (alt-I40) and it shattered the mirror (but the passenger side mirror body/casing looks okay and motor unit is still working). I have some rewards cash on my Toyota Visa that I hope will lessen the pain at the repair shop...

The total trip length (for HyperDrive 1) was 1962.8 miles which was between St. Louis Missouri to Washington DC Metro Area. It was a mistake to take detours to shorten the trip near WV-PA-MD that the Garmin GPS was advisng - if I had stayed on I-70 the drive would have been longer but easier to do. The Garmin GPS does not realize that local roads are no only slower but often have more traffic to work around. The detours that the GPS advised also had more construction sites that I had to drive around. The Prius was travelling between 82 mph to 68 mph on I-70 along Indiana-Illinois-Ohio-WV-PA-MD with the cruise control often set to 72-77 mph (GPS said it was 71-75 mph). For most of I-70 , the posted speed limit is 70 mph - but if I was not pressed for time I could have gone on the 65 mph truck lane and gone a bit slower. However, I had to make each trip (24 hours for each direction) in a day. I had a funeral to go to in St. Louis on Friday and then I had to return to Washington DC to attend another funeral on Sunday - so I had to trade fuel efficiency for time. The tire pressure for my stock Yokohama Avid S33D were set to 38 psi front and 36 psi rear. The driving temperature was over 60 F so I remove all my grill blocking. On the way to St Louis the weather was sunny and the roads were dry but it was cool enough so I didn't need to turn on the AC. On the way back to DC - the weather was horrible and it rained all day long and the roads were wet all the time ( I also had to use the defroster to clear the windshield several time). Over the +14 hours in each direction, I took multiple breaks to rest and I used cruise control most of the time. The trip required 40.263 gallons of 87 octane gasoline ( average price was about $3.90 per gallon). My overall fuel efficiency for this marathlon was 48.75 mpg (calculated average over several fill ups) which was composed of about 95% highway driving and 5% city driving so -- which is on par with EPA highway estimates.

Because of the extended mountain downhill grades, the Prius Traction Battery State of Charge (SoC) got has high as 75%. At one point when the SoC was greater than 70% the cruise control would not work ( initially I panicked thinking I broke something) but then I noticed the Prius aggressively running the electric motors and I realized that CC was not likely to be permanently broken but only temporarily disabled until the Prius could use up the HV battery's excessive charge. It was a very strange feeling going +50 mph on a very long downhill grade with only the electric motors on... its not a something that's in the driver's manual or something that I've read might happen which is why i panicked initially...when the SOC drop down to 66% the cc was back online again. I like the familar - no surprises... yeah that's me - I fear change...

The Ohio State Highway Police was very active about enforcing the speed limit along I-70... I saw alot of vehicles getting tickets along that leg of my trip. After getting the one finger salute for going 77 mph on the left lane of I-70 (with a 70 mph posted speed limit)- I realize that anything under 80 mph is considered slow on I-70.

The Harbor Freight Tools high volume air compressor that I got for this trip lost its rubber feet during this trip. I guess I should nt be all that surprised that the compressor's flimsy plastic-rubber feet would break off since it costed only $22 dollars. While I'm disappointed it is not that durable, I am pleased that it does reinflate the tires quickly.

[ALS]

48.75 mpg at those speeds is nothing to complain about with the Prius.
Hell I use that much fuel in my Volvo for an 1175 mile drive to Florida.

[chilimac02]

Texas Roads might make you feel that way (like you'll get flattened). It takes getting used to. Now I rarely go over 65, but that's because Big Blue likes it around 50-60, with anything over 65 requiring 4 or 6 cylinders.

[bestmapman]

Originally Posted by waltermlee

speeding along i70 westbound through pa oh il in ... psi 38/36 no grill blocking
temp 60 f sunny dry going 70 to 77 mph ... scangaugeii mpg reads 39 to 49 mpg avg 45
cant go any slower too much traffic
pa mountain climbs require prius ice to go up to 3.8 gph
- prius engine works very hard just to go 38 mph uphill

hypermile along I40 in Pa but passenger side mirror clips road construction barrier
mirror shatters - need to repair... sigh

Pump your tires to max sidewall and make sure your are in the optimum highway mode. Use the hsi to optimize your downhill and flat segments and you'll get slighty above or right at 50 mpg at those speeds.

Umm.....don't ask me how I know. I will admit nothing.

[EdwinTheMagnificent]

Now I rarely go over 65, but that's because Big Blue likes it around 50-60, with anything over 65 requiring 4 or 6 cylinders.

Jutsin , does that mean that at 60 mph the Pilot is running on three cylinders ? Nice.

[SentraSE-R]

lol. I'm averaging 50.2 mpg over 2400 miles on my trip from CA to NM in my boxy Scion xB, and I beat this Prius.

Date          miles     gal      mpg          notes
4/29/2012	212.7	5.199	40.91171379	home to reno	reno
4/29/2012	328.1	5.823	56.34552636	reno to ely	ely
4/30/2012	428.8	8.448	50.75757576	Ely to moab	Moab
5/1/2012	335.3	6.576	50.98844282	Moab to Chaco to Farmington	Farmington
5/16/2012	499.9	9.996	50.010004	Chaco local	Albuquerque
5/23/2012	388.8	8.184	47.50733138	Chaco local	Cuba
5/25/2012	242.8	4.321	56.1906966	To ABQ& back	Cuba
			0		
        	2436.4	48.547	50.18641729