After driving my Prius for two years I had my first real test of how capable the car is when tested against the mountians. I was not sure how well it would hold up and if the battery would completely drain. I have had a couple instances in the past when the battery has drained significantly. Each time it has involved one of the car washes where the car rolls through and I neglected to turn off the AC, lights, radio, and everything else that can drain a battery.


I traveled across North Carolina on Interstate 40. I filled my tank up in Hickory and then drove across the Eastern Continental Divide and on past Asheville and down the other side to Cullowhee. When I reached the highest point I was down to 42 miles per gallon. By the time I had arrived on the other side my average was 48 miles per gallon. Going straight up a mountain I traveled at 20 MPG for the lowest noted mileage. Of course, this balanced out on the downhill side at 99 miles per gallon.


This test was very important for me as next month I will be driving the car fully loaded. This trip it was with no passengers but loaded with suitcases, sewing machine, and other things to fill the very back end. The next trip will completely fill the back end with cartons and paper for a seminar. I will be carrying four large boxes that will take up most of the back end. The extra weight should impact the mileage significantly.


This Prius is the 2005 model which does not get the 60 miles per gallon of the new ones. It is suppose to average around 50 miles per gallon and I am usually at 50 or a bit higher. In fact, traveling from the coast to Hickory I averaged 53 miles per gallon.


What is my reaction to the Prius? I love it. I have been driving it for 25,000 miles. I carpool and when it is my turn to drive my friends say they have just as much leg room as in the SUVs that they drive. I consistently get great gas mileage. A few times in the winter I have dropped down to 46 MPG but usually I am still at 50 or better. I would say that for the total miles on the car I have probably averaged around 51 or 52 MPG. This is a combination of highway driving and city driving. I primarily drive routes with 50 MPH speed limits or higher and just about 5 miles per day slower. It continues to perform well. The maintenance (all scheduled maintenance has been performed) has been relatively simple and inexpensive. The only problem has been tires. I have had to replace one tire twice. One time was do to picking up nails and the other time I had a blowout to a certain degree. One minute I am driving down the interstate at 70 MPH and the next I hear a whop, whop, whop sound. I looked up to see if there was a helicopter. No signs of a helicopter so I pulled over and found a completely flat tire. There was a very soft spot on the side of the tire. I had no handling problems throughout this and luckily I managed to avoid trashing the rim. I was impressed that the car stayed right on the road and did not veer at all. I was so surprised to see that it went from normal to flat in less than a minute. This tire was a replacement tire and not one that came with the car. I do think that do to the small size of the tires that they go flat much faster than the old style of tires.




All in all I am extremely happy with the performance. To give you an idea of how pleased I am I believe my hubby plans to buy the 2008 model when they become available.