Trip To Scotland

[Lesco]

Hi all

just got back from a trip to Scotland in the new Prius, and thought I would share some thoughts with you all and hopefully get some feedback of your own on this car, we covered just over 1300 miles in 4 days, inc of the trip there and back from Swindon too Glasgow, where we were staying and a day trip to Glen Coe and Fort William. And we traveled through the night while there was no other traffic on the roads so we could see how the car performed.

THE PLUS POINTS

THE CAR DROVE LIKE A DREAM, EVERYTHING WORKED FINE

VERY COMFORTABLE TO RIDE IN, WE WERE NOT TOO FATIGED WHEN WE ARRIVED

THE CAR PERFORMED WELL AT HIGH SPEEDS (WE LIKE TO GET TO WHERE WE ARE GOING QUICKLY AND GET ON WITH OUR HOLIDAY)

NOW FOR THE MINUS POINTS

THE ROAD NOISE AT SPEEDS OVER 65 MPH WERE TERRIBLE, IT DROWNS OUT THE RADIO/CD/HDD music AND YOU CANT HEAR EACH OTHER TALK AT NORMAL VOLUME

THE MPG AT HIGH SPEEDS (85 - 90 MPH) MAKES THE CAR JUST LIKE ANY OTHER ON THE ROAD WE GOT 350 MILES ON A FULL £40 TANK OF FUEL

WE TOOK OUT SOME FAMILY FOR THE DAY, AND GOT SOME SHOPPING, WITH THE BOOT FULL AND TWO PEOPLE IN THE BACK WE NEARLY GROUNDED THE CAR AT SPEED BUMPS, ONLY FOUND THIS OUT AFTER A VERY VERY LOUD BAND AFTER GOING OVER A SPEED BUMP

thats about it, I still love the car but was just wondering if anyone else has had any of the problems I have mentioned?

[dwilson]

THE ROAD NOISE AT SPEEDS OVER 65 MPH WERE TERRIBLE, IT DROWNS OUT THE RADIO/CD/HDD MUSIC AND YOU CANT HEAR EACH OTHER TALK AT NORMAL VOLUME

THE MPG AT HIGH SPEEDS (85 - 90 MPH) MAKES THE CAR JUST LIKE ANY OTHER ON THE ROAD WE GOT 350 MILES ON A FULL £40 TANK OF FUEL

I have a Gen 2 Prius. I don't drive above an indicated 77 mph which I hope is a true speed of about 70 mph. At this speed the car is not noisy. The engine noise is rather gruff and not very pleasant under hard acceleration but apart from that I would say pleasingly quiet.

[acetip]

Hi all

just got back from a trip to Scotland in the new Prius, and thought I would share some thoughts with you all and hopefully get some feedback of your own on this car, we covered just over 1300 miles in 4 days, inc of the trip there and back from Swindon too Glasgow, where we were staying and a day trip to Glen Coe and Fort William. And we traveled through the night while there was no other traffic on the roads so we could see how the car performed.

THE PLUS POINTS

THE CAR DROVE LIKE A DREAM, EVERYTHING WORKED FINE

VERY COMFORTABLE TO RIDE IN, WE WERE NOT TOO FATIGED WHEN WE ARRIVED

THE CAR PERFORMED WELL AT HIGH SPEEDS (WE LIKE TO GET TO WHERE WE ARE GOING QUICKLY AND GET ON WITH OUR HOLIDAY)

NOW FOR THE MINUS POINTS

THE ROAD NOISE AT SPEEDS OVER 65 MPH WERE TERRIBLE, IT DROWNS OUT THE RADIO/CD/HDD MUSIC AND YOU CANT HEAR EACH OTHER TALK AT NORMAL VOLUME

THE MPG AT HIGH SPEEDS (85 - 90 MPH) MAKES THE CAR JUST LIKE ANY OTHER ON THE ROAD WE GOT 350 MILES ON A FULL £40 TANK OF FUEL

WE TOOK OUT SOME FAMILY FOR THE DAY, AND GOT SOME SHOPPING, WITH THE BOOT FULL AND TWO PEOPLE IN THE BACK WE NEARLY GROUNDED THE CAR AT SPEED BUMPS, ONLY FOUND THIS OUT AFTER A VERY VERY LOUD BAND AFTER GOING OVER A SPEED BUMP

thats about it, I still love the car but was just wondering if anyone else has had any of the problems I have mentioned?

hi

i imagine having low profile tyres must contribute towards road noise.i know when i chopped my mondeo ghia tdci in for a mondeo st tdci that had low profiles fitted i noticed a increase in the road noise.but then the suspension on the st was stiffer.should have got a ghia with the 2.2 engine that the st had.we all learn by our mistakes ie buying a auris.

[Aeneas]

Hi all

just got back from a trip to Scotland in the new Prius, and thought I would share some thoughts with you all and hopefully get some feedback of your own on this car, we covered just over 1300 miles in 4 days, inc of the trip there and back from Swindon too Glasgow, where we were staying and a day trip to Glen Coe and Fort William. And we traveled through the night while there was no other traffic on the roads so we could see how the car performed.

THE PLUS POINTS

THE CAR DROVE LIKE A DREAM, EVERYTHING WORKED FINE

VERY COMFORTABLE TO RIDE IN, WE WERE NOT TOO FATIGED WHEN WE ARRIVED

THE CAR PERFORMED WELL AT HIGH SPEEDS (WE LIKE TO GET TO WHERE WE ARE GOING QUICKLY AND GET ON WITH OUR HOLIDAY)

NOW FOR THE MINUS POINTS

THE ROAD NOISE AT SPEEDS OVER 65 MPH WERE TERRIBLE, IT DROWNS OUT THE RADIO/CD/HDD MUSIC AND YOU CANT HEAR EACH OTHER TALK AT NORMAL VOLUME

THE MPG AT HIGH SPEEDS (85 - 90 MPH) MAKES THE CAR JUST LIKE ANY OTHER ON THE ROAD WE GOT 350 MILES ON A FULL £40 TANK OF FUEL

WE TOOK OUT SOME FAMILY FOR THE DAY, AND GOT SOME SHOPPING, WITH THE BOOT FULL AND TWO PEOPLE IN THE BACK WE NEARLY GROUNDED THE CAR AT SPEED BUMPS, ONLY FOUND THIS OUT AFTER A VERY VERY LOUD BAND AFTER GOING OVER A SPEED BUMP

thats about it, I still love the car but was just wondering if anyone else has had any of the problems I have mentioned?

I have lots of questions about the Prius as my post Scary Moments with a Prius shows. But noise at higher speeds is not one of them. I have driven for hours on French motorways at 80mph and slightly over and found no difficulty with cabin noise. Similarly I found that at those speeds the car turned in good mpg - on average 62mpg over 1500 miles or so. But you point about the low base of the Prius struck a chord. On several occasions with a full car and boot the bottom has scraped against rises in the road surface eg large speed bumps and ferry ramps.

[flow]

If you drive at 85-90 mph on the Motorways - dare i ask what speed you fly over speed humps at ? lol

On a sensible note - during a recent trip over to Belgium, 2 kids in the back & a stuffed full boot (even more stuffed full & heavy on the way back with belgium beer), I cant say i ever encountered any problems with the car bottoming out.

Road noise is certainly an issue & is alot more profound on certain types of road surface. What are your tyre pressures like ? Higher pressures, while improving mpg, can also increase the noise.

[DrCez]

Hi all

just got back from a trip to Scotland in the new Prius, and thought I would share some thoughts with you all and hopefully get some feedback of your own on this car

...

just wondering if anyone else has had any of the problems I have mentioned?

The BOLD ALLCAPS text makes it seem like you're shouting - is that because your ears are still ringing after the journey? ;)

I too find it is comfortable and relaxing on long drives. I've been up and down the M74/M6 a few times so I know the roads you were travelling on. For me road noise is not an issue but I have the T3 15" wheels which are supposedly a bit quieter. In my Prius the main source of noise is from the wind but it's not so loud as to interfere with talking/radio. It might be worth checking your tyre pressures though in case they are on the high side.

The car does sit noticeably lower when fully loaded, and it doesn't have a particularly high clearance to start with - I've accidentally caught a high kerb when turning before because of this - but the lowish clearance also helps the aerodynamics. There is a lot of plastic underneath, also to help the aerodynamics, which is hopefully not too sensitive to the odd scrape.

By my reckoning 350 miles on £40 of petrol is about 45 mpg. On long motorway runs my mpg has been in the low 50's (calculated tank-to-tank) but I drive at 70-80 mph (indicated), i.e. close to an actual 70 mph, so 45 mpg is in the same ballpark given your speed. I don't know what "any other car on the road" would get at 85-90 mph but 45 mpg sounds pretty good to me: there is a big fuel cost when driving at high speed (I think air resistance is proportional to velocity squared?). The Prius does much better at lower speeds compared with other cars as its hybrid synergy drive comes into play more (have a look at the fuel consumption through a 50 mph roadworks section for example).

I guess your perception of the car depends on expectations and what you're comparing it with but I'm very happy with mine.

[Jan&tone]

Lesco mate, sounds like you shouldn't have bought a Prius....

They are not sports cars

They are not SUV's

and the speed limit is 70!!

At 85-90mph I wouldn't expect any sort of fuel economy in any car! and I'll bet that if you stuck to 70 you would turn in the same sort of consumption that the rest of us are getting!

Hope you don't lose your licence though :)

[johalareewi]

45mpg at 85-90 isn't that bad.

You could try a bit of pulse and glide even at those speeds.

Yes it sits a bit low.

And yes, it hasn't got much sound insulation (keeps the weight down) but then it hasn't got a noisy engine to silence. From memory, the maximum it revs at is 4500rpm. Most of the noise at speed is tyre/road and wind noise (and passing motorbikes).

[rodi]

just done 100ish motorway miles, most 85-90mph and I got 54mpg average on my gen 2 ... 1.8 engine on gen3 probably would help ;)

[j2d]

Just returned from the UK. 5,087 miles including plenty of motorway and through the Scottish highland roads onto the north coast and back down the west coast. 58.72 miles per gallon actual. Car computer she says 62.8 but she is a Japanese liar. Found performance more than adequate cruised motorways and dual carriage ways at about indicated 77. M5,M6 and M74 to 30miles into Scotland returned indicated 63.6 so probable actual c59.5. Standard tyre pressures gave low road noise on decent surfaces but coubik surfaces produced higher noise level as in any car. Car developed loud rattle from centre of dash. Amazing the way that Toyota prefer to annoy customers and pay out huge sums in warranty claims rather than sort out the problems on the production line. Having owned a garage selling Japanese products I came to learn that no one can tell the boss that there is a fault because you will be seen to be criticising him. Therefore nothing gets done. And Toyota UK cease to care once the vehicle is in your hands. They take the Microsoft attitude and that is the you are the mug that was daft enough to by the product.. It will be interesting to see what the local dealer does when they collect the car supposedly to cure the rattle. But the attitude is that "we have never heard of a dash rattle on a Prius" this is in-spite of already having to strip the dash on my car to cure a rattle a few days after I took delivery! Different rattle different area this time. So we wait and see.