I think I got about 50mpg, but I drove really easy and the weather was nice. At the end of the day, I got 51.5 on the fillup and about half of that was Phoenix (1000 feet) up to Flagstaff (7000 feet), then on to the Continental Divide along I40.

I was impressed with how the IMA behaved. The braking was really nice until I lost it (fully charged battery).

Jason

 

Any Insight owners live in a mountainous area? I read that Insight is not a good mountain car. Before I buy, I'd like to know what happens up steep grades. When I go to the city, I have climb about 3000 feet to get home. I don't know the percentage grade, but say 3000 feet in 20 miles. Can you go 55MPH on uphills? Or should I get a Civic or a Prius?

Thanks

Barry

 

I can't say first-hand, but would assume that full hybrids would take a more significant hit in mountains than would mild hybrids. Here's my logic: full hybrids rely on the constant charge/discharge from the battery. On a steep grade up or down, the battery will either become depleted or filled to capacity, in which case the battery is pretty useless. In mild hybrids, the same is true but the system doesn't require the electric aspect quite as much.

Hybrids may still receive better mileage, but I'd think it would be significantly less than otherwise. Anyone agree?

 

Prius forums are asked a lot about mountain & steep hill driving, specifically if the battery becomes drained and you chug along on engine alone. I haven't gone up any mountains, but users gave reports from the Rockies, Appalacians, and Alps in Europe. Most didn't deplete their battery fully and still had electric assist even at 1 bar. My guess is the full hybrid system is much more aggressive in charging, since it can charge and assist at the same time, that's vital in the Prius since the motors serve the variable torque function of the transmission. The Prius would take any opportunity to charge it gets when the battery is low, revving the engine high. Most long inclines that would deplete your battery usually have a variable incline, on the "less steep" portion the system would put the engine at max and use any extra power for charging. If you're driving so fast you use all the engine capacity the entire time (i.e. if incline goes lower you speed up), once your battery's depleted you'd slow down and lose acceleration.

I'm guessing this takes a big MPG hit, but enables the driver to drive with the other cars and fully loaded up long inclines if they choose. For those trying to get max MPG, they could go in the slow truck lane and not tax their battery or make the system drive their engine hard.

 

Someone else asked the same question over it the Insight forum. Check out the answer:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...r-me.2256.html

 

My own Phoenix to Prescott IMA story: You *CAN* run the battery down to zero in mountainous areas - I did that in my 2004 MT HCH last fall.

I started in Phoenix with a tank sitting at 49.2 MPG and after a 230 mile trip up to Payson and back, in the ranges of 6,000 to 7,500 ft., I had run out of battery assist a couple fo times on longish uphill climbs. But the effect overall on MPG was minimal - after my trip, the tank MPG sat at 48.8, so I only lost 0.4 MPG after all the climbing and the driving with no battery assist at LEAST a couple of miles of uphill.