The Prius – A Screaming Teen Hot Rod or Hybrid for the Granola Crunching Crowd?

It was the vehicle, a Prius, not the celebrity offender, that grabbed the lime light-weight and had every person abuzz. Recently, Al Gore III, son of previous Vice President Al Gore, was arrested for possessing marijuana and dashing above 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway in his Toyota Prius.

Ho hum a different celeb in difficulty with the regulation. What is actually new? A hybrid caught rushing in excess of 100 mph that is what.

Speed checks have proven that the new Prius can achieve speeds up 103 mph. When in comparison with other Toyotas this sort of as a Camry which can go up to 130 mph, that is not as well rapidly. Even the Hybrid Camry can go 117 mph.

On the other hand, the Prius is not the slowest auto on the street either. Automobile and Driver magazine complied studies which display that the AM Basic Hummer H1 has the major pace of only 88 mph.

The equalizer, on the other hand, is the pace governor that most American cars must have for legal responsibility reasons. The governor insures that a automobile will not go as well quick for its tires. Whilst Pruis tops 103 mph, the governor restrictions the two the Prius and the Corolla to 112 mph.

There are many aspects that restrict the Prius hybrid to 103 mph.

First, Toyota manufactured a conscious conclusion to limit the Prius velocity to 103 mph. Mike Michels, spokesman for Toyota, stated that the Prius hybrid is able of heading even a lot quicker. But the automobile is velocity confined to 103 mph to avoid working with up its battery.

He stated that “It can go 103 mph indefinitely.” Until eventually the fuel runs out that is.

Second, Toyota produced the Prius to be gas economical which qualified prospects to it possessing considerably less horsepower than a conventional automobile. A automobile with significantly less horsepower will not consume as a great deal gas, but will also have a lot less pace.

Hybrids will not automatically have to have less horsepower. The gas motor and electrical motor of a hybrid can be combined to develop as a great deal horsepower as a conventional automobile. For example, the regular, 4-cylinder Toyota Camry has 158 horsepower. When the four-cylinder, Hybrid Camry has 187 horsepower. So, not all hybrid are made for fuel performance.

But, how can the Hybrid Prius attain 103 mph?

Serveral elements arrive into play. 1st, automotive technological innovation has raised the pace restrict for all vehicles in basic. Russ Rader, spokesman for Insurance policy Institute for Freeway Basic safety, claimed that if he tried out to go 100 mph in his 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88, “It would in all probability shakes its bolts free.”

2nd, the globalized car or truck current market has resulted in better driver anticipations that the Prius has to meet. Some European nations have no velocity restrict whilst the rest have bigger velocity limitations than the US.

3rd, for Prius advocates, “Performance is just a different way to spell functionality.” In otherwords, Toyota optimized the Prius hybrid to have a substantial velocity efficiency. They obtained this by aerodynamically coming up with the vehicle to have low drag, mild body weight, and have tires with very low rolling resistance which cuts down the friction amongst the rubber and the highway.

Michels states that the car has every thing that a hotrodder wants “from aero resistance to rolling resistance, cooling programs and the powertrain alone.”

Though it is no assistance to Gore, his arrest has clearly show cased the Prius as a high velocity motor vehicle to be reckoned with. A poster on Priuschat.com wrote “At the very least the bashers are unable to say the car or truck is pokey or sluggish.”