MostlyYank

Hell no! I don't know how fast they go - 140?

I've banged into the limiter on mine though. They are surprisingly stable.

Pete

S Folinsky

Mine was a late model with the 289. Seven of the plugs could be accessed fairly easily with the proper tools. The #4 plug was totally inaccessible except they put a hole in the firewall under the dashboard. With a 10" extension, the plug could be removed after removal of a rubber plug in the firewall. The standard location of the oil filter would not work so there were hoses for remote mounting. In addition, the standard location for the mechanical fuel pump was not usable, so a remote electric pump was used. To balance the car a tad, Carol Shelby moved the battery from behind the right seat [ahead of the rear axle] to the back of the trunk. So, the former battery access hatch was used for access to the fuel pump -- a lot of empty space there.

As an anti-theft device, a prior owner had wired the fuel pump into a switch hidden just under the dash board. When in the off position, the car would start and would drive 75 feet or so on the fuel in the carburetor bowl and then stop. I once discovered the car 75 feet from where I parked it. [Oh, the Lucas ignition switch was not all that secure -- the car key was for appearance only rather than using a screwdriver, but I digress].

The car was fun, but one 60's vintage British sports car broke me of ever buying British again. [BTW, several friends with old XJ jags would drop in a small block Chevy V-8 when that beautiful DOHC six would inevitibly overheat and self-destruct.]

S Folinsky

The Prius gets its best mileage on the City Cycle. At steady high speed it is simply a car with a small four-banger.

Pulaski

Not only that, it is carrying a substantial dead weight in batteries!

Jonion

^^^ But you can't tell them(Prius owners) any of this as it'd destroy their world.
Actually they just ignore the facts and talk nonsense until you drift away.

Talking of cars and being in the US.
Tomorrow I'm off to Silverstone for our last race weekend this year. Could be my last for quite some time if the Visa stuff goes as hoped.
All our quali and racing is on Sunday but tomorrow is the Blue Oval races, the pre-93 Touring cars and other old stuff.

dakota44

It is an interesting experience owning a car like that, warts and all.

dakota44

At 75 or 80 nothing will get the fuel economy the vehicle is rated for. Highway ratings are done at 55mph.

sir_eccles

In my experience most Prius drivers are utter twats.

I dunno, did a road trip in our 99 TownCar a few years back cruising through west Texas on I-10 at around 85 and got stunning mileage.

Jonion

I'll go with that eccles.
A fair few cars get better mpg at higher speeds than the official figures.
My track biased car is officially rated at 22mpg(combined). On a mway run at circa 80mph it returns 35mpg with ease. My auto model (officialy 20.5mpg comb) at that speed returns 40mpg.
Neither ever drops below around 17mpg unless on track.

If you can sit at a speed where the engine is working at it's most efficient and the drag isn't so bad, you can be light on the throttle and achieve good mpg. Even without fancy modern electronics to help.

Pulaski

The revised "realistic" fuel consumption figures for my Accord are 23/31, which is odd because 30-31 mpg (510-520 miles between fill-ups) is the low end of what I have ever got for a whole tank.

When it was nearly new (nicely "run in") during the spring and fall when the choke didn't get used much, and neither did the AC, I was getting 34-36 mpg, which was at or above the original "unrealistic" highway figure of 34. The drop-off to 31+/-1mpg coincided with the introduction of E10. Pre E10 I could usually go 540-550 miles between fill-ups, and a couple of times I went over 600 miles between fill-ups! On a road trip vacation to the Outer Banks I once got 39½mpg!

Most of the mileage then, and now, is blowing up and down the interstate at 75 +/- 5mph.

Up until the summer of 2012 I drove the Accord most of the time, and pumped virtually all the gas into it. I habitually brim-filled it and calculated the mpg on a brim-brim basis. Now Mrs P drives it almost exclusively, .... and gets about 1mpg less than me, make of that what you will.

sir_eccles

Sadly most of my driving is stop start city driving, perhaps the worst thing about the grid system.

Jonion

You need some roundabouts

It is one thing I dislike driving in the US. All those traffic light junctions.

Bob

Lights are shit, but the roundabouts are scary

Pulaski

Lights are shit, but the roundabouts are fun.

Though the locals probably agree with you, Bob, when they see me in my truck taking the roundabouts near where I live. One "three-way" is pretty much a chicane in one direction: right-left-right, close to the curb/ edge each time, and at about 25mph on a good day!

Bob

I'd enjoy them if I could rely on other drivers to use them properly.

I've had a 18 wheeler come around the wrong way and nearly hit me, earlier in the week I was behind one that went the wrong way and a few weeks back had someone not even look and just floor it through and I went sideways and just missed him.

It's not like it's a new thing, one of the things has been around years and there's another across town and then about 4 in the local shopping complex.