The Reality of Rural Mountain Living and the Future of the Hybrid Car
I live in a very remote region of far Northern California. I have always dreamed of owning an electric car or plug-in hybrid, as we live off-the-grid with energy to spare to charge a car’s batteries. The problem is I do most of my driving on dirt roads, and four wheel drive is required at times. Some of my neighbors have cars, in addition to their 4WDs, so I have dreamed that I could drive a Prius. Last week, while getting my 4WD repaired in town, I was given a Prius for the day. This was my chance to test it out and see if it would hold up to my mountain life.
One of the inconveniences of having your car repaired when you live in the country is it is an all day event. Stuck in town, there is nothing to do but shop and/or see a movie, but I didn’t want to do either of these things. I also didn’t want to drive the two and half hours home to test out the Prius, so I drove to Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and went for a seven mile hike.
The drive to Whiskeytown gave me a chance to see how the Prius would handle a little climb at high speeds. It had enough power not to get lapped by a log truck, but it didn’t have the same acceleration I was used to with my 4runner. I could live with that for the improved gas mileage; however, once I got off the highway, it was a different story.
- » See also: Is the Renault-Nissan Alliance Going in Two Different Electric Car Directions?
- » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.
The Prius handled the road curves just fine (one benefit to being low to the ground), but the clearance and distribution of weight was a problem once I got on a bumpy back road. The front and rear ends of a Prius are heavy, which caused me to scrape the bottom of the front end going over small bumps at reasonable speeds. For my life, this would not work. I cannot drive 5mph on our mountain roads, or I would never make it to my destination. It is just not reasonable. Clearance is an issue; I can’t pick up every rock that falls onto the road. I do have a friend that lives on a dirt road and owns a Prius; however, he is only a summer resident in our community.
Toyota has announced that there will be 10 new hybrids on the market in 2010. I really hope one is a real 4WD that gets good gas mileage. Toyota has earned a reputation amongst mountain people around the world as the most reliable, tough 4WD on the market. We have broken Nissan trucks, Jeeps, and Dodges on our road; only the Toyota has survived (150,000 miles and counting).
Rural people spend a lot of money on gas, as we have to travel farther distances to get to schools and stores. We need hybrid cars, but these cars need to be able to stand up to rough dirt roads, snow, mud, etc. We need to be able to put mud terrain tires on our hybrids, and the current SUV hybrids on the market are a joke. Obviously, a hybrid 4WD won’t get the same mileage as a Prius, but have you seen that new hybrid Cadillac Escalade? They don’t get good mileage, and they are city SUVs. At one point, Toyota did make an EV Rav4, but those are rare, expensive, and hard to find. Please Toyota, make a real hybrid or electric car for mountian people!
Image: Prius Chat
Seems to me there would be a market here if somebody came up with a reasonably priced, reliable hybrid conversion for existing SUV’s and pickups. I’ve heard of a few small operations that do it, but since they’re essentially custom jobs the cost is exorbitant. To be successful, it would have to be done by a company large enough to bring the cost down and provide servicing. Since the auto companies want to sell new vehicles I don’t see it happening. But it sure would be nice if it did.
This is an issue with many Prius owners here in the Pacific Northwest. If you’re going to stay on road, the Prius is fine. If you have even a MILDLY rugged driveway, the Prius is no good. My friend’s lowered 1987 VW GTi handles dirt roads here better than my friend’s Prius. I’m not hating on the Prius, though. It’s a great car in the hands of the right people.
I drive a 1989 Honda CRX. I have consistently got more than 50mpg. As per 2008-2009 EPA fuel economy standards the CRX gets better MPG than the toyota prius. I have driven this car through 5ft snow banks, and passed many 4wd trucks off-road. Although I must admit, if they knew how to drive, there would be no way I would be passing them. I would however recommend beefing up the drivetrain if you go off road a lot. I have broke a radius rod, but considering the hell I’ve put it through this is not bad at all.
This is a very good post! It reminded of when I first moved to the mountains and I couldn’t imagine why there were almost as many Subarus as there were people. I said I would never get one and now over 10 years later, I admit I wouldn’t mind one. They really seem to fair best in the mountains from what I have seen. I had a small honda when I first moved and it was great to get around in but with no clearance, I was finished! Ended up with a Toyota Rav (because I got a good deal) and it has been great in the snow, gas mileage and clearance but horrible power (older model), difficult driving over mountain passes. See quite a few Prius’ around … in the summer!