Anyone here drive a prius with either a roof rack or hitch?

I have Thule hitch rack on an '06 prius- love it, no complaints, "cheap" (gas) and practical.

I do lose some mpg, my mileage drops from about original 45-47mpg, to 43mpg with rack, to 38-40mpg with rack/bike. More than worth it- however I seem to be the "driver" a lot because my buddies are cheap

great car/hitch combination, I recommend it.

 

Yeah, that would be a good definition.... but impossible as far as I can tell. I've had two mountain bikes and a kayak on the roof. Unless I then drove the car straight up a wall at 80 mph, I don't think I could do less than 30 mpg no matter what I tried. 18 mpg would have to be some sort of record.

 

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Careful what you read. That "study" has been refuted more ways than there are normally ways to refute a study. And not just by Prius drivers. This is not a study at all, in fact - though it was presented like one. No peer review, and assumptions that are insane (100,000 mile life for a Prius and 300,000 mile life for a Hummer for one thing...).

Anyway... I think greener transportation is about as "trendy" as the world wide web.

And in my own case, the Prius is our least efficient, most polluting vehicle in the stable. Mostly it stays parked in the garage. I ride most of my transportation miles. 90% of our vehicle trips are in an electric car (charged by solar panels on my roof) and the Prius is only used for long trips like going to Tahoe. But I digress...

Though I hate it when people say, "I gave it 110%," I truly do use my cars at over 100%. I fill the insides, and then I fill the outside. Both of my cars (the EV and the Prius) have zero towing capacity officically. So technically I think I really do use my cars at more than 100%. Then I pass the solo-driver SUV folks and have to wonder.

1.25" by the way.

Hey! That's MY contribution! Thanks for linking! :wave:

 

I have used a Yakima roof rack for about 5 years, it's been one of the best things that I have bought for biking. I bought the type where the wheels stay on so it's very easy to load the bike. Huge positive is convenience.

Negatives are rack and bike security (theft) and gas mileage.

When gas was extremely expensive not too long ago I removed the rack completely when not using. If you right down the measurements it takes 10-12 minutes to mount the rack, not a big deal if you are concerned about mileage or theft when not in use.

Never had a hitch rack, no opinion.

 

Fair enough. You really do have to be careful with internet research. We will grasp on to what goes along with what we like.

I admire your alternative life style. I aspire to be as responsible as you, and often don't have an excuse for not being more green.:clap:

 

Show of hands... who's surprised that I have a link on my site for the best roof rack installation as well? I've used Yakima racks for 25+ years on many different cars. About 15 years ago, I switched to permanent mountings. Once insalled, you don't have to think about any measurements, or scratching the car or stretching the weather striping. They snap on in about the same amount of time that it takes to fasten your seat belt. Seriously. No muss, no fuss. My racks come off EVERY time I'm not using them. It isn't the price of gas I care about - it is needlessly wasting resources. Here's the permanent setup on the Prius:

http://evnut.com/prius_rack_pads.htm

 

My issue with the Prius is when new, they do get great gas mileage, but every year, their gas mileage goes down, whereas a diesel stays pretty consistent, even when it has 300k miles on it.

Also, which is better? Driving a 20mpg truck that holds 5 bikes, all the gear, and 5 people, or driving the 2 Prius' required to hold all that stuff?

 

Boy do I like having discussions with reasonable people! What you say here is so true! And I'm just as guilty of it as anybody else. I'm embarrassed to admit what I thought about Electric cars before I discovered the reality of them. And more relevant to this thread - I actually used to turn people away from the Prius by just repeating the garbage that I'd "heard" somewhere. I won't go into the details... suffice it to say that I pretended that I was an expert without actually knowing anything. Now I own a Prius and can't believe some of the crap I used to say about them!

Shucks thanks. And after I was all grumpy.... I know I can come off as being all super green and everything. There's SO much more I could do. I've got friends who make me look like a Hummer-driving carnivorous uber right-winger, so it is all relative. Probably the thing I'm most proud of is my transportation choices though. I used to ride a motorcycle for fun/transportation. That has been replaced with bicycles. I used to run a power boat for fun in the summer. Now I kayak. I used to drive over-powered, over-sized cars just about everywhere I went. Now when I need a car, I use our solar-powered EV... and a couiple of times a month we drive our Prius. But by far, most of my transportation miles are by bicycle these days - and that includes taking my daughter to school every day, to gymnastics, to all of her activities around tow. Our tandem bike is our taxi. (don't make me post pictures!)

OK... off my box one more time. Ooof.
Thanks for letting me crash the party, and thanks for letting me get all puffed up with myself. :beer:

 

Whoo boy. Where does this little factoid come from? Please excuse my cringe... I'm active in the largest Prius drivers forum, and your concern about mileage going down every year has yet to be discussed by the people who own and drive these cars. Hmmm. And here I thought I'd heard it all... I know of nobody who's compained about reduced gas mileage after 100,000 + miles. And I can tell you that my direct experience with the car doesn't align with the concern either. In fact, my gas mileage has gone UP every year I've owned the car. My lifetime average (yes, even with the crap on the top and off the back, and pulling a trailer - stuff that I certainly do many times a year, but not most of the time the car is driven) is about 52 mpg. My first year it was 49. My second year was 50. This is my forth year of ownership.

Certainly every car pollutes more every mile it is driven. The pollution controls simply wear out.

I do agree that diesels have some great advantages over gasoline. But I'll stick with my EV for torque and unbeatable "gas" mileage that never drops.

Depends on how you account for "betterness." If by miles per gallon per person, then the two Priuses would do better. (BTW, I can fit three full-size bikes INSIDE my Prius with the two rear seats down - meaning I can then only carry two people, but still...)

And of course the other point... Is that 20 mpg truck ALWAYS holding five bikes, gear and five people? If not, then the two Priuses win by a huge margin since most of the time one can stay parked.... plus they offer the flexibility of half the group heading off in another direction if desired.

But then if you account for the energy to make two cars, the Priuses lose in a big way.

So anyway...

 

That's just the nature of batteries. Cycle them enough and capacity goes down. There's no way around that. Multiple people I know that own Prius's have experiences that match this, especially the first gen ones. A quick google and there are tons of threads on it.

 

Ah. Yes, the first gen had a few teething problems. I'm speaking of the 2004+ vehicles. The batteries in these cars are cycled so gently as to be almost a joke. Less the half the battery capacity is ever used and I sure haven't heard of the problem with the second and third generation models.

 

I have a 2010 Prius with the etrailer 1.25" hitch and a Thule 917 T2 rack. This a great setup and it only takes 30 seconds to put the rack on / take off. I don't like leaving the rack on during the week....

Coming from an SUV that I had to load the bike into, as I had to rack, I love it. And the gas savings are great - 15mpg suv vs 50mpg prius.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKTOyiKLARk


This explains it all!

 

Wow... the most subjective test i've ever seen. why would someone with a prius want to floor-it on a track? this proves nothing.

 

Actually it does prove that if you drive the prius like a normal car, it is useless.

 

^^^^Huh?

The prius is by no means a sports car, more like a base Honda civic that seats 4 comfortably, drives well, and sips gas equal to or better than a motorcycle. You do drive it differently because it doesn't have the 300hp all of the other cars on the road- not an issue for me. I initially purchased it for the improved gas mileage and access to the carpool lanes.

Since then, I have found it to be a very versatile and roomy car, and drive it MUCH MUCH more than I expected. I have had almost no issues, and with the hitch rack, has become my primary mtb transport and local driver.

Useless? I don't think so, based on my experience, I would definitely buy it all over again. Not sure where all the hate comes from, possibly due to the "holier than thou" green folks, but I haven't met many prius owners that weren't happy with their purchase.

 

Where does driving a normal car consist of continuous flooring of the gas pedal? So a civic that is continuously floored becomes useless because it no longer gets 30+ mpg? or because flooring H2 hummer or 4x4 truck will get you <10mpg but can't keep up with a sports car that get 15mpg top speed. Like i said, a subjective pointless test unless you've done your own research and unbiased test.

 

My wife just got a Prius and we will be investing in the 2" hitch rack soon for a bike rack. Loosing a couple of MPG's won't 'kill' the mileage. My truck a Tundra is the current bike hauler and consistently gets 13-15mpg's with or without bikes. So in the Prius going from 50mpg to 45mpg is not a big deal.