One-way trip for two people from San Francisco to Los Angeles: 1 full tank of gas at $3.10 per gallon. Or in other words about $32 dollars worth of gas.

Last weekend the wife and I drove from San Francisco (actually Daly City) to Los Angeles (in truth, Pasadena) on a single tank of gas traveling at an average speed of 80-85 miles per hour. The distance door-to-door was right around 394 miles. We made the entire trip but about The Prius feels solid until you get up to around 87 MPH when the ride starts to get a little shaky and the engine be straining to get any more speed. Acceleration in higher speeds (i.e. accelerating from 77 to 87) leaves something to be desired. On the other hand, from a fuel performance point of view the Prius is sweet. I was getting about 48-55 miles per gallon the until we reached the ascension into the hills after the Grapevine.

I have had the Prius for about 18 months now. We have put 30,000 miles on the sucker without any major problems. The car is not perfect, however.The buttons on the stereo occasionally don’t work unless you pound on the console a few times. The passenger side rear door has some dealer-installed door guards that squeak and scrape every time I open the door.