I would like to hear from anyone that has driven their Metris on steep grades at high elevation. Especially a road like I-70 west of Denver up to the Eisenhower tunnel. My old Subaru used to get pretty wheezy up there and slow down a lot. My Sienna does a little better but the altitude has a noticeable effect on the available power. How well does the Metris handle this type of driving?
Mountain Driving Experience at high Elevation?
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It's a turbo. Shouldn't effect it much at all.
In theory, that's true. However, due to a number of factors, including the size of the turbocharger and its design limits, even turbocharged engines can lose significant power when climbing a steep grade at 11,000 feet in elevation.
That's why I was wondering if anyone had some real world experience that they could share.
One of the reasons I bought the Metris was the Turbo and high altitude preformance. I live west of Denver off of I-70 and driver the Mt Vernon Canyon hill two to three times a day. With my motorcycle and gear in back I cruise up the hill at 70 doing 2200 RPM or 75 at 2400 RPM in 7th gear no problem. And it still has more if I need it with a quick down shift to 6th gear. It also will pull from the 30 to 40 mph traffic you hit in that area to 75 without any problem. It performs the same on the Georgetown hill, Eisenhower Tunnel both directions and Vail pass.
The real test comes this weekend, I finally got my trailer wiring figured out and am heading up for my first camping trip with it. We will see how it does with bikes, gear and towing a 3000 pound camper. My initial shake down run I was pulling 60 up Mt Vernon at 3000 RPM without much trouble.
So far I have been very happy with how it runs in the mountains.
The real test comes this weekend, I finally got my trailer wiring figured out and am heading up for my first camping trip with it. We will see how it does with bikes, gear and towing a 3000 pound camper. My initial shake down run I was pulling 60 up Mt Vernon at 3000 RPM without much trouble.
So far I have been very happy with how it runs in the mountains.
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I'll have mine fully loaded running between LA and Vegas on Monday. Not really mountainous but it will pass through around 4000 ft - we'll see how it goes but it should be good.
Bought mine at MB of Westminster. Easy dealer to deal with, with the rebates and money off I think I got a good deal. But MB of Loveland (same owner) has some crazy prices listed on Craigslist.
I was told the cars on the lot aren't selling very well, with all the options available people are ordering their Metris the they want them and dealers always struggle with what options to order for their inventory. They usually get it wrong at first until they learn what their market is.
I was told the cars on the lot aren't selling very well, with all the options available people are ordering their Metris the they want them and dealers always struggle with what options to order for their inventory. They usually get it wrong at first until they learn what their market is.
Thank you. I test drove at Westminster and the salesman tried to tell me they were flying off the lot and I'd be lucky to get one of the ones they have in inventory. I knew this wasn't the case from reading on here, so now I'm entertaining buying on the east coast when I'm there because those dealers seem quite motivated.
Just got back from my first Colorado camping trip with the Metris. Towed a travel trailer that weighted just under 3000lbs and had less the 1000 lbs in the van total weight along the I-70 mountain corridor.
On the flats it seemed to like 65 to 70 mph at 2200-2400rpm with power left over. On most of the climbs I cruised at 55 to 60 around 2800rpm but forgot to check what gear the van was using. I had more power if I wanted to push the rpm's but was happy with that speed.
On the dreaded Esinerhower Tunnel hill (for those who don't know it checkout the Ike Gauntlet on Fast Lane Truck) it was pulling around 3000rpm at 55mph without much problem and I had enough power that if I slowed to 40 behind the ever present semi-trucks I could still pass them and work back up to 60+ mph.
The two surprises I had were first, going down hill, when the van is empty it runs down hills like a run away freight train. But with the camper it stayed around 60-65mph down the steepest hills, intelligent transmission?
Second was fuel mileage, on a 250 mile trip I averaged 12.9 mpg out and 13.5 on the way back. I average over 25 most of the time with gear in back. All in all I have been very impressed with the van. Now if it proves to be trouble free for the next 100,000+ Miles I will be a happy camper.
On the flats it seemed to like 65 to 70 mph at 2200-2400rpm with power left over. On most of the climbs I cruised at 55 to 60 around 2800rpm but forgot to check what gear the van was using. I had more power if I wanted to push the rpm's but was happy with that speed.
On the dreaded Esinerhower Tunnel hill (for those who don't know it checkout the Ike Gauntlet on Fast Lane Truck) it was pulling around 3000rpm at 55mph without much problem and I had enough power that if I slowed to 40 behind the ever present semi-trucks I could still pass them and work back up to 60+ mph.
The two surprises I had were first, going down hill, when the van is empty it runs down hills like a run away freight train. But with the camper it stayed around 60-65mph down the steepest hills, intelligent transmission?
Second was fuel mileage, on a 250 mile trip I averaged 12.9 mpg out and 13.5 on the way back. I average over 25 most of the time with gear in back. All in all I have been very impressed with the van. Now if it proves to be trouble free for the next 100,000+ Miles I will be a happy camper.
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Quick run from L.A. to Vegas and back and while it's not huge climbs, it does go through 4000 ft. No issues at all and I'm in a cargo version pretty heavily loaded. Very happy with the performance. 284 Miles in 4:33, 19.8 MPG avg. 62MPH and wasn't even trying hard - oh and it was 95+ the whole way. Didn't hit the limiter at 101 but did see 100...
Do it and join the club. It's exhilarating.
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