Well, I have had the P5 for over a year now, and finnally took her on a fairly long road trip.
The trip was from Anchorage to Valdez, and if you do not know the roads in AK, then think of the bumpiest paved road in your town, and that is the alaska highway system.
Road conditions = icy, WINDY, COLD, and snowing at some points.
The trip started out pretty late. We tried to leave last friday by 4pm, but i got stuck at work for while and we did not get out of town until 7pm. The temp in anchorage when we left was approx -5 degrees F. The road is pretty decent for the first 70 miles, then it is in SKETCH city. one lane each direction, icy hairpin turns, 50 mph gusts, and up to about 3500 ft for the first pass. We drove for 5 hours straight before needing to fill up with gas. This is about 260 miles of uphill road to Glennallen, AK.
OMFG, talk about cold. We got to glennallen about 11 pm and it was -50 degrees F without wind chill. The wind was blowing about 20 mph as well, so a quick calculation was about -65. While filling up with gas, the car stayed on, but the gas pump was probly pumping slower then the car was using the gas to keep warm. It took about 10 minutes to fill up half the tank.
After filling up with red bull and coffee, we left for valdez. Temp was still cold as sh!t. From glennallen, we headed south through thompson pass. What a beautifull night,,, the northern lights were out and looked great. We stopped a couple of times to check them out but could not stay outside tooo long due to the cold. We got to Valdez at about 2am and camped by the airport. Not as cold as glennallen, but still around -20 degrees F. We stayed in the valdez area for 3 nights and skied, hiked, drank, etc.
On monday afternoon, we drove back to anchorage. The road had about 6 inches of new snow on it, and it was white out conditions from the top of thomson pass for about 200 miles. It was a little warmer in glennallen (-30) but it took as over 12 hours to drive back.
Overall it was a pretty good trip. The car held up well in the cold weather. Warmed up really quick. The only complaint would be the defrost setting for the side windows.
When the windshield/feet option is on, the side windows only get air from the small vents above the larger vents. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH HOT AIR TO KEEP THE SIDE WINDOWS FROM FROSTING UP AT -30 DEGREE TEMPERATURES. The side windows became impossible to see through and were coated with ice. In anchorage when it is -10 degrees it does fine, but the colder temperatures need more help. Gas millage ~ 27 mpg on the road. I thought that was pretty good.
Just thought that I would share, sorry if it was boring.
The trip was from Anchorage to Valdez, and if you do not know the roads in AK, then think of the bumpiest paved road in your town, and that is the alaska highway system.
Road conditions = icy, WINDY, COLD, and snowing at some points.
The trip started out pretty late. We tried to leave last friday by 4pm, but i got stuck at work for while and we did not get out of town until 7pm. The temp in anchorage when we left was approx -5 degrees F. The road is pretty decent for the first 70 miles, then it is in SKETCH city. one lane each direction, icy hairpin turns, 50 mph gusts, and up to about 3500 ft for the first pass. We drove for 5 hours straight before needing to fill up with gas. This is about 260 miles of uphill road to Glennallen, AK.
OMFG, talk about cold. We got to glennallen about 11 pm and it was -50 degrees F without wind chill. The wind was blowing about 20 mph as well, so a quick calculation was about -65. While filling up with gas, the car stayed on, but the gas pump was probly pumping slower then the car was using the gas to keep warm. It took about 10 minutes to fill up half the tank.
After filling up with red bull and coffee, we left for valdez. Temp was still cold as sh!t. From glennallen, we headed south through thompson pass. What a beautifull night,,, the northern lights were out and looked great. We stopped a couple of times to check them out but could not stay outside tooo long due to the cold. We got to Valdez at about 2am and camped by the airport. Not as cold as glennallen, but still around -20 degrees F. We stayed in the valdez area for 3 nights and skied, hiked, drank, etc.
On monday afternoon, we drove back to anchorage. The road had about 6 inches of new snow on it, and it was white out conditions from the top of thomson pass for about 200 miles. It was a little warmer in glennallen (-30) but it took as over 12 hours to drive back.
Overall it was a pretty good trip. The car held up well in the cold weather. Warmed up really quick. The only complaint would be the defrost setting for the side windows.
When the windshield/feet option is on, the side windows only get air from the small vents above the larger vents. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH HOT AIR TO KEEP THE SIDE WINDOWS FROM FROSTING UP AT -30 DEGREE TEMPERATURES. The side windows became impossible to see through and were coated with ice. In anchorage when it is -10 degrees it does fine, but the colder temperatures need more help. Gas millage ~ 27 mpg on the road. I thought that was pretty good.
Just thought that I would share, sorry if it was boring.
