>>>Had no idea a Prius would go that fast! ...
>>
>>Indeed, 100 miles/h would be about 160 km/h. I start feeling uncomfortable when I am at around half this speed (i.e., 1/4 the potential energy!). But then, of course, our highways here are probably not so convenient for speeding.
>
>100 mph isn't difficult for a lot of cars but I don't know if you are familiar with the Prius - it is a hybrid gas/electric and some people claim they lack power. This is going to boost sales <s> ( which should please environmentally friendly Al Gore !)

Thanks - I didn't know that, so some of the messages in this thread weren't clear to me.

However, quite often the question is not so much, how fast the car can go, but rather, can it stop on time. The old car I use can easily make quite a lot more than 70-80 km/h (50 mph), but (at least on our roads here) that is simply too dangerous.