Successful Road Trip after PIM Replacement.

After two 200-mile day trips last month we decided to put the replacement PIM (power inverter module) to a longer test over the holiday weekend. On Thursday we loaded up the van and headed out on a five day jaunt from Sacramento to Boise and back. One of the day trips had been to Tahoe so we knew it could make easy work of Donner Pass and it did it again, this time with four adults instead of two. Driving 80 mph on I80 we were soon in Winnemucca and turning north for Oregon. Passing a semi on the two lane highway my son hit 94 mph. After that it was up and over the Owyhee mountains, across the Snake River, and into Boise.

For the next three days the PacHy ferried the four of us plus my brother and sister-in-law around town. Four men between 6'1" and 6'5" and two women. Everyone said they were getting plenty of air and the AC quickly brought the temperature down when we piled into the hot van. Having the van saved my brother from renting a car as they had flown in to Boise.

On day five the third row seats were stowed again and we loaded up for the trip home. Coming back over Donner Summit on Labor Day it took over an hour to go from the summit to the Hwy 20 turnoff, a distance of 15 miles. Crawling mostly downhill through the congestion the braking provided much of the power for the AC and the engine ran sparingly. It's never fun to be in congestion but seeing the battery charge tick up to 14 percent was at least a momentary diversion. Overall we averaged 31 mpg which seemed great to us give the passes on either end of the trip and the high speeds from Reno to Winnemucca.

One downside is the middle row seats are a little short and don't have great lumbar support. We stopped more often than normal to stretch our legs and walk around.

We purchased the van to carry our tandem bicycle and usually have one of the middle row seats removed. But it works as a pretty good road trip vehicle for four adults, with some added lumbar support for the middle row seats, and handles six adults around town.