High altitude driving

My daughter's P5 now spends most of its time in Wyoming at an elevation of around 7000 ft. She tells me that it won't go above 60mph on the highway there (except downhill). She also says that the lowest octane gas is 85, which is 2 less than what the car was fed when it lived at sea level. As I understand it 85 octane is supposed to be OK at those sorts of altitudes because there is less O2 and less pressure at top dead center, so higher is just going to result in unburned gas. She says the car doesn't knock using 85 octane gas at that altitude.

Anyway, if any of you have experience driving a Protege at those sorts of altitudes, is this normal, or is there something else going on?

Thanks.

I've been at 7000 in mine. While there is definitely a significant loss in power, she should have no problem getting over 60. I know i didn't. Is it an auto or manual? I can see it not wanting to accelerate if it isn't in a low enough gear.

Luken10 said:

Is it an auto or manual?

Click to expand...

Auto.